O Theo - Matthew Perryman Jones

I am not quite sure why this song is hitting so close to home, but I listened to it twice on the ride into work today and a few times on monday as well. The lyrics make sense but I am not poetic enough to really get a grasp on what is going on, the only lyric that I latched into deeply was,

And the righteous raised their stones

And the devil threw his arrow

That was longing for a home

With nowhere to go,

Oh, Theo...

Something about the "Any the righteous raise their stones, and the devil threw his arrow" woke up my ears and I looked around to how often I "the righteous" grab a stone! I already know the common occurrence of the devil and his arrow but I need to be fully aware of my thoughts and actions that end up just being stones.

Under the silence of water,

Into a sky full of birds

Out from the land of our fathers,

I am falling on your words,

Oh...

Dark as the night of a preacher,

I made a bed out of hay

They paid me a handful of money,

I gave it all away...

All away...

And the righteous raised their stones

And the devil threw his arrow

That was longing for a home

With nowhere to go,

Oh, Theo...

In the half-light of the city,

She took off all of her clothes

I flew from the height of the mountains

Into a valley of dry bones

All alone

Then my heart was still unknown

I was drunk and full of sorrows

I was longing for a home

With nowhere to go,

Oh, Theo...

So, I set fires of starlight,

To burn up against the despair

I was caught in the tangles of midnight's

Long, unanswered prayer:

'Are you there?'

And the light of morning grows

On a field of fallen sparrows

I was longing for a home

With nowhere to go,

Oh, Theo...

Ahh, ahh, ahh

All is Great when I am fully Trusting the Lord
Paul Shackelford

Rise Again - Needtobreathe

I have been reading a book about the arts and Christians role in creating culture. Steve Turner, the author, asserts a major critique that modern Christian art does not speak about real life. The art created does not sound genuine or have any ties to real life that people outside the faith can connect with. While reading the book I listened through this album and I think that this song does a great job of breaking the mold. The members of Needtobreathe are all outspoken followers of Jesus but very little of the art that they produce mentions Jesus or Christianity at all. Instead they craft creative music, written from places of pain and joy. "Rise Again" steps through pain that occurs in life as we see relationships stretched and torn. The bitterness of broken hearts and friendships is then contrasted with the truth that we will get up from this pain and rise again. "I can see us moving on, I can feel that coming on strong", the joy that comes after the

Twenty-Four - Jess Ray

Lately I have been listening to lots of music and podcasts while working and biking to work. I was feeling a need for some new music so I turned to NoiseTrade to check out some new artists. My favorite thus far is Jess Ray because of the honest lyrics, tastefully simple musicality and overall enjoyable listening environment. While on my flight back to Atlanta I was struck by this song at first because of the drums that propel this song behind the walking guitar. If I were to add drums to a track like this it would have been done in a very similar manner. Once I got past the drums I was awe struck by the simple power of these lyrics, take a read below and follow the link to her blog to listen. To me it was not written for an outward expression of hope or encouragement but rather as a inward proclamation to the soul. As the psalmist often choose to sing, this song speaks inward in a call to stand up and be reminded of truth all to often forgotten. As I gear up for the star

Alleluia - Jesus Culture with Martin Smith

Once again worship last night was Glorious! Had a great day just chilling with my SDP folks from last summer, went up the river and just talked about the past season of life and where the Lord is leading us into. Exciting and scary stuff but it was great to be back with some awesome people who speak some potent truth. Last night during worship was one of many firsts... For the first time in a long time I actually stood while I sang, for the first time in a long time I was singing from a place of Joy, for the first time in a long time I did not care how I worshiped my Lord I just worshiped. Well its not like these things have not happened ever in my life, but I just felt so much peace during worship. So I decided to throw the song that we just repeated for a long while up here, mainly cause I did not know the name so I was looking it up and now I am pumped, gotta buy this album! All the angels cry out, Holy is the Lord God All the earth replies, Holy are You Thi

Letters from Lilongwe

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