My Fav 5 Albums

I know FB has the same dumb quiz, but I wanted to give a brief explanation. To make the top 5, I chose albums that, start to finish had great songs both musically and lyrically. Some of my favorite artists didn't make the cut, simply because they didn't have strong enough albums (too many "dud" songs cluttered up the gems).

So without further ado:

5) John Mayer, Try!

This is a live album, so I don't know if that's cheating but it is Mayer at his best: dropping the gimmicky "sensitive guy" thing and just shredding some blues guitar. You forget as you listen that this is only a power trio playing they're so good. The highlight is when Mayer covers/reinvents a Kanye West song.

4) Jimmy Eat World, Bleed American

They self-titled this album after 9/11, but luckily that's all they changed. This album runs the gamut from hard rocking emo/punk to melancholy ballads and this band pulls it off so well. I survived a mind-numbing job in a factory by singing these songs to myself all day long. By far their best album to date.

3) Ray LaMontagne, Trouble

Wow, this dude can sing. Before you hear Ray you need to see a picture of him. You will then be baffled by how a voice so smooth can come from such a scruffy looking nerf-herder. This is a really beautiful album that feels very simple, yet actually has plenty of instruments playing on it. The songs feel spacious and comfortable at the same time.

2) Dashboard Confessional, A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar

So I'm a recovering emo kid, I guess. Chris Carrabba ditches the weepy guitar ballads for a full band and the result is phenomenal. Incredibly interesting musically and the drummer is so underrated (he's in the top 5 for me). Anything that Carrabba sings you get the feeling that he absolutely means it. So good.

1) Foo Fighters, The Colour and The Shape

My wife thinks this music is "too angry" (and Grohl certainly screams/yells a lot), and it may be but it certainly hits you in the face and rarely lets up from track to track. No one rocks harder and the Foos have never made an album this completely good since. There's more guitar riffs layered here than a wedding cake and holy cow the drums! Grohl did all of them himself and ten years later, I still can't play the fills on "Everlong" right (they're that hard). Don't even get me started on "My Hero"...

There you have it. Now I'd love to hear your top 5 albums!

Oh Snap! C.S. Lewis Burns the Apostle Paul

If Clive Staples and I hung out at pubs, I would be very tempted to pull an Affleck (a la Good Will Hunting) and constantly be bragging: "Our boy's WICKED SMAT!"

His latest epiphany-inducing, theological uppercut for me is in Reflections on the Psalms. In a particular chapter, Lewis is talking about the subject of the Bible being "God's Word". He makes a pretty important distinction that the Bible is not like God reciting a story to a man, which he records verbatim (as he hurriedly tries to keep up).

"Uh, sorry God I zoned out there for a second...how many loaves and fishes were there?"

But rather God chooses to bring us His Word through humans - in spite of humans, really. And by God choosing to work through flawed (sinful) humans, we're left with Psalms that start out praising God then quickly switch to praying that God will "get even" with everyone that has wronged the psalmist (that doesn't seem very forgiving...). All throughout Scripture there are these dashes of humanity, these brushstrokes of a sinful creature, yet somehow still contained within God's message to us.

But here's where he burns Paul:

"I cannot be the only reader who has wondered why God, having given him so
many gifts, withheld from him (what would to us seem so necessary for the first
Christian theologian) that of lucidity and orderly exposition."

Oh snap! Basically, why can't Paul concisely get to the point and articulate himself a bit better? Lewis would argue that is simply a sign of God's modus operandi: He just loves the challenge of working with sinful man. He can use us in spite of us to get His message to us.

I really encourage you to check this book out and particularly this section. I probably have made a very unlucid attempt at explanation here. Sorry C.S.

Next time we go out, I'll buy you a pint.

John & Kate: (Sad) Reality TV

I can't believe what I saw last night on the season premiere of John & Kate plus 8. I was so sure all the tabloids and commercials were just hype to get people geared up to watch the new season. I thought "maybe they'll just edit things to look like they are mad, when really things have already been worked out".

That's not what I saw. I saw two very angry and withdrawn people. The silences between them were excruciating.

I know I don't personally know either of them and to be so effected by strangers is weird. I've always made fun of people who talk about celebrities as if they know them. But this seems different. I mean they are real people and more than that, I believe they are a brother and sister in Christ. Shouldn't I be moved to pray for their marriage?

Last night Ellie made a really good point: where are the people (from the church) who are speaking truth into their lives? That they need to fight for their marriage? That they are both being selfish and need to work through these incredibly difficult issues they are facing?

