Relient K Lyrics for the Moment

I was thinking/over thinking/'cause there's just too many scenarios/to think about/to figure out....if you're my dream please come true

Encouraging Words

I'm not surprised that I didn't post at all last week.....it was a trying week. I was (am) dealing with a few situations that feel too big for me, and on top of that I felt very spiritually dry and not well equipped to deal with these situations. Sometimes I think "oh, HB, get over it - people are dealing with much bigger issues than you are", but at the same time, these things felt/feel a little daunting to me......so that's what it feels like......and now I'm rambling and making no sense.

Anyway. I was thankful for a weekend where I encountered many encouraging words. I was able to spend time with fun friends, in the Word, hearing the Word, and "talking it out" with friends/APs. I feel "better" about a few things. I went to those people and those places because I knew that I would encounter encouraging words to help my perspective and point me in the right direction.

Tonight I ran across encouraging words in a place I didn't expect. It all started last night when my AP and I were talking about how summer makes you want to listen to country music, and then we talked about a few of our top country songs that we like or that put us in "summery" moods, etc. She mentioned a song that isn't really my top choice, but I see why she likes it. So tonight when I hopped in my car, since it was 9pm and still 50 degrees out, I thought I should start pumping some summery music. The song on the country station just happened to be the very song that my AP mentioned. Normally I would have turned the dial (since it's not my fave) but because she had just talked about it, I kept it on. The next song that came on was Temporary Home by Carrie Underwood. I have only heard the song one other time, but I really like it. It made me cry tonight. It was an encouraging reminder that there is pain and suffering in this world because we weren't made for this world and this really is just a temporary home. No matter how big an issue or problem or sickness or spiritual darkness seems, it isn't bigger than God, and it won't last forever, because this is a temporary home.

Make a Splash

I love living with a roommate who introduces me to new music. Here are some of the lyrics I like from the song Splash by Kangaroo:

Splash

You're gonna splash

Wherever you go

You're gonna crash

Like a wave

'Cause you're a party getting started

Everywhere you go

Bound to be broken-hearted

And make angels in the snow

Bound to love

Bound to hate

Bound to give and

Bound to take

Bound to make a splash

You're such a beautiful tornado

You could blow the century down

And still deserve a standing O

For any beauty you had found

You're bound to be someone who

People promise big things to

You're bound to cry

Bound to crash

Bound to make a splash

My favorite lyrics are "beautiful tornado" and "you're bound to be someone who people promise big things to".

Funky

I had a funky week after I got back from my trip. Things didn't go as "planned", and I also felt like I was in a big funk in a few ways. We had a women's meeting at church on Saturday, and I was very refreshed by the lyrics to He's Always Been Faithful by Sara Groves.

Morning by morning I wake up to find
The power and comfort of God's hand in mine.
Season by season I watch him amazed,
In awe of the mystery of his perfect ways.

All I have need of his hand will provide.
He's always been faithful to me.

I can't remember a trial or a pain
He did not recycle to bring me gain.
I can't remember one single regret
In serving God only and trusting his hand.

All I have need of his hand will provide.
He's always been faithful to me.

This is my anthem, this is my song,
The theme of the stories I've heard for so long.
God has been faithful, he will be again.
His loving compassion, it knows no end.

All I have need of his hand will provide.
He's always been faithful to me.

Beatboxing

For some reason, I have been wanting to learn to beatbox for the last few months. I haven't been extremely successful, especially since the only tip I've ever heard (that my sister heard somewhere) is that if you say "puppets and boots and" over and over, it sorta makes a beat. But not a good one. At all.

So when some friends (friends of my sister?) came over to play games a few weeks ago, I asked a genuine-beatboxer to give me tips. He helped me with three sounds and I have been practicing those. I've also been practicing my facial expression while I "make the beats" (as I refer to them), because apparently my face was looking ridiculous.

During Christmas at home, I was practicing in the shower. I thought I was getting a lot better until my older sister opened the door and asked "Beatboxing or hairball? Because it's hard to tell the difference". (Needless to say, she's not a huge fan of the beatboxing kick I'm on).

I decided to look online to see if I could find any more instruction on beatboxing. The first video I came across taught the very same beats I was working on: classic kick drum, closed hi-hat, and the rim shot. The video gives even more instructions, but I am starting out slowly.

So, if you ever think I have a hairball, you're wrong. I'm making a beat. But it's okay to check on me, just in case it really is a hairball.

