Jesus, take the wheel
Take it from my hands
Cause I can’t do this all my own
I’m letting go
So give me one more chance
To save me from this road I’m on

I dug my key into the side of his pretty little suped up 4 wheel drive,
carved my name into his leather seat…
I took a Louisville slugger to both head lights,
slashed a hole in all 4 tires…
And maybe next time he’ll think before he cheats.

Lyrics from two songs off of Carrie Underwood’s debut CD… I love that about Country Music, artists can just be real. They can be free to write about their reliance and love of the Lord and on the same album sing about the realities of being human. Reminds me of David… Why can’t ‘Christian Artists’ figure this out? Wait… why is there a whole genre set aside for ‘Christian Artists’ anyway??? When was the last time you heard Mercy Me sing about how pissed they are with Congress, or how attractive they think their wives are, or what a blast they had on the tour bus or how frustrating it is they can’t sell any CDs in the mainstream… or ANYTHING except God.

Now there’s absolutely nothing wrong with singing about God. As a matter of fact, He deserves for us to ‘bring Him more than a song’… But why must artist segregate themselves from the mainstream into the ‘Christian Music’ genre? MONEY that’s why. Not that it’s necessarily the artists fault. They probably all start out with good intentions, till they sign with a ‘Christian Label’. Why doesn’t some Christian Artist write a song about Jesus and the Money Changers… dohhh… I have a problem with the mass marketing of Jesus for profit.

Now worship music is a different animal. As a musician myself, I’ve always been opposed to the ‘open source’ movement in the music industry. The idea of just giving away music. But in the case of worship music, I think it’s a good idea. After all, if we’re “Coming back to the heart of worship and it’s all about Him” then why do we need to make money on it? If we are giving back to God what He gave us as artists, why do we need to market CD’s, tours, T-Shirts and lunchboxes to fund it?

Christian artists need to take a cue from Country music. People will buy music that you write from the heart about God if you’re real about it. Seems like Switchfoot, POD, U2 etc has figured it out.

When a peacock displays his plumage does he do it for the glory of God or is he just trying to get the attention of some cute hen? It doesn’t really matter, from my perspective it’s a glorious display of God’s creativity.

~From a comment left at Brent’s blog.

Bo and I went to see Rush last Saturday night. We had an awesome time, just the two of us hanging out. Rush was (is) one of my favorite bands. As a young bassist Geddy Lee was a huge influence on me, but Rush was one band I had never gotten to see live. Now that Bo is in his own band playing bass, he too spends a lot of time listening and learning from Geddy Lee. But of course, Geddy is not the only great musician in Rush. Neil Peart is arguably among the greatest rock drummers to ever play and Alex Lifeson is no slouch either.

We both were in awe the entire show. Even at their advanced age (in their 50s) they have unbelievable chops. Bo and I both knew the source of their talent even if the guys in Rush didn’t. Honestly I don’t know whether they give credit to God for their gift or not… from our perspective it didn’t really matter, it was a glorious display of God’s creativity. Thus, the peacock reference…

Years ago, we purged ourselves of all music that we feel ‘didn’t honor God’ and began to only listen to Christian music. What a stupid thing to do… fortunately we came to our senses. After all who gave Sting his lyrical ability or Dave Matthews his talent? MIles, Jaco, etc, etc… Every good and perfect gift comes from Him, the Father of Light, whether or not the recipient acknowledges it. Christians need to stop being afraid of ‘the World’ and experience the fullness of all God’s glory.

Now… the ‘Christian Music Industry’… grrrr…. that’s another post.

For some unknown reason, I was listening to NPR on the radio this morning. I heard a story talking about how it was Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday. Unfortunately what really stuck with me about the story was how they described him. The commentator described Mandela’s accomplishments as how he “fought against white minority rule”. Wow, what an unfortunate choice of words.

Today, less and less young people probably even know who Nelson Mandela is or what he did for freedom, not just in South Africa, but in the world. Sadly after listening to NPR what the unfamiliar would walk away with is that he was some guy who was opposed to minorities being in power over the majority…  How would Obama feel about that sentiment?

Now it was NPR after all, so there’s obviously an understood agenda. James, in the 3rd chapter of his letter says “By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation..” [The Message] Well, here’s a prime example of NPR throwing mud on a reputation.

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