Hey everyone, it’s been a while (at least in other blog series, while I methodically and steadily work on Flashback Fridays every week!), so let’s dive back into these ‘dormant’ blogs. And what do I have this week, that is so momentous and significant that it requires me to write a post, with the subject matter being relevant to three blog categories?
Welcome to the latest instalment of our most recent blog series Top Tens. Last time, we unveiled our top fifteen inspirational U2 songs (in honour of U2’s new album The Joshua Tree (Super Deluxe) releasing this a few weeks ago- which we will review soon!). This time, in the same vein of the U2 post and the Peter Hollens post before that, let me introduce you to another new-ish favourite group of mine- Cimorelli, and post a few videos (from now and a few years earlier!) so that you guys can all experience the awesomeness of the inspiring group of six sisters.
Third Day have been around for donkey’s years. Since the mid 1990s when they released their self titled album in 1996 (which spawned the radio hits ‘Nothing at All’, ‘Forever’, ‘Love Song’, ‘Thief’, ‘Praise Song’ and the ever-reliable-at-concerts ‘Consuming Fire’), Mac Powell and the band have delivered heartfelt songs and emotive moments of poignancy to millions of listeners of their music throughout the years. Now in 2017, we see that the band have been around for 20 years officially (signed to Provident Label Group), and maybe even more than 20 years unofficially, considering that the band started even performing together without a label prior to the mid 1990s (I think in an interview, Mark Lee, guitarist, said that they played together as ‘Nuclear Hoedown’ in 1991 or 92). So what does that mean for a group that has shown us what it means to walk the line of rock and worship?
Yes, as you can see from the title, I am a very much avid fan of CCM band Tenth Avenue North. Or rather, a fan of Mike Donehey’s devotional youtube messages about his songs that he has released on the internet throughout the years. In fact, Tenth Avenue North has to be one of the best bands that CCM offers to us at the moment- starting their career way back in 2008 when they signed to Reunion Records, the band delivered chart topping albums like Over and Underneath, The Light Meets the Dark, The Struggle, Cathedrals and more recently Followers. To say that Mike the lead singer has a way with words in how he imparts heartfelt and poignant truths to listeners is very much an understatement. And while I know that their latest album Followers can arguably be the quintet’s most emotive and encouraging yet, I can’t ignore where it all started. It was in 2009/10 when I started listening to the band and their music on a regular basis- safe to say that The Light Meets the Dark is a momentous album for me- with songs like “Healing Begins”, “You Are More”, “Strong Enough to Save”…it was then when I realised that Tenth Avenue North and their music was something special.
Continue reading MESSAGE MONDAYS & THROWBACK TUESDAYS – The Light Meets The Dark
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)
It’s always good to keep up to date in terms of worship music. Yet in keeping in with the trends of the most popular worship song of today (we all know right now it’s “Good, Good Father”), we can sometimes miss the beauty that it is in listening to good worship music of years gone by. So this post will honour and commemorate worship songs of the past, in particular 2006. It was in 2006 that I started to branch out and listen to a wide variety of Christian music. So what are my favourite worship songs of that year? Read on to find out.
Continue reading THROWBACK TUESDAYS & WORSHIP WEDNESDAYS- FAVOURITE WORSHIP SONGS OF 2006
Losing our follow through between what we say before God at the altar, and when we walk out that door on after listening to the Sunday morning sermon, and into the real world of another working week, can seem very unlikely, yet at times, Christians do just that. Not that I’m calling anyone out on that (I know I can sometimes be guilty of this as well), but let’s just all be honest and frank about this topic- what does it mean for us to lose our follow-through, to promise something and for us to travel a 180° and act completely opposite to what people see us on Sundays? What does it look like, for us and for the people observing our behaviours, to know that our behaviour on our best days isn’t what we portray on an almost daily basis? What does it need to take for God to shake us and wake us, for Him to remind us that we don’t need to place on a brave face, that our follow-through and our word to Him is based on really, whether we believe that God is who He says He is, and whether we believe in His promises or not. Because to put things bluntly- for us to say one thing yet act out another is nothing short of us not really believing in God’s promises in the first place. Because if we’d truly believe what He calls us to be and become, the positive change we’d experience and people would see would be more 24/7 rather than 1 day a week.
What does it look like to live each day with abandon? To not hold back in every aspect of our lives, regardless how mundane or trivial these tasks we undertake are? What does it really, truly mean for us to place aside every fear, burden, uncertainty and the like, and jump two feet into what we believe God has in store for us both now and into the future, in spite of our very real and present fears that what we undertake may not look like what we imagine or envisage, or worse still, what we hope God will accomplish in our lives as a result of our big decisions, isn’t what God has in store for us at all, but the exact opposite? Hard questions, I know but sometimes it is these questions that need to be said and discussed. To be asked and dialogued well by all involved, knowing full well that as we open up this forum to those close to us, we have to hope and know that what we say won’t be frowned on or judged. If we struggle with hopelessness, uncertainty, trying to determine the will of God in our lives, or even our plans v. His; regardless of what we lay bare on the table, surely we ought to know that those close to us won’t abandon us, no matter what skeletons rear their ugly heads?
Continue reading Message Mondays, Throwback Tuesdays, Worship Wednesdays (Living Life to the Full)
It’s always good to keep up to date in terms of worship music. Yet in keeping in with the trends of the most popular worship song of today (we all know right now it’s “Good, Good Father”), we can sometimes miss the beauty that it is in listening to good worship music of years gone by. So this post will honour and commemorate worship albums of the past, in particular 2006. It was in 2006 that I started to branch out and listen to a wide variety of Christian music. So what are my favourite worship albums of that year? Read on to find out.
Continue reading Throwback Tuesdays & Worship Wednesdays- Favourite Worship Albums of 2006
It has amazed me, and continues to do so, how I see many people latch onto something new. Always whenever I browse the nearest DVD/electronics store in the shopping centre that I frequent, I see many people browsing the latest, whether it be movies, TV shows, CD’s, or even the latest versions of phones, iPads and the latest gadgets like fit-bits and nutri-bullets. And what has continued to amaze me is how quickly we drop that particular thing we purchase after a few weeks, and latch onto the next thing. Since when did we as a human race become so fickle-minded in our purchases? Are we really that bored with our purchases one week that we need to fill that void the next? This is not a griping session, yet in this week’s Message Mondays/Throwback Tuesdays, I delve into the theme of retail therapy, and how sometimes, it can be celebrated and enjoyed, and other moments we may need to take time out, in the view to keep our sanity and the sanity of those around us intact.
Continue reading Message Mondays and Throwback Tuesdays (Retail Therapy)