On Repeat

I made a playlist of songs that I have loved from So You Think You Can Dance and I've had it on REPEAT for the last few weeks. Some of the songs are really made better by knowing the dance that went with them, but mostly the music is pretty great by itself. That is, if you're not an uber-music-snob. Gravity (the video above) is one of my favorite new songs, and here is the rest of the playlist:

1. Already Gone, Kelly Clarkson
2. Gravity, Sara Bareilles
3. No Air, Jordin Sparks
4. Ruby Blue, Ruby Blue
5. Dreaming With a Broken Heart, John Mayer
6. Lost, Anouk
7. Mercy, Duffy
8. Heads Will Roll, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
9. If It Kills Me, Jason Mraz
10. Mad, Ne-Yo
11. Bleeding Love, Leona Lewis
12. This Woman's Work, Kate Bush
13. Battlefield, Jordin Sparks
14. Let the Drummer Kick, Citizen Cope
15. Alone, Heart
16. Heartless, Kris Allen
17. Let It Rock, Kevin Rudolf & Lil Wayne
18. Halo, Beyonce
19. Forever, Chris Brown

Less Excitement Than Originally Stated

I've previously raved about the pilot for the TV show Glee and have been all shades of excitement about the upcoming full season on Fox, but I ran into two things recently that made me a bit less excited about it all (insert gasps of shock from my friends here).

The first was something I read: The first 13 episodes feature more than 70 songs.

The second was this clip:




These two things combined make me less excited for the show because it would seem that what the show may turn into is some kind of Broadway-musical-TV-show where every thought and emotion of the characters is acted out in songs, rather than a show about a campy high school glee club that shows their rehearsed numbers now and then during the episodes (which is what the pilot was). All I want is for Glee to be everything the pilot showed it would be (minus the strange and strained marital relationship of the director of the glee club): sweet, funny, quirky, with a bit of musical production on the side. I seriously don't want them breaking out in irrelevant songs every two minutes.

PLEASE DON'T RUIN GLEE!

I can only hope my assumptions are wrong.

In good Glee news, it looks like Kristen Chenoweth is going to be in the show! I've been a fan of hers for a long time; most notably because she played my FAVORITE BROADWAY CHARACTER EVER - Glinda in Wicked. I also have a funny "old school" connection with seeing her perform at Miss Oklahoma when I was just nine years old in 1991. A friend of our family was competing (and won!) so we had gone down to see the pageant and Kristin was in it (she ended up as second runner-up). Not sure what role she will be playing in the show, but I'm hoping it will be completely adorable with some singing, because that is what she is and that is what she does.

Covers

I really like acoustic-y covers of really up-beat songs. I usually also like the up-beat originals, but there is something about the covers that I love love. Here are a couple faves:

Check It Out

Came across a band I like! Let me tell you.

A friend invited me to a free outdoor concert last night. I love summer and I love music, so I planned to go. Unfortunately the weather didn’t look like it would cooperate, so they moved the concert “indoors”. The location where they were “hosting” the concert was a car repair shop. So they opened up the garage doors and set up the band under the hydraulic lifts for the cars (complete with some cars still on the lifts). Pretty much it felt like I was in a music video. Sweetest set-up for a concert.

The concert was pretty impromptu, so there were fewer than 100 people there. It was a word of mouth, bring your own lawn chair event. I was really loving the atmosphere.

And then the band.

LOVED.

Have you heard of Reilly? They are based out of Philly (actually they are from a church just miles from where I lived when I did a summer internship in PA) and they are AWESOME.

Here’s what I liked:

• Music: they are an alt-rock band with violins. It was an awesome sound. The lead singer has an amazing voice (even live) and they are very talented musicians, switching from guitars to violins to piano to vocals, etc.
• Lyrics: powerful and based on Truth
• Personality: the two violinists are married, so their chemistry is obvious and fun to watch. Awesome “dueling violins” and even an “air violin” contest complete with audience volunteers. All members of the band were great performers and really brought the crowd into the experience.
• Attitude: even with the tiny crowd, the not-ideal atmosphere to play music in (I imagine the sound in a car garage is not ideal for musicians), and the impromptu-ness of the evening, the band had the same energy they would have had if they were playing for 5,000. I so appreciate that their love of the Lord, love of music, and love of performing came through even in that setting.

Here's a little clip

It was a great summer night and I love finding new music that I like!

It's Official

I LOVE Shane and Shane.

My weekend plans to head to the cabin were a bust, so I found myself with a lazy Sat AM: reading, coffee in bed, perusing the internet....which led me to Shane and Shane's website. I almost SCREAMED when I saw that they were playing in the cities on SUNDAY. I couldn't believe I hadn't heard about it.

Anyway. Called my sis and soon we had a group going to the concert.

I really, really, really love Shane and Shane. They are very talented and the lyrics to their songs are fantastic. They are also funny. And down to earth. Me likey.

I thought they sang for an entirely too-short amount of time, but I always think that. They sang some of my favorites (then again, most all of their songs are my favorites) except they did not sing my MOST favorite: Psalm 62. Maybe next time. I'll be more prepared to yell it out when they ask for requests. They did my sister's favorite song via audience request. Lucky duck.

An interesting thought hit me last night during worship. I'm so moved when I sing about the truth of the GOSPEL (we sang Mighty to Save: "He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave....He is Mighty to Save...Author of salvation..."; Before the Throne: "because the sinless Saviour died my sinful soul is counted free.....my soul is purchased by His blood....my life is hid with Christ on high") and I'm so convicted when I sing about my response to the Gospel (Yearn: "I want to yearn for You, I want to burn with passion over You, only You"; Psalm 13: "I wait on You, For I will trust in Your unfailing love, My heart rejoices in Your salvation"). The truth of the Gospel doesn't change and it is amazing to sing about those truths. BUT my feelings change. I don't always wait on the Lord. I don't always burn with passion. It is convicting to look at my actions next to what Jesus did for me. So that was good for me last night.

