Sunday Song

It's been a LOOOONNNG time since I've done a Sunday Song here on the blog...but this song has been on my mind a lot lately. It's "American Dream" by Casting Crowns--not one that's played on the radio (at least not here), but really resonates with me, and it's my favorite song of theirs. If you haven't heard it before, please think about giving it a listen. Here's a snippet:

“Not this time son I've no time to waste

Maybe tomorrow we'll have time to play”

And then he slips into his new BMW

And drives farther and farther and farther away

Cause he works all day and tries to sleep at night

He says things will get better;

Better in time

So he works and he builds with his own two hands

And he pours all he has in a castle made with sand

But the wind and the rain are comin' crashing in

Time will tell just how long his kingdom stands

His kingdom stands

Child of God

Today's an exciting day--Lizzy will be baptized today by Justin's dad! Ryan, Renee, Justin, and my sister Courtney are leading the music today (which I am really excited about), and I believe the above song, "City On Our Knees" by Toby Mac is one of the ones they're singing.

I know this might sound strange to some of y'all, because I think a good portion of Christian churches now practice a Believer's Baptism. However, the Lutheran church typically baptizes as infants, and then do Confirmation as teens, which is similar to the concept of a Believer's Baptism in terms of the profession of faith, and is also often somewhat similar to First Communion in the Catholic church.

This baptism and confirmation business is complicated, isn't it? Everybody does something differently--some churches sprinkle water, others dunk people completely. But you know what the beauty of it all is? In the grand scheme of things, how a church approaches baptism really isn't important. The only thing that is really important in the Christian faith is the belief that Jesus Christ came and died on the cross for our sins. And that it is because of Him that we receive eternal life.

Non-Sunday Song, and a Photo

I like kickin' back on the sofa
Flippin' through the channels just to see what's on
I enjoy eatin' eggs over easy
Soppin' up with a biscuit 'til the yellow's gone

Ain't nothin' like watchin' a bunch of young'ns
Run screamin' through the sprinkler in their little bare feet
And ain't nothin' like finding twenty dollars
In the pocket of the britches that you wore last week

I get into getting out on my mower
In the early mornin' hours 'fore the sun gets hot
And I like goin' down to the Kroger
When the carnival comes to the parkin' lot

Ain't nothin' like throwing a hula popper
Draggin' it across a spot a big 'un oughta be
And ain't nothin' like having him for supper
With some good hush puppies and some sweet iced tea

This old world is full of simple pleasures
They're all good but some just keep gettin' better

Ain't nothin' like finding that woman
That you know you're gonna love for the rest of your life
And ain't nothin' like knowing the Lord's a comin'
Back one day to make you want to do right

Ain't nothin' like watchin' a bunch of young'ns
Run screamin' through the sprinkler in their little bare feet
And ain't nothin' like finding twenty dollars
In the pocket of the britches that you wore last week

Ain't Nothin' Like--Brad Paisley

Sunday Song

It's been quite awhile since I've done a Sunday Song, hasn't it? Well, the funny thing about music is that Justin is just getting into some of the bands that I listened to a LOT in high school, like Audioslave, Dispatch, Soundgarden, Shinedown, and Blues Travleler. The great thing about it is that I'm finding new favorites in a lot of these groups.

Today's Sunday Song comes from Blues Traveler--not only did they have a lot of really catchy songs, but they are EXCELLENT musicians. John Popper solos like crazy on the harmonica, then goes right into the verse like it's no biggie at all. The song is one of their more popular songs, called "Hook". It cracks me up, because I listened to this song A LOT...but I always thought the lyrics were "the heart brings you back". It wasn't til I heard Justin sing it that I realized it's actually, "the hook brings you back." Gotta love those misheard lyrics!

Sunday Song

Today's Sunday Song is called "Busy People". It's a song that Renee wrote, and the band performs, and it's one of my two favorites that they do right now.This is a live recording of the song that they did Friday--I especially love the ending of the song!

Sunday Song

Today's Sunday song is a classic with a twist. The song is "Stand By Me". But this version is particularly cool because it's a version set up by the folks over at Playing for Change. They had artists all over the world record "Stand By Me" at a mobile recording studio and then mixed them all together. It's really cool.

Sunday Song

I just realized that I haven't done the Sunday Song in awhile! Today's Sunday Song comes from No Doubt, and it's appropriately titled "Sunday Morning". I'll be honest--I've never really understood the lyrics or the weird video, but it's a song that I used to listen to a LOT in high school. We'd skip church to go up wakeboarding on Sundays, and we used to blast this song SO LOUD as we were driving up to the mountain lakes. Since we skipped church this morning, it was stuck in my head.

