Be Thou My Vision

I wouldn't call myself a hymn guy. Personally, I prefer modern worship songs. That being said, I do have a soft spot for hymns. Especially when you put a modern twist on it.

My favourite hymn is Be Thou My Vision. Originally, it was an Irish folk song. You can hear a bit of that history in the overall sound/ composition.

I know and love this song. However, I feel like I just heard it for the first time recently.

We sang it at church on Sunday. It wrecked me. I don't know how else to describe it.

I'm a big advocate of meaning what you sing in Church. If you don't want to surrender your whole life, singing "I surrender all" probably isn't the most sincere thing you can do!

During practice I was hit with this line - 

Verse 3 

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise; 

Thou mine inheritance, now and always;

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise... is that true?

I hate to admit it, but I don't think it is for me to the level I believed it to be.

Riches and praise are tangible. They can be measured. Success can come through awards, critical acclaim or wealth. None of those things are inherently wrong, but to strive for them is.

To make God your main focus is hard. There's not a goal you can set. There's no tangible standard or evidence for it. Depending, there may not even be any earthly reward. However, as Christians, it's what we're called to do. It's what I am called to do. To daily take up my cross and follow him. That's hard.

I did sing the song on Sunday. However, not as a statement of my frame of mind or how great at being a Christian I am. I sang it as a prayer. A prayer that one day I would be able to say that line without any hesitation. That I could sing it without a shadow of a doubt that that is who I am. Someone who seeks God before praise, wealth or anything else this world has to offer.

Remedy

Growing up, worship music was produced by one group - David Crowder * Band. I couldn't get enough of them. Still can't really... which is too bad since they closed up shop a couple years back.
David is still writing and recording. It's still good music... but it's missing a bit of that special David Crowder Band something.

Anyway, I've been going through their discography recently and was reminded of the song Remedy.

It's a really cool song. Very minimalistic in it's instrumentation. Just a simple piano and banjo line with a bit of drums. Sure it builds, but the first 2 minutes are a breezy, enjoyable ride.

Lyrically, like all Crower Band songs, is where it really shines. It's a song about our "sickness". That sickness being sin. Our need of a cure and how Jesus is that cure. The thing I love most about it is the closing of the song. Through the violin swells and soft banjo plucks, the song turns into a prayer. A prayer for God to use us to be a remedy to a sick world.

It something I've been thinking and praying about a lot recently. How can God use me to be a "salve" to the world. It's easy to sit on the sidelines and comment about other people's issues. But how can we help? So I guess I'm liking this song for more than one reason!

Worship Tunes

I had the chance to play on my church's worship team on Sunday. Playing music is awesome in general, but worship music just has that extra something too it... probably the worship aspect. That's my guess.

It's been about a year since I was on a team. Man, have I missed it! Working together as a team to arrange the songs, practising them like crazy and then playing them on Sunday morning is just... awesome!

Anyway, I've discovered a couple of new favourite tracks that I thought I would share.

Kari Jobe - Hands To The Heavens

Really cool song. Saw her play this one at Wonderjam this year and fell in love instantly.

Revelation Song - Candi Person Shelton
We play a couple of Candi's songs on Praise and Worship Sunday, but I hadn't been introduced to her cover of Revelation Song until Sunday. I dig (which I guess goes without saying as I wouldn't have put it on this list if I hated it...)



Chris Tomlin - At The Cross
The chorus of this song is so poetic. "Where your love ran red and my sin washed white". I know that's Christianity 101, but still, such a great way to phrase it!

Beautiful

One of the best things about radio (and one of the reasons I was interested in it in the first place) is all the awesome songs that you get to experience.
There are so many talented artists that are producing great material.

It's overwhelming actually, and really easy to miss some of the gems.

That's the case with Beautiful. It's a worship song by Phil Wickham that came out a few years ago. It went right under my radar upon initial release. However, life finds a way.

A friend sent me the song a few weeks ago, I've been hooked ever since!

It really captures the adoration aspect of worship. Singing praises to God.

"I see your face in every sunrise, the colors of the morning are inside of your eyes"

Talk about poetic. Also, the whoo whoo whoos are a nice touch.

Hopefully you enjoy it as much as I have been!

Chris Bray - As I Fall

A couple weeks ago I had the chance to shoot another music video. This time with Chris Bray.

I had wanted to work with him for a while, we just couldn't line our schedules up! Thankfully we were able to, I'm so glad we did.

The church scenes were shot at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Barrie. What an awesome location. It was a real blessing to be able to use there sanctuary. The natural colours and lighting made it extra special.

The best part of the day (and trust me, the sets were a huge blessing) was our leading lady Shannon.

She didn't have any acting experience going in, but gave it her all and was more than willing to take direction. She even took her sandals off while walking on gravel to keep the look going. Ouch!

Hopefully you enjoy watching it as much as we did making it!

Come On (My Soul)

I picked up Rend Collective Experiment's debut album last year and was amazed by the passion that they put into their music.
This was one of my favorite songs from the CD...




As simple as the lyrics are... they have a very powerful message... to me at least.
There are days were I show up at church and really don't fell like worshiping God.
Not that I'm holding anything against him, there's just to much on my mind.
School, work, even ministry can just get on my mind to the point were... that's all I can think of.


That's what I love about this song, It conveys (to me) putting aside all of the stuff that's on my mind or in my life
and just worshiping. It usually feels like plowing through concrete... but in the end, it works.
Do you know what I mean?