They kept using the phrase "for the kids" over and over. "What's best for the kids". "I'm there for my kids". You want what's best for your kids? STAY TOGETHER. Get some serious counseling. Don't withdraw - engage.

I'm not saying there is an easy way out or a simple solution - clearly there isn't. But when they got married, they made a promise: "for better or worse". Not "for better or until things get really bad". No, clearly they have hit "worse". I just don't want to see either of them give up on their marriage.

I'm not embarrassed to say my wife and I actually did pray for them last night. And truthfully I feel somewhat responsible: I'm one of the viewers that has (in a small way) helped created this media monster surrounding them. The same media monster which (clearly) has been a contributor to the mess that they are in. I'm torn because part of me really wants to just stop watching. I don't want to be a part of a show that's new tag line is "watch a family fall apart". Ugh. It breaks my heart just thinking about that.

But I also feel like I can't look away or pretend that's not happening. Families break apart all the time in this country and though all of us could agree that that's not the ideal (nor God's desire), it certainly doesn't change the reality. So I would pose two questions to anyone reading this:

1) What kind of a response do you have as a viewer to John & Kate?

2) How can seeing the "reality TV" of family brokenness/divorce change our perception/attitude/action towards broken families in our community or family/friends?

A Second Chance For Vick?

Today is a pretty good day for Michael Vick.  He is scheduled to be released from prison and transferred to his home in VA, where he will be under house arrest for the final two months of his sentence.  If you aren't familiar with (former NFL star quarterback) Vick, all you need do is google his name and you'll find he has spent the last 23 months in prison for charges surrounding his involvement in dogfighting.Part of his sentence also requires him to work a 40 hr per week construction job that pays 10 bucks an hour.  Wow...I bet that's humbling.

The hot topic question on ESPN now is if and when he will return to the NFL.  

I haven't followed this story very closely, but I know a lot of people are still angry with him - for his cruel treatment of dogs, to his dishonesty, and his poor example to "the kids".  So at what point should he be forgiven?  Has he done enough to "right his wrongs" or pay for his mistakes?  Assuming that he was truly sorry, should he be allowed to play pro football again?What if he's not really sorry?  What do you think???

PS Two books that I found really interesting on the topic of forgiveness are: 

-The Sunflower, by Simon Wiesenthal

-What's So Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancey

Coveting is OK

Here's a question I've been pondering: in the church/Christian circles there's a common phrase we use (part of the "Christianese" vernacular) that doesn't make sense to me. When we want someone to pray for us we drop it in: "we'd really covet your prayers on this".*

I am completely stumped on this one. Coveting is a sin, right (I think it even made the top ten)? "To feel inordinate desire for what belongs to another" is Merriam-Webster's definition of covet. But feeling an intense desire to have other peoples' prayer is the one exception to the "thou shalt not covet" commandment?

I am really curious as to the origin on this phrase. My exhaustive study (consisting of a google search "where did 'covet your prayers' come from") proved inconclusive. I typed the phrase "covet your prayers" into Biblegateway.com and also got zero results.

Can anyone help me figure out:
a) Why we use this phrase
b) Where did it come from

(*I'm not trying to minimize anybody's personal/public request for prayer. It is just this phrasing that I've always been curious about.)

Animals vs. Humans

It's time to talk about something that has been irking me for awhile...I keep seeing these very sad and very dramatic adds urging us to "save the animals".  One set of adds invokes some weepy Sarah McLaughlin song while the camera tightens on some very adorable cats and dogs.  Then Sarah herself gets on, urging us to donate to stop abused animals.

The next ad has similar weepy music, but they have a really BIG star: Noah Wiley (at least I think that was his name).  He was on ER like 8 years ago.  But anyway, Noah tells us that polar bears are going extinct and we've got to act now and support the WWF (I'm not joking - that's what it is called.  I really wish they'd get Hulk Hogan to do these ads.  That might only add to the confusion).

Now look, I'm not about forcing the extinction of animals and I'm absolutely not down with abusing animals.  But each time I see these ads I also seem to think the same thing: "what about all the HUMANS that are dying and being abused???  How come I'm not seeing any commercials about saving them?

I mean, couldn't we just join forces, knock out this world hunger thing then, day after that we'll tackle the polar bear extinction.  Or we could start with the abused cats and dogs (I'm not set on the order).  Maybe I'm too black and white about this...and certainly a little judgmental I guess.

What do you think?