I have a confession to make. Something has been stealing my joy recently. Yep, you heard me, and yep this is not a typo. It’s time to be real, and declare that over the past few weeks and months, I haven’t been as happy or joyful as I would have liked to be.
Continue reading Is There Anything stealing our joy, and how do we set about reclaiming that for Jesus?
Something happens around Christmas time. As the year draws to a close, and December 25th comes rolling around (it actually has rolled around- in fact as I write this, it’s now December 28th…), we, either as Christians or those who observe Christmas not because of the faith aspect but because of the family one; start to become more generous. Have you noticed it? We start shopping and act a little kinder to strangers. We help more at the grocery store. We are more courteous and polite, more emotive and empathetic, more encouraging and reassuring. We say the words ‘merry Christmas’ to our fellow man (do we really mean the words though? But that is reserved for another post entirely!), and during the December period, we aim to at least maybe support one charity, go the church more often, try to detach ourselves from social media, and maybe, just maybe, love our enemies a bit more. But what happens once the year ends and we’re faced with New Year’s Day the next year?
Continue reading Christmas Comes Once A Year, But Do We Have to Act That Way As Well?
It’s been quite some time since we last uploaded a ‘first impressions’ review on our site. In fact, I think we’ve only had one- TobyMac’s “THIS IS NOT A TEST” way back in 2015. Now I have since thought long and hard about this new series (though what I am going to write is not a review per se, it is nevertheless my initial thoughts prior to the album releases), and I have decided to indeed revive what was once going to be a tool for us all to use, to see whether an album is even worth listening to as we make our very hard decisions of album purchases throughout the year.
Continue reading FIRST IMPRESSIONS REVIEW – Danny Gokey’s “RISE” and Grayson Reed’s “Walk”
Another month (or so) gone, another best of post. Sounds about right? Yeah, I reckon so too. It is nearly towards the end of the year, and while during December, many movies are releasing just in time for Oscar period, albums tend to be winding down releases, in the Christian industry at least. So I guess it’s fair to say that my top 30 albums of 2016 probably won’t change between now and a month from now…if they do change, I’ll just amend it in the comments of this post. Now, without further ado, here’s my favourite 30 albums of 2016. May you have many happy hours listening to great music and enjoy the remainder of 2016.
Continue reading BEST OF 2016- PART 4: TOP 30 ALBUMS OF 2016
Quite arguably one of the best bands that CCM has to offer, Tenth Avenue North started their career on Reunion Records way back in 2008 with their chart topping album Over and Underneath. Now 8 years and another 4 albums later, we see the quintet release one of their most emotive and encouraging albums to date, Followers. One of the most underrated and heartfelt bands over the last 5 years, Mike Donehey, lead singer, has always had something great to communicate across to us all through video devotionals about the band’s songs over the years. And while their most recent 2014 album Cathedrals only spawned 2 devotional videos (of their singles “No Man is an Island” and “Stars in the Night”), as opposed to the 5 from The Struggle (“Losing”, “Where Life Would Never Die”, “The Struggle”, “You Do All Things Well” and “Worn”), we are nevertheless blessed with what the band have to say for these two tracks. “No Man Is an Island” was a reminder to always live in community with one another, as we remember that we were never meant to live our lives outside of fellowship and relationship with our fellow man- we were meant for community just as God Himself is a community (of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit); while “Stars in the Night” was also a comfort- that as we focus our eyes on Jesus and remind ourselves that in the darkest of nights; it is the stars, or rather, the One who created the stars, that will lead us on, from despair into hope, from uncertainty into moments of clarity, from indecisiveness to direction and focus.
Last time we took a look at top 10s, we delved into our favourite Casting Crowns songs over the years, in honour of their latest album The Very Next Thing. Now, we have decided to post something that is unique and different- 10 artists whose ministry is primarily within the hip-hop/rap genre. While we at 365 Days of Inspiring Media love our CCM/pop music, we are a bunch of people who can appreciate a rap song whenever it comes on the radio. In fact, our taste of music has changed and evolved over the years, as we find ourselves listening to more and more rap and hip hop over the years. While our focus and first love has been and always will be contemporary Christian music (pop/rock), rap continues to be appreciated and respected at the site more and more. So what are we waiting for? Here they are below, 10 rap/hip-hop artists that we reckon anyone should at least check out, even if they aren’t a fan of hip hop/rap to begin with!