I think that is what I love about their music: it is encouraging, convicting, and a lot of it comes straight from Scripture. It points to the Gospel, and that leaves much reason to rejoice.

Open This Box

If you love music, and love discovering new (to you) artists, you MUST STOP READING THIS BLOG RIGHT NOW and get an account at Pandora.

Pandora is internet radio. When you make an account, you can create your own "radio stations" by entering an artist's name or a specific song title. I currently have about twenty artists as radio stations. When you select a certain station to play, it will play songs by that artist as well as similar artists (hence the ability to discover new music).

For instance, one of my stations is "Ingrid Michaelson". When I played that station the other day, songs were also played from Sara Bareilles, Colby Caillat, Feist, The Weepies, Yael Naim, and Missy Higgins. Some of these artists I am familiar with, and some I am not. As songs play, you can give them a thumbs up or thumbs down, and then that song will play less or play more.

I'm probably late to the game on this, because I usually am on things like this. My sister brought this up to me at least a month ago and I delayed making an account because I thought it would be time consuming. It only took five minutes, and I wish I had done it months ago! It is so great!

Especially if you are a big fan of music - you MUST get an account at Pandora!

Stir It Up, Lord

My philosophy on winter: if it's going to be cold, there might as well be three feet of snow on the ground so at least it's pretty.

One of my favorite songs at this time of year is Real Good Storm by Peter Mayer.

The lyrics are so great. I LOVE winter days where you are stuck inside and forced to spend the whole day in your pajamas playing board games, reading books, watching DVDs, and then ending the day with a romp in the fresh snow followed with a hot cup of cocoa.

I say "Stir it up, Lord! Send us a real good storm!"

Here are the lyrics:

This winter, please, dear Lord

Send us a real good storm

One where we’re all snowed in

That makes people neighbors wave and grin

Stranded in our own yards

We might as well play cards

And get out game boards

So send us a real good storm

We who get so uptight

Need a good snowball fight

And should be forced to ski

To rent a DVD

So heap it up to the window sill

Make the mad world stand still

Bury us Lord

Under a real good storm

We’ll pile onto the old wood sled

Scream when we see a tree ahead

Make a man with a carrot nose

Then come back in and have hot cocoa

We’ll cheer when the radio

Says that our school is closed

We’ll make a big snow pile

Dig it out and crawl inside

Decorate it with Christmas lights

Laugh and sing songs all night

And we’ll stay warm

Inside of that real good storm

So stir it up, Lord

Send us a real good storm

Power of Words

The video in this post uses the song I posted about last month.

It reminded me to go back and read this post now and again.

I needed it last week.

Say

John Mayer's Say has been on repeat on my ipod lately:

Take all of your wasted honor.

Every little past frustration.

Take all of your so called problems,

Better put 'em in quotations.

Say what you need to say (x8)

Walking like a one man army,

Fighting with the shadows in your head.

Living in the same old moment

Knowing you'd be better off instead

If you could only....Say what you need to say (x8)

Have no fear for giving in.

Have no fear for giving over.

You better know that in the end

It's better to say too much, than never to say what you need to say again.

Even if your hands are shaking,

And your faith is broken.

Even as your eyes are closing,

Do it with a heart wide open.

Say what you need to say

Generally I'm a pretty chatty person. I'll tell stories, talk about stuff going on in people's lives, etc. But there are definitely situations where I guard what I say to an extreme. I've always thought that it's better to not say too much in certain situations with friends, boys, at work, or with family. When I don't "say what I need to say", I'm often left, like the song says, living in the same old moment, knowing I'd be better off if I just said what I need to say! I have often felt like a "one many army" when I try to process and digest things on my own. I don't want to burden people, I don't want to offend people, and sometimes I feel like I don't have anyone to tell anyway, so I just keep it to myself and unload in my prayers. Now I'm stuck, years later, wondering what would be different if I would have said certain things at a meeting, or to a friend, or to a boy. And it's not that I'm thinking of new things now that I would have said back then - it's that I had things to say back then and I just kept them to myself.

I'm not saying that I need to go around and say every little thought that comes to mind, but I do think I should have more courage to say some things that I really do feel. Not just awkward things, or hard things, but good things too. I need to verbalize the good I see in people and be more ready with compliments. I'm thinking those things anyway, I just don't say them that much.

And in the end, if I could go back and say some of the things I wish I would have, I doubt much would have changed about the situations. But I might not still be thinking about them, so it would free up some space in my head. And make me feel a tiny bit more courageous. And add to my life experiences, I suppose. After all, I've been avoiding some conversations with friends, family, boys, and colleagues that most people my age have had many, many times by now.

So I think I'll take John's advice:


Even if your hands are shaking,

And your faith is broken.

Even as your eyes are closing,

Do it with a heart wide open.

Say what you need to say