Sunday Song

Sadly, I can't find a video for today's Sunday Song, which is "Baby" by Lost and Found. You can listen to the song on their MySpace Page, which I would really recommend. For those of you who don't venture over (or maybe even if you do), I wanted to post the lyrics here.

Her shaved head and her pierced nose,
Her big rotweillers and her tie-dyed clothes,
Her Dr. Martins with her biker tights,
Her long black leggings on a hot summer night.

And nobody calls her baby,
Nobody says "I love you so,"
Nobody calls her baby,
I guess she'll never know.

His working boots and flannel shirts,
His sympathies buried as deep as his hurts,
Long lonely walks with nowhere to go,
His only appointment's with a tv show.

And nobody calls him baby,
Nobody says "I love you so,"
Nobody calls him baby,
I guess he'll never know.

Eighty pounds, she's hardly whole,
Losing her body to gain some control,
Hours alone in some tanning salon,
Trying a smaller and smaller size on.

And nobody calls her baby,
Nobody says "I love you so,"
Nobody calls her baby,
I guess she'll never know.

His Pin-striped suits and wing-tipped shoes,
His lap-top computer and his Wall Street news,
He makes his plane and keeps his pace,
He hides his pain behind a poker face.

And nobody calls him baby,
Nobody says, "I love you so,"
Nobody calls him baby,
I guess he'll never know.

But somebody loves those babies,
Somebody loves what we can't see,
And if somebody told them maybe,
Those babies would be free.

For me, this song has always resonated deeply. I think it speaks so clearly to the way that the Christian church as a whole can be rather exclusionary and sometimes make people feel like unloved outsiders, when really, our message should be one of love and grace to EVERY person that we encounter. There is NO place to dark for God's light to reach. There is no sin too "bad", no sin to many. It doesn't matter where you are or where you've been, the hope of freely receiving God's unconditional love is always there. As a Christian, it's my hope that I can portray THAT message rather than a message of exclusion.

Sunday Song

Today's song is called "It's Tough to Have A Crush" by OKGO. I think I heard this song for the first time in middle school/high school while watching Real World Hawaii. I subsequently remember playing this song a LOT when I had the biggest crush ever on Justin and I didn't think he was interested in me at all. Enjoy!

Sunday Song

Today's Sunday Song is "The News" by Jack Johnson, from his Brushfire Fairytales CD. I loved it in high school, and it's still one of my favorites. The line, "Why don't the newscasters cry when they sing about people who die?" has always struck a chord with me.

Sunday Song

Today's Sunday Song is from Marie Digby--it's only fitting that I feature here on this weekly column, as it's typically You Tube videos that I post, and Ms. Digby got her start on You Tube. This particular song is called "Beauty In Walking Away." We've all been in a situation--whether a job or a relationship or something else--where walking away has been incredibly painful, but has also produced something far more beautiful than what we started with.

Sunday Song

This song features TWO artists that I absolutely love--Everlast, and Santana. When this song came out, I burned a CD of this song and only this song, and played it in the car for weeks. It's still a song that makes me want to grab a glass of wine, close my eyes and dance.

Put Your Lights On-- Santana and Everlast

By Your Side

So there's this song by Tenth Avenue North called "By Your Side" that has sort of become my anthem this week, so I guess we could call it a belated Sunday song. Part of the song goes, "I'll be by your side, wherever you fall. In the dead of night, whenever you call. Please don't fight these hands that are holding you." Let's just say that I've been doing a lot of late night calling lately, and this song brings a brief moment of comfort. Here's the You Tube video:



I talked to J. There's pretty much no way that he'll be flying back on Friday. They're thinking that he may be driving back on Sunday morning if we're REALLY lucky, but more realistically, Monday. I have to say, hearing that was like a punch in the gut. I really had my hopes up that he'd be back on Friday--there are just a ton of things that we're supposed to be doing this weekend and that he'll now be missing: our niece's birthday party, my dad's birthday, my aunt and uncle coming to visit us and see the new house, he's supposed to be leading two worship services on Sunday, and he'll most likely be missing band practices on Monday. And that's just the external things...forgetting the fact that I NEED to have him here. For some reason, my mind equates him being gone for work this week with him being gone forever. Somehow, my mind has me convinced that he's going to get into a car crash, or airplane crash, or construction accident, and I won't ever see him again. I know that's a pretty irrational thought, but in my mind right now, it's a very real thought. I know that there's absolutely nothing I can do about it, but right now, it's completely consuming. And I'm having a hard time coping. To be honest, I'm kind of a basket case. If there weren't so many things going on this weekend, I would probably drive up to see him. It would be totally worth it, even if I only saw him for a couple of hours at night. Honestly, I won't relax at all until I see him.

