LayGuy

Flyleaf’s new album, Memento Mori, is now out.  Suffice to say, I’m very happy!  This band is awesome and this album has been described as more of “them” and less of the record company.

This can only be seen as a good thing as it allows them to express themselves without having to bow down to the demands of their record label.

Having said this, Flyleaf is faithful to their own style and this is exemplified in the following video, “Beautiful Bride”.  I had a good chuckle at some of the comments left on their YouTube page on this song.  Comments like, “this is a scary clip” were all over the place.

But I really, really like this song and the lyrics are simply awesome.  Have a watch of the clip and then watch it while reading the lyrics.  You’ll simply love it…

Lyrics to the song…

beautified diversity
functioning as one body
every part encouraged by the other
no one independent of another
you're irreplaceable, indispensable
you're incredible, incredible

beautiful bride
body of Christ
one flesh abiding
strong and unifying
fighting ends in forgiveness
unite and fight all division
beautiful bride

strengthen your arms now
train your fingers for battle
urgencys here now
train your fingers for battle
fighting this violence
with your feet wrapped in peace
sad tears and silence
now screams of joy
victory

beautiful bride
body of christ
one flesh abiding
strong and unifying
fighting ends in forgiveness
unite and fight all division
beautiful bride

beautiful bride
body of Christ
one flesh abiding
strong and unifying

we're not gonna fall and forget
how far you went to pick us up
if one parts hurt the whole body's sick
if one part mourns we all mourn with him
rejoice, well sing with you
hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

beautiful bride
body of Christ
one flesh abiding
strong and unifying
fighting ends in forgiveness
unite and fight all division
beautiful bride

beautiful bride
body of Christ
one flesh abiding
strong and unifying
fighting ends in forgiveness
unite and fight all division
beautiful bride

One of my favourite bands these days is Fireflight.  These guys simply pump out unbelievable songs and lyrics I totally relate to.

It’s like they capture the heart cry of an honest human being and verbalise it in their lyrics and cloak it with awesome music.

The net effect is a listening experience that simply propels you to worship – a totally unique experience, especially when you consider the fact that they are a hard rock band.

My current stand out song is, “Forever” – an honest heart cry to a Creator to show His love towards us despite the circumstances we find ourselves in.

Instead of sugar coating their lyrics with typical – but pathetic Christian cliché – this song cries out;

“Oh, tell me You’re here.  That You will watch over me.  Forever.  Oh take hold of my heart.  Show me you’ll love me.  Forever.  Oh tell me You’re here, that you will watch over me.  Forever.”

It reminds me of the story Jesus told about the sinner and the Pharisee while they prayed.  The Pharisee leaned on what he did to justify himself before a holy God.  The sinner knew how broken and pathetic he was and just pleaded with God for His grace and mercy.  And it was the sinner who walked away after prayer who was justified before His creator.

There is no official video for the song “Forever” – so I’ll just have to share a lyric video instead.  I hope you enjoy…

To get to know the band, below is a video of their song, “Unbreakable” – again an awesome song.  Hope you enjoy their music and their talent.

Everyone knows the “Footprints” poem.  It’s a great poem to those going through tough times.  May come across a little tacky to those full of themselves riding on the waves of a successful life. 

But that wave will eventually crash onto a beach with sand and you just may find yourself relating to the footprints poem because you are in that zone.

But I just watched a music video by Leona Lewis with the footprints theme all over it.  But what got me was the footage of children in need.  Abandoned, scared, lonely and sad are descriptions no child should ever face.

They are simply too innocent and precious to be abandoned to the filthy world a fallen humanity has created.  And yet this is the reality of millions and millions of them.

I simply breaks me.  When I think about my two little kids, to imagine their little personalities having to cope with what millions of kids go through everyday makes me shiver.  I’m going to hug them just that little more when I see them next.  And then I’m going to thank God that my two kids have a safe place to grow up.  And then I’m gonna plead with God that those kids “out there” are supernaturally protected by their ultimate heavenly Father.

Matthew 18:3 says:

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”

Children are precious in the eyes of God.  He actually wants us to be more like them when it comes to accepting Him.  God loves kids.

