Favorite Albums – 2012

I have always been an avid lover of music; and thanks to Spotify, it is so easy to listen to a lot of great music for free [I encourage you to still purchase albums of artists you really appreciate, especially indie artists...because they really don't make much money from Spotify].

As I look at my 2012 Spotify playlist, there are 524 tracks; so that’s probably about 40 albums. Yet, out of all these albums, there are two standout winners for me.

Overall Favorite Album of the Year:

Season One – All Sons & Daughters

Despite the fact that not much of this album is new [13 of the 15 tracks are from previous EPs], it’s still my favorite LP of the year. AS&D to me is like a worship version of Damien Rice. Not only is the musical style similar, but even the female vocalists remind me of each other. AS&D’s lyrics are creative, raw, and honest. They write about topics that CCM tends to ignore (like lament, embodied in the track “Reason to Sing, my favorite of the album]. I love the simplicity of the instrumentation/production. AS&D is truly a breath of fresh air in a genre where the majority of the music sounds the same lyrically and musically.

Favorite Album for Congregational Worship

From Age to Age – Sovereign Grace Music

To be completely honest, before this album I was never a fan of SGM in terms of musical style. I really appreciated the theological depth of their lyrics, but I didn’t really gravitate toward their music because I found the style kind of “old school”. But this album blew me away. The lyrics are amazing, but that’s a given. However, even for SGM this album is amazing lyrically. Perhaps this is due in part to the fact that every song was inspired by a traditional hymn. And the music…oh, the music! Love. This album is an incredible resource for worship leaders because every song is a gem for congregational worship (except the prelude, of course). This album is truly a gift to the local church.

Other Standouts

Give Us Rest or (A Requiem Mass in C [The Happiest of All Keys]) – David Crowder Band.     This, DC*B’s final album, is truly a magnum opus. There are only a few songs (out of 34 tracks) on here appropriate for congregational worship, but the album as a whole is a great listening experience. Favorite track: “After All (Holy)”

Onething Live: Magnificent Obsession – IHOP.     This is a great album for your contemplative side. Prior to its release, I was really excited about it because I had been dying for recordings of two songs in the prayer room that had been absolutely undoing me – “New Jerusalem” and “There is Only One.”

White Flag – Passion.     Every year I look forward to the Passion album and it’s almost always among my favorite worship albums of the year. This year is no exception. From the rich Christology of “Jesus, Son of God” to the simple yet beautiful declaration of love in “How I Love You” to the Augustine-esque confession of “You Revive Me” to the social justice-oriented “Sing Along”, this entire album is a great resource for private devotions as well as corporate worship.

Singalone 2 – Phil Wickham.     Although there are no new tracks on this album (as it is a live album), it is still one of my most-played albums of the year. What I love about live worship albums is that it captures the spirit of the leader and the people. I love hearing the worship leader’s intermittent shouts of praise and declarations of God’s character as well as the crowd’s voices raised in praise. And there’s a flow and spontaneity as the music is allowed to break out of the box of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus. And…what can I say, Phil Wickham’s an amazing worship leader with incredible chops & mad guitar skills.  Favorite tracks: Heaven Song; The Victory.

A Disheartening Start

I’ve been excited about the 3M conference ever since finding out about it a few short months ago. And it has cost quite a bit of money to go. And now…I’m going to miss around 1/3 of it [including 3 out of 7 plenary sessions] due to a flight cancellation. I am quite unhappy about this, but I’m also trying really hard to not be upset about it. In the grand scheme of things this is so minor. Seriously, first world problems! Am I really grumbling about this in the midst of mass shootings, human trafficking, children starving to death, children brainwashed & abused in every form possible & forced to fight unjust wars?? Perspective check. I am so blessed.

I think most sane people would have gone home…but I’m camping out here at CLE. I actually really wanted to do some hardcore journaling right before the conference but didn’t have a chance. So with my headphones, journal & Bible, I’m turning a little nook of the airport into an introvert haven

If you’re so inclined, I would truly appreciate prayer in the next few days. I have never before attended a conference not geared toward students, so I think this will be a very unique experience. This is a Christian conference for Chinese young professionals and focuses on integrating faith and vocation and serving as a layperson. 3M stands for marketplace, marriage, and ministry.