I'll tell you this much--if he does come back Monday, I'm taking Tuesday off work, and we're locking ourselves in the house all day long.

Sunday Song

I chose today's Sunday Song for the sole reason that it makes me happy. Growing up, we used to listen to this song (and pretty much all the others from American Graffiti) with my dad in the car. He used to LOVE 50's music--so much that we'd drive the 45 minutes to the town where J's parents now live every Friday night to go to this little diner that served real fountain sodas and had a live band that sang 50's songs all night. This song always just makes me want to dance.

Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock"

Sunday Song

Today's Sunday song is brought to you by You Tube Phenomenon Marie Digby. I really enjoy a lot of her music, and often like her covers of songs better than the original versions. Not only is the girl gorgeous, but she plays guitar and piano, and often writes her own songs as well.

Today's song is called "Unfold". Although it isn't my favorite one of her songs musically, I can really relate to the lyrics. Ms. Digby says about the song, "This is a song I wrote recently called 'Unfold'.. it's probably the most personal song i've ever written . it came out of my frustration at my tendency to shut people out. Especially in love, i found myself always finding reasons to back away and i couldn't figure out why. This song is literally, my thinking process in trying to understand how i became this person and if i have the power to change it."

The chorus goes:

cause I don't wanna go on living
being so afraid of showing
someone else my.. imperfections
even though my feet are trembling
and every word I say comes stumbling
I will bare it all.. watch me unfold

Sunday Song

Today's song brings back MANY memories of high school. I would be understating things completely if I said that the high school that I went to was a bit of a hippie school. It was a COMPLETE hippie school. And consequently, aside from the actually superb education that I received, I learned all about peace, love, and rock and roll. I can remember MANY a sunny summer day driving down the streets listening to this song. And then, working for a rafting company, this song was again in heavy rotation. I remember burning this song onto a mixed CD for Justin, and not knowing if he'd like it, because it's a bit of an anti-war sentiment. However, Justin just smiled and said, "I can be supportive of our troops while still wishing that we didn't have wars to begin with." My sentiments exactly.

Anyway, I had a hard time finding a good version of this song on You Tube. Apparently, the band now sings it much more quickly than they do on their CD, which doesn't go with the sunny day vibe I'm trying to recall. And although there are about 2000 versions of other people trying to cover the song...they all pretty much suck. So anyway, the best version of "The General" by Dispatch that I could find...

Sunday Song

Today's song is from one of my favorite bands of all time, Barenaked Ladies. I just thought this particular song was fitting for this week--it's called "Who Needs Sleep?"

Sunday Song

Today's Sunday song is apparently now an oldie--I was APPALLED to have heard it on the classic rock radio station on my way home from work the other day. Anyway, it's "Say It Ain't So" by Weezer. The very first time I ever met Justin was at a church camping trip. As we arrived, we heard a bunch of people playing this song, and it was one of my favorite songs at the time, so we went over and plopped ourselves on the picnic table to listen to them play the song. It turns out that it was Justin and his brother Ryan that were playing the song. I think they thought we were nuts, and basically didn't say a word to us the entire time. I'm not even sure that Justin even remembers me at that campout--his dad made him stay around for all the devotions and whatnot, and we were bad and spent most of our time wakeboarding. Nevertheless, I thought that both Justin and Ryan were completely cute, and they played the guitar, and so as soon as we got down to the boat, I called dibs on BOTH of them, because we weren't really sure who was my age (I actually thought Ryan was the one that was my age), or which one I'd like more once we actually got to talking.

After that meeting, I became friends with Stump. I already knew Stump's cousin James (yes, the one that's dating Justin's sister), so it just made sense. Pretty soon, Stump and Justin became best friends, and I started hanging out with Justin pretty frequently. We were friends for probably three years, and he displayed NO interest in being anything more than friends. Several months before we were set to go on a youth group trip to Orlando together, he emailed me out of the blue--I had given him my email address MONTHS ago, and he hadn't ever sent me anything. Not even forwards. I was so surprised about the email that I promptly proceeded to drop the black sharpie marker that I was holding in my mouth onto my white comforter. I remember one of my friends asking me why I couldn't get over this guy. I responded, "I don't know." And then was promptly shocked to hear my brain say, "Um, because you could marry this boy." I did NOT have any intention of getting married any time in the near future. I hadn't even had a really serious boyfriend. I tried to push Justin out of my head, accepted entry into a college out of state, and went along with graduating. I was terrified by the prospect that my mind already seemed to think Justin could be something serious--but what if he didn't like me back?

