I challenged my High School and College Ministry to come this Sunday with a list of 12 songs in a mixtape about their lives and their reasoning behind each song. This exercise not only helps me (and them) get to know each other, but it also allows us to introduce each other to songs or genres of music that we may have never heard. To me, music, like any other art form, helps me see the beauty of creation. We participate in the act of creating because we’re fashioned by a Creator who creates.
1. “Hey Jude” - My mom introduced me to many oldies growing up, music from groups like The Temptations, Beach Boys, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and singers like Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. But this is the song I learned to play in piano.
2. “Written On My Heart” - The first Christian boy band to make it big in the era of boy bands, I actually learned and choreographed a dance routine and performed it with my old church friends when I was a teen.
3. “Only Hope” - It’s one of the few movies where I will unashamedly admit that I cried. While I love the original song by Switchfoot, the words to this song remind me how futile it is for me to put my hope in people or things. My only hope is Christ; He will not fail me.
4. “Such Great Heights” - This song came during my last year of high school and reminds me a lot of that year and all these nostalgic feelings of when life was innocent and simple for me. The song is also my first introduction to electronic-influenced music.
5. “Go The Distance” - What guy (or girl) hasn’t felt like Hercules, who was a “zero” in the movie. What person hasn’t wanted to feel like they belong? My favorite reflecting line is: "I’ll be there someday, I can go the distance/I will find my way, if I can be strong/I know every mile, will be worth my while/When I go the distance, I’ll be right where I belong” This song challenged me to “go the distance,” to keep going when life seemed difficult, even when the mile seems long and dangerous. And the instruments used in the song makes it that more epic!
6. “Chasing Cars” - This song will forever hold an important place in my memory and heart. It was released in July 2006 (a year before my sister died), and for one year, it was the song that my sister and I would like to listen to or sing to each other. And now when I listen to it, I not only think of my sister, I imagine her singing it with me
7. “Numb/Encore” - I love mashups when they’re done well. The mash-up album by Jay-Z and Linkin Park was perfect, but this is the song that is on replay when I work out. Maybe it’s also a hint of my vanity, secretly wanting an “encore.”
8. “Unwritten” - The lyrics and the meaning to this song says it all. To me, our lives are not “unwritten,” but being written by an awesome Author.
9. “Time” - This song came from one of my favorite movies: “Inception.” But just take a listen to it, and you might just see your life on rewind. When I listen to this song, I can’t help but reflect on life—on time—my past, present, and future. I see glimpses of who I was, who I am now, and who I want to become. I don’t often have this kind of experience with instrumentals.
10. “After Tonight” - Justin Nozuka is a phenomenal singer/songwriter. And he was the one who got me into more soulful pop music. If I could play any song and sing well on an acoustic guitar, it would be this song. I love how Justin wrote it as if he was talking to a girl. In other words, he sings it like he’s singing a letter he wrote.
11. “Every Word” - Andy Mineo is by far my favorite rapper. Lyrically, he hits the spot. My favorite line to his song is as convicting as it is simple: "Want to know the fast track to look stupid? Talk about obedience and never go do it.” I try my best to live for Christ, to be obedient…and then I fail. Thank God for His grace.
12. “Fix My Eyes” - This is the anthem to my life. The Smallbone brothers sums the mission and the challenge of a Christian quite well: ‘I’d love like I’m not scared/ Give when it’s not fair/ Live life for another/ Take time for a brother/ Fight for the weak ones/ Speak out for freedom/ Find faith in the battle/ Stand tall but above it all/Fix my eyes on you.”
2 Notes/ Hide
- walkinmysandals-blog liked this
- giovannypanginda posted this