So if you mix the footprints theme with the reality of abandoned children and a heavenly Father that loves them so much – and all His children – both young and old, and then throw in the amazing talent of Leona Lewis, you end up with this…

In a day and age where it’s almost the “in” thing to make a mockery of the concept of God, comes a great little music video making its rounds all over the place. I first saw it at Ray Ortland’s blog who saw it at Josh Harris’s blog and now I want it shown here.

Society love’s poking fun at the notion of “God” and a belief in Him.  That is until hard times hit and it becomes the norm to “pray to God” etc to get us out of the mess.  What a sorry lot we humans are!

That’s why I so like the following little clip from song writer Regina Spektor.  Don’t know much about her really but according to Wikipedia, she is a Russian Jewish immigrant who grew up in New York.

But the lyrics to her song “Laughing With” capture beautifuly the pathetic nature in which mankind as a whole interacts with God.  Hope you enjoy and lyrics are below.

“Laughing With” Lyrics:

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God when they’re starving or freezing or so very poor

No one laughs at God when the doctor calls after some routine tests
No one’s laughing at God when it’s gotten real late and their kid’s not back from that party yet

No one laughs at God when their airplane starts to uncontrollably shake
No one’s laughing at God when they see the one they love hand in hand with someone else and they hope that they’re mistaken
No one laughs at God when the cops knock on their door and they say “We’ve got some bad new, sir,”
No one’s laughing at God when there’s a famine, fire or flood

But God can be funny
At a cocktail party while listening to a good God-themed joke or
Or when the crazies say he hates us and they get so red in the head you think that they’re about to choke

God can be funny
When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie
Who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus

God can be so hilarious
Ha ha
Ha ha

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God when they’ve lost all they got and they don’t know what for

No one laughs at God on the day they realize that the last sight they’ll ever see is a pair of hateful eyes
No one’s laughing at God when they’re saying their goodbyes

But God can be funny
At a cocktail party while listening to a good God-themed joke or
Or when the crazies say he hates us and they get so red in the head you think that they’re about to choke

God can be funny
When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie
Who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus

God can be so hilarious

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war

No one’s laughing at God in a hospital
No one’s laughing at God in a war

No one’s laughing at God when they’re starving or freezing or so very poor

No one’s laughing at God
No one’s laughing at God
No one’s laughing at God
We’re all laughing with God

Laughing With by Regina Spektor from the album Far

I look after the multimedia ministry at our little church plant.  By no stretch of the imagination am I even close to being talented talented in what I do as I am completely lay in the area.

How on earth I learnt to do the things I do even blows me away as I have a business degree and work full time in the corporate world.

And it’s from this perspective that I browse the web and get blown away by the things people can do with motion graphics.

I was especially stoked tonight as I came across a group on video sharing site Vimeo called Church Media Hub.  Think of Vimeo as a premium video sharing site – nothing like YouTube.  And to find a group with a tonne of video’s which can be used by the church was a great blessing.

At the time of this post, the group has 585 video’s ranging in quality and content.  The good, the bad and the ugly – but, being on Vimeo, “ugly” is still quite good!

At Church Media Hub, you will find big guns like Lifechurch.tv’s Senior Graphic Designer Brian Clark and his video’s and a host of others.  For your viewing pleasure, check Brian’s latest work for Lifechurch.tv and their upcoming “At the movies” series opener.  “At The Movies” is a smashing annual event at Lifechurch.tv where they screen mainstream movies and glean great from out of it.  A huge crowd magnet for their churches.

The following clip is a very nicely done video on Phil Wickam’s song, “True Love”.  Phil Wickam is an artist I’m enjoying lately and this clip was a great visual delight on the nature of what Jesus has done for us.

But the major kick I got out of watching these video’s was discovering an awesome talent called “Mothlight Creative.” Their take on their video’s is, “..powerful, articulate visual communication. We don’t just make things pretty, we communicate.”  They achieve this stunningly in the video’s they produce.  Keep in mind that these video’s are not the result of large Hollywood studios, but rather freelance artists who choose to use their talent to glorify our King.  Hope you enjoy the following video’s and be sure to check out hundreds more at Church Media Hub.