Think Before You Sing

This week’s video looked at a condensed version of O Come, OCome, Emmanuel . You can check that out here . One thing that can really add power to a song is the proper use of imagery. When done well these not only put images in your head but also have a meaningful connection. We see this in O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Disperse the gloomy clouds of night And death’s dark shadows put to flight This clearly gives us the image of the clouds and the shadows being sent away. The real connection is death running away. Think about that for a second, death running away. This is not only what happened at Jesus’ birth and resurrection, but when Jesus returns death will be sprinting away. Isaiah 9:2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. Matthew 24:30 Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds ...

Romans 5:6-11 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. This is the foundation for the song Two Wonders by Worldview . You can see it directly in the bridge: For Scarcely For A Righteous Man Will One Die Yet Perhaps For A Good Man Some Would Even Dare To Die. But God Commends His Love Toward Us, In That, While We Were Yet Sinners, Christ Died For Us. This is something...

There is plenty to take away from a song like Radio Bikini, analysis here , Lets take a look at the first lines from the first verse. I hear the sound of paradise lost In this playground we roam confusion the cost. When stuck within the context of the song this holds a very specific meaning. When we pull it out can we connect it with our faith life? Genesis 3:8-9 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” This was the beginning sounds of the original paradise being lost. And now to this day we find confusion everywhere we roam. We are not stuck roaming in this confusion. God didn’t leave us. He executed the plan that can reunite us with Him. He sent the payment for our sins when we were never worthy of it. Now, we praise Him and do His work until Jesus return...

When you dive into song lyrics you can often be surprised, sometimes by how nonsensical they are and other times by their depth. Often we make the first judgment but as we continue to go deeper we realize just how wrong we were. If you look at the song Good to be Alive by Geoff Moore you can jump to some quick conclusions. The song starts simply recapping life, what it was like to be eight and imaginative. It shifts to dreaming in the teenage years and the chorus just fluffs around those ideas. And it's good to be alive To feel the wind in my face See the blue in the sky It's days like this I realize What a gift it is It's good to be alive Yes, this adds in the little idea of every day is a gift from God. And that is true and important but in this context, it is a direct reaction to a good day. Psalm 118:24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. The song as a whole takes a slightly darker turn, discussing tragedy. Wel...

In a recent Blog post I took a quick look at the song Yesterday’s Tomorrow, Today by Dream Quest. There is a lot more to be explored but what was interesting is I ended up quoting the song in a new way sense making the post. My wife and I were sitting outside and we saw a man walking his dog. What stood out to me was that the dog was wearing sunglasses while the owner was not. It was clear that the dog did not like the sunglasses and when the dog succeeded in getting them removed the owner quickly scolded the dog and put the sunglasses back into place, this happened twice. I was so confused by this. Why would he take such extreme steps to protect the dog’s eyes and not his own? I have not done any research on a condition that would cause this to be required for the dog, but to my wife and I it seemed like if it was super important then you would use a cone to prevent the dog from accessing the glasses. What matters is that my wife could see how confused I was about this and so sh...

It recently came to my attention that Joshua Perahia is maybe not a group that should be featured in my other project, Christian Rocksong of the Day . That means it is time to dive into some of their songs and see if they need to be removed from the rotation. I want to start by looking specifically at the song LoveShock . Lyrics from Metal-Archives This song starts off with an intro Days gone, weeks are long, no way of knowing On my own, all alone, stone cold, feelin' old Where are you going? Cut off from you Brought about, by what I do This is already a little bit confusing. The first line seems to be talking about the passage of time, specifically not knowing how much time has passed. The second line goes into what has been happening in this unknown long feeling amount of time. So form these first two lines of the intro we see the singer struggling with loneliness. Line three seems to hold a minor issue, this mainly stems from the where are you going question. This f...

For this week’s devotion we are basing it on Tomorrow’s song of the day from my other project Christian Rock Song of the Day . That song is By Your Throne by Scarlet White . The first verse talks about the failure that I am, including the line Kick me while I’m down. I deserve less then that now. The chorus is a mission statement and verse two simply builds on that and calls to be better. Here are the lyrics to the Chorus: Now! I see it in your eyes. And now I'm gonna try to be just like you. To be just like You! I feel it in my bones! And now gonna try to stand on my own and be just like you! We can connect these to a number of bible verses, let’s look at three of them.                 1 Corinthians 11:1                                 Be imitato...