Anyway, on the plane on the way to Orlando, Justin and I were sitting by each other at one point, and he was bopping me or doing some other annoying thing that teenage boys do as a way of flirting, and I grabbed his hand to get him to stop, but neither of us let go, and I thought I was going to have a heart attack, because I SO never get the guy.

A few days later, after conferring with my sister and making sure she was okay with it (how sweet is that?), he asked me to officially be his girlfriend while we were on a carnival ride. I can remember not even a week later, us having a talk about how neither of us were looking for a summer fling--we were looking for something more serious. I cried and cried about going out of state to school, but Justin always promised that he'd wait until I came back home--whether it was after a term, a year, or all four years.

And this is the song that brings it all back.

Thoughts & Sunday Song

J and I watched the documentary "Jesus Camp" tonight. I had watched part of it in my Sociology of Religion class, but had never finished watching it. I found it on YouTube, so I decided to finish it. I asked Justin to watch it with me because I wanted some feedback from him about the movie. At first, he had a few comments about how "that's kind of cool". I remember having the same feelings. But soon, he started having the intensely negative reaction that I remember having when I saw the movie for the first time. It's just so ODD to watch a group of people who classify themselves as being the same religion that I would classify myself (albeit different sects), behave so completely differently than I would. To say things, justifying them through faith, that I would never say. Personally, I have strong feelings about evangelism, and do not believe that evangelism should happen the way that it does in this movie. I also believe that just because I'm a Christian, I don't have to denounce the idea of global warming, as individuals in this movie suggest. They CAN co-exist. I do not believe that CHILDREN (nor anyone for that matter) should be forced to publicly confess their sins. Yes, confess your sins, but confess them in your heart, not publicly. And I'm sorry, but I absolutely do not believe that praying over and then compelling a bowling ball to make a strike before bowling is necessary.

Towards the end of the movie (the part that I had missed), they show Ted Haggard giving a sermon regarding the evils of homosexuality off his Palm Treo at his home church. He made several completely inappropriate comments during his sermon to the camera-man, including, "I know what you did last night. Give me $1000, and I promise not to tell your wife." Justin didn't immediately pick up on the irony of those comments, but when I told him that Ted Haggard has since admitted to his own homosexuality AND purchasing crystal meth (I know that he claims he didn't actually use it, but judging by the change in his facial structure, I'd beg to differ), J became pretty irate.

For me, the part that's so difficult about this whole thing is that for many, this movie is a portrayal of Christians, as a whole. I know that many people in my Soc. of Religion class didn't know or understand that the people profiled in the movie were a fairly extremist, though growing, sect of Christianity. And I'm sure that this movie repelled many a person from Christianity. Hell, it repelled ME, and I AM a Christian. Ugh.

So, without further adieu, the Sunday Song for this week is "Instead of A Show", by Jon Foreman. Now, I know that I just did a song by Switchfoot last week, and that's kind of ironic since I haven't been listening to Jon Foreman (who is the lead singer for Switchfoot) OR Switchfoot much recently. But, the lyrics to this one particular song kept popping into my head while watching "Jesus Camp". Taken from Isaiah 1:11-17 (A Message for Rebellious Judah), the lyrics say, "I hate all your show. Away with your noisy worship. Away with your noisy praise. I stop up my ears when you're singing them, I hate all your show. Instead, let there be a flood of justice."

This particular sentiment flies right in the face of what those in the movie portrayed. In fact, one little girl who appeared to be 9 or 10 suggested that God doesn't like to visit quiet churches. He only likes to visit churches where the worshipers are loud and 'on fire'--where people lift up their hands to praise Him. Sigh.

Sunday Song

Life and Love and Why by Switchfoot

In high school and college, I used to LOVE Switchfoot. I've seen them twice, and they were pretty great live both times, which is a MUST for me when it comes to music. That said, I haven't ever really gotten into any of their new stuff. But this song is still one of my favorites, and it's been running through my head a lot lately. It's a song that I tend to listen to whenever I'm feeling a little down, and it gives me hope.

Things have felt a little weird with Justin's family lately. I really noticed it yesterday when everyone was together. It's almost like there's this deep underlying tension running through everyone. People were pretty snippy towards each other. Justin and I both commented on it yesterday. That, and that things seem to be very...superficial. We both used to have deep, meaningful conversations with various members of Justin's family, but lately the conversations seem to revolve around the weather and 'how the house is doing'. Maybe it's just that we haven't been out there lately. I don't know that we had seen Ryan and Renee since the weekend after Thanksgiving, which may be a record, and we hadn't really seen Justin's parents in a couple of weeks either. Usually, we see them both every week if not more frequently. Or maybe something else is going on, but things just seem weird. Like there's an elephant in the room that people are tip-toeing around.

So anyway, I felt like I needed a hopeful song.