What matters more

Jennifer Knapp has just done an interview with Christianity Today and in it she reveals that she's a lesbian. She made a comment in the interview that I can totally relate to.

"But I've always struggled as a Christian with various forms of external evidence that we are obligated to show that we are Christians. I've found no law that commands me in any way other than to love my neighbor as myself, and that love is the greatest commandment. At a certain point I find myself so handcuffed in my own faith by trying to get it right—to try and look like a Christian, to try to do the things that Christians should do, to be all of these things externally—to fake it until I get myself all handcuffed and tied up in knots as to what I was supposed to be doing there in the first place. If God expects me, in order to be a Christian, to be able to theologically justify every move that I make, I'm sorry. I'm going to be a miserable failure."

It's an interesting interview from someone who was a big part of the Christian music industry in the early 2000's.

You can read it here. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/music/interviews/2010/jenniferknapp-apr10.html

Top 5 Films

This has been what seems like an ongoing conversation in my life and to say that I actually blogged something here are my Top 5 Favorite Movies.

1. The Incredibles
2. High Fidelity
3. Pulp Fiction
4. Casablanca
5. The Birds

Surrender to the Sound

This is the link to the Andrew Schwab blog I mentioned in my last post.

http://www.andrewschwab.com/blog/2010/04/surrender-to-the-sound/

Free Fall

Andrew Schwab posted a blog the other day about music and how it connects us to God and how it's a part of us and of course I loved the blog. And it resonated tonight as I was driving.

I was listening to Stavesacre's Speakeasy, an album I like more with time. And that in and of itself isn't anything special. It's a record I listen to often and it was just an album to enjoy while I drove home in the rain. Bu Free Fall came on, and it's a good song but I've never paid it much mind and tonight the lyrics really hit to me.



Freefall (from Hand To Hand)

Sleepless eyes open wide before Heaven I stand again
If there's no winning this war tonight I was wondering
If you could steady my spinning head

And trusting gets harder now
I wish you were here beside me
My failures my fears and doubts have been haunting me
I'm just not who I thought I'd be

Freefall weightless and terrified
On I go crossing over from living to so alive
And purified I know weeping is cast for the night
And joy...

Thought I was a good man and fell short of my standards
Now what am I left with All or nothing
And my first taste of freedom

Freefall weightless and terrified
On I go crossing over from living to so alive
And purified I know weeping is cast for the night
And joy...

If I fall down
If I fail you
When I fall down
When I fail you
I hope to find you there
I hope to find you there
I know I'll find you there
I've always found you there

When I fall down, down

Freefall weightless and terrified
On I go crossing over from living to so alive
And purified I know weeping is cast for the night
But joy comes in the morning

I Had No Intentions

There's something about a sad song late at night that brings a certain sense of comfort to my soul. Damien Jurado's "And Now That I'm In Your Shadow" is playing and it just puts me at a sense of ease. I love metal and punk and hip-hop, music you can dance to or drive really fast to. Stuff to be enjoyed. But there's something about a haunting, dark, beautiful song that puts me at ease. Whether it's an ambient piece or a singer/songwriter who crafts minor chords under lyrics about dead and lost loves. The title track, And now that I'm in your shadow, is one of my favorites. Damien Jurado has a knack for writing great songs. Gary Murray on LN is another songwriter who writes that most hauntingly beautiful songs.

An Easter Tradition

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life [d] and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53

Let The Music Do the Talking

I set up a kick, snare, and hi-hat this morning and played drums for the first time in at least a month. Just put on some hip-hop beats and played along for a half hour or so. It felt good.

I started a new Echo Broke Alone ep this week. Just started the writing process. The album is going to be called Can't Lose Heart. I'm excited to be working on completely brand new Echo Broke Alone material. Just writing and recording an album of songs from the ground up. A fresh start.

I also have two other project I'm considering working on. I have a handful of metal songs that I'd like to expand upon and create some sort of demo and record some metal song. I haven't really worked on a metal record where I've played all the parts and wrote the songs, so it would be something different for me and it would draw me out of my musical shell and help me expand some of my writing processes.

I'd like to do a singer/songwriter album too. I don't really have ideas for songs or how to attack this but I've been craving to do something along the lines of Richard Swift or Damien Jurado. Just work on song writing and do something simple.

I'd like to be drowning in music.