I’m also considering cutting myself off from technology once I get there (except for absolutely necessary phone calls related to the conference). In that case, I won’t live-tweet, live-blog, etc…but I will update when it’s over.

on reading

What I have learned from about twenty-years of serious reading is this: It is sentences that change my life, not books. What changes my life is some new glimpse of truth, some powerful challenge, some resolution to a long-standing dilemma, and these usually come concentrated in a sentence or two. I do not remember 99% of what I read, but if the 1% of each book or article I do remember is a life-changing insight, then I don’t begrudge the 99%

John Piper, from the sermon “Quantitative Hopelessness and the Immeasurable Moment”

Piper addresses a different kind of quantitative hopelessness in the sermon, but my own pertains to the slow pace of my reading as compared to my exponentially growing reading list. Couple my snail’s pace with how little I remember in the long run, and it becomes apparent why I am often frustrated and disheartened about my reading habits and the discipleship of my mind.

I think I am more frustrated by lack of long-term retention than lack of speed. There is just no way I will ever be able to read all the books I want to read; and that’s okay. My quantitative hopelessness was dashed by the realization that as good as rich theology books are, I am still beholding in a mirror dimly what others have themselves beheld in a mirror dimly. But one day I will see face to face.

And pertaining to lack of retention, I am learning to not begrudge the 99%.

 

there’s always a reason

I need a reason to sing.

I have a reason to sing.
   “for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy”               [Ps. 63:7]

 

Lyrics:

When the pieces seem to shatter
To gather off the floor
And all that seems to matter
Is that I don’t feel you anymore
No I don’t feel you anymore

I need a reason to sing
I need a reason to sing
I need to know that You’re still holding
The whole world in Your hands
I need a reason to sing

When I’m overcome by fear
And I hate everything I know
If this waiting lasts forever
I’m afraid I might let go
I’m afraid I might let go

Will there be a victory
Will You sing it over me now
Your peace is the melody
You sing it over me now
Oh Lord

Sunny Edification in the Dead of Winter

I spoke to this incredible man of God on the phone two weeks ago; and I am so excited to have the opportunity to go to his conference in two months. What a powerful testimony. [and it's in San Diego, hence the title]

Blessed Bibline Blood

It is blessed to eat into the very soul of the Bible until, at last, you come to talk in Scriptural language, and your spirit is flavored with the words of the Lord, so that your blood is Bibline and the very essence of the Bible flows from you.

~Spurgeon~

I am constantly disheartened by how “unbibline” my blood is, despite how much Scripture is in my head. This is why I am afraid to memorize more Scripture. I fear that I would just be heaping condemnation upon myself if I allow the chasm between my head and my heart, my knowledge and my life to grow exponentially wider.

I don’t know if something is terribly wrong with me; given how much I recite and meditate on and pray Scripture, there should be much more fruit, much more spiritual victory…I think. I shoudn’t be this messed up internally, experiencing so little growth in character, and bearing so little external fruit.

The sermons from Act The Miracle have just been posted…maybe I’ll find some much-needed help in those words.

O Lord, grant me ever-increasing bibline blood!

Not to Soften Cushions, but to Sustain Sacrifice

The fight for joy in Christ is not a fight to soften the cushion of Western comforts. It is a fight for strength to live a life of self-sacrificing love. It is a fight to join Jesus on the Calvary road and stay there with him, no matter what. How was he sustained on that road? Hebrews 12:2 answers, “For the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross.” The key to endurance in the cause of self-sacrificing love is not heroic willpower, but deep, unshakable confidence that the joy we have tasted in fellowship with Christ will not disappoint us in death. Sacrifices in the path of love were sustained in the New Testament not by willpower, but by joyful hope. “You had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one” (Heb. 10:34).

John Piper, When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy.pp 20-21.