2 months. 2 months to the date of Christmas Day. That’s how fast the year has progressed. In fact, time has passed so quickly this year that pretty soon, it’d be next year, and we’d all be thinking of…you guessed it, WOW Hits 2018. In fact, I’m sure you all are thinking about which songs are shoe-ins for next year’s compilation even now! Because, let’s be frank and honest here, WOW Hits has always been and will always be the most talked about Christian compilation album released in any year. So, what better time than now to make a prediction of WOW Hits 2018…sure probably half of my predictions will be correct (or maybe even less than half)…but, who knows. WOW Hits has always been known for placing dated songs on the annual WOW albums… So without further ado, here’s my stab and WOW Hits 2018, and stay tuned to more predictions later this year and into next year! Happy predicting!
Sound off in the comments whether you agree with our selections. We will be reviewing WOW Hits 2018 in early August 2017, when the track listing releases.
Continue reading WOW HITS 2018: WHAT’S YOUR PREDICTION (PART 1)?
It’s been about a month since my favourite 20 EPs of the year were posted on the site. Now towards the end of October, I figure it’s time to make my choices. Below are my favourite 30 songs of 2016. Obviously there are a whole lot more songs that sadly couldn’t be represented within my top 30, considering the amount of music that is released each week throughout the year. Yet hard choices were made. Feel free to comment below about what your favourite music of the year is. Below will be the song, as well as a lyric/audio slide/music video of it, so that you can listen along as well.
It’s been a while since I have last posted anything for Throwback Tuesdays, nor Top 10s for that matter, so I decided to roll them all into one for this week. As many are aware, Casting Crowns releases their new album next week, and if its anything like the songs “One Step Away”, the title track or “Oh My Soul”, then I reckon this new album will be one of my favourites for the year. Which brings me to my next point- Casting Crowns have been around for quite some time, since the early 2000s in fact. From then til now, there have been many radio hits and singles, and while each and every song by the band has ministered to many people, for me, some songs from the band have hit harder than others. Some have spoken directly to my psyche, as I am reminded about things of myself that I may not have looked at had I not listened to a certain song. So with the release of Casting Crowns’ new album, I have devised a list- 10 songs across the years that have impacted my life thus far. Criteria- one song per album that the band has released. It can be tricky, because if you were to ask me my top 10 songs of Casting Crowns that have influenced me the most, I’d say a fair few from The Altar and the Door, Come to the Well and Lifesong. Nevertheless, picking 10 songs from 10 or so years can seem difficult, yet below are 10 songs spanning a number of years, where each of these tracks have ministered to my life in some way. So without further ado, here are the 10 tracks.
Continue reading Throwback Tuesdays and Top 10 ___: (Casting Crowns Songs Over the Years)
We always need an applause. Either affirmation that we’ve done a good job, from our parents, or from our peers. But nevertheless, we need someone to tell us that we’ve done a great job, to ‘keep up the good work’. As soon as we don’t hear that, we suddenly feel as if we’ve laboured in vain, our morale decreases and we hide in our shell. We labour all night to fix an essay for uni, and all we get in return, is a suggestion that the essay was too long, and for next time, it should be cut down. But then you think, Hang on, wasn’t that the same person that wanted me to increase the length of my essays? And now they’re saying that it’s too long? Sometimes we don’t get the praise and exaltation that we as humans want. We don’t get the credit that we feel as if we need to deserve. I did it, yet this guy who hasn’t lifted a finger gets the new car, gets the new house, all because he’s a smooth talker and what did he contribute- his name! That was it. And then he gets the fame, he gets the opportunity to be on radio, he gets the new house, and what do I get?…though it’s not normally like that, and I doubt that any friend would do it; there is that hint of ‘if I don’t get my fair share of credit, then I’m stuffed, literally’. Well, maybe not literally, but at the end of the day, humans are a selfish bunch. We all want to matter in our own way. We all want to have a piece of the action. We all want the spotlight to be shone on us. But then when push comes to shove, it’s natural to think that if we do have that ‘fame’ that goes with living a life for Christ, to naturally think, ‘Gee, I can truly live like this,’ but then forget that we didn’t have anything to do with us getting to that place at the start anyway.