With by Skye Jethani

In his book "With" Skye Jethani helps readers reimagine the way we relate to God.  He starts by describing inadequate postures often taken towards God. Some see God as a rule-giver to please while others subject Him to universal rules. Some view God as existing to fulfill their desires and others see him as a mission to strive for.

But Skye Jethani believes in a better way to relate to God: just be with Him.  Instead of striving for or expecting things from God Jethani wants us to treasure God, unite with Him and experience Him.

The best part of this book is Jethani’s challenge to treasure God more.  He likens treasuring God to how a 17 year-old might treasure a dream car.  Treasuring can lead to owning that new Subaru.  Owning can lead to experiencing that new Subaru.

With challenged me to treasure, own and experience God in a similar way.  I want to value God more.  I find it easy to under-appreciate God.  Jethani shed light on ways I inadequately connect with God and provided tools to improve our relationship.  The books appendix provides questions to ask at the day’s end in journaling.

It’s wonderful to be reminded that God wants to be with us.  I recommend this book to people who want to explore their connection to God.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Years ago my friends and I shared a mentor who repeated a phrase we often mocked.  Her words “make good choices” achieved mantra status.  But years later this motherly sounding fix-all remains in our minds.

That same phrase echos throughout Andy Stanley’s book The Principle of the Path.  In his book Stanley spells out the premise that our direction, not intention, determines our destination.

This is a great book for self examination.  The early chapters challenged me to honestly uncover areas of my life I want to change.  Stanley challenged me to be brutally honest about why I do the things I do.  Then he asked me to write how I would advise someone else in my circumstances.

Stanley also did a great job weaving together stories of Biblical characters who dealt with the direction their lives were heading.  King David of ancient Israel makes a few appearances and provides valuable lessons.  King Solomon, aka the wisest man who ever lived, also gets special treatment.

I could not help but smirk when I read Stanley’s concluding words:  “choose wisely”.  Stanley reinforced the old mantra of “make good choices” that I suspected might be true.  I’m grateful Andy Stanley wrote The Principle of the Path to spell out that the direction we head in determines our destination.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

My Top CDs From 2010

The Year The Music Died
Musically speaking 2010 was a rough year for me.  Two of my favorite bands broke up:  Copeland and Mae.  News of the band Copeland’s breakup bummed me in the early months of 2010. Their last CD had been so strong.  I’m grateful to have spent my birthday at their farewell concert.

Then Mae announced they were calling it quits too.  I felt like a chapter in my life was closing.  Mae’s departure left me asking “what bands that I closely follow are left?”

Bands come and go.  There’s no point in hinging too much of my life on a group of people.  People are temporal.  God’s word is eternal.

The Year of Mae
The band Mae closed their career on a high note.  They released three EPs titled Morning, Afternoon and Evening.  I first purchased the Afternoon EP and enveloped myself in the songs “In Pieces”, “The Fight Song” and “Communication”.

I was proud of what Mae accomplished with Afternoon.  The songs were strong in melody, rhythm and lyrical content.  Lead vocalist Dave Elkins opened himself up more than ever in the autobiographical song “Communication”.  It was a project I was glad to share with friends.

The Morning EP hit me just as hard.  “The Fisherman Song” knocked my socks off.  I had that song on repeat for weeks.  The tempo changes, style changes and storyline gripped me.  I paraded that song before friends and family.

Rend Collective Experiment
The Irish worship band Rend Collective Experiment gave the worship genre a fresh twist with their album Organic Family Hymnal.

Church songs often contain similar phrases and language.  With the Organic Family Hymnal the band clearly abandoned many of those phrases for unique descriptions of the Christian experience.  (Example: they say “God let Your dreams come true through us” instead of the oft-used “have Your way in me”.)

Brooke Fraser - “Flags”
The strength of Brooke’s last CD, Albertine, practically demanded my loyalty.  I don’t enjoy her new cd, Flags, as much as that earlier release.  Still I greatly enjoy the songs “Coachella”, “Who Are We Fooling” and “Ice On Her Lashes”.

Katy Perry Comeback
After hearing her first hit (I Kissed A Girl)  I hoped Katy Perry would be a one hit wonder.  I thought she needed shock value to cover up her lack of talent.

Then I heard the song “California Gurls” at a wedding.  The solid musicianship and production forced me to reevaluate Katy.  That song is catchy and fun.  It’s strong groove marks a comeback for the 70s disco feel over the typical “club” dance music.

The song “Teenage Dream” also exemplifies quality production.  I haven’t bought the rest of her CD but those two songs force me to reevaluate Katy Perry.

Maroon 5 deserves an honorable mention.  I got their CD, Hands All Over, for Christmas and am still sifting through it.  It’s good and I respect Mutt Lange’s production.  I especially like “Just A Feeling”.

Come Around Sundown by Kings of Leon

The rock group Kings of Leon recently released the follow up CD to their highly successful album “Only By The Night”.  This new CD, “Come Around Sundown” depicts them more as a  beach-rock jam-band than the arena-rock alternative group they portrayed last time.

Many of the arrangements are scaled back from the band’s previous offering.  My favorite song, “Pyro”, is the song that feels most like it belongs on their last cd.  “Pyro” features a driving drumbeat with sparse instrumentation leaving room for lead vocalist Anthony Followill to squall “I don’t want to be your cornerstone.”  Other winners on this new cd include the good-time focused “Birthday”, and the chilled out “Beach Side”.

This CD isn’t as mind boggling as “Only By The Night”.  Still there are catchy melodies and refreshing sonic landscapes.  For those who enjoyed their last cd “Come Around Sundown” is definitely worth multiple listens.

Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado

How will you be remembered?  In “Outlive Your Life” author Max Lucado challenges readers to live unforgettably.  Lucado weaves Biblical stories of the early church with stories of current heroes inspiring us to think bigger than ourselves.

Just as the early church cared for orphans and widows of their day Lucado highlights the needs of the poor in our world.  He likens our world to a community of ten farmers with ten cows.  Our worldwide resources are distributed as if two farmers own eight cows leaving the other eight farmers left sharing two cows.  He challenges us to compassionately respond to the needy around us.

Lucado also used stories of the early church meeting in homes to inspire me to grow in neighborliness.  He challenged me to designate one meal a week as a “hospitality meal” and always plan on having people over.  Likewise he charged me to make a new rule for the next two months: no one sits alone.

Lucado’s inspiration to grow in compassion and hospitality hit home.  I hope to practice some of his ideas so when my days have passed my contribution to Jesus’ significance, not my own, may be worth remembering.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

New "Eyes Up" EP

In 2009 I accepted a challenge from Worship Leader magazine to create something tangible that inspires people to connect with God.  I wrote songs for my local church, LIFE Christian Fellowship in Chino California, to sing to God.  I hoped to record those songs so LIFE could use them to worship God during the week.

Marco Sassoon, my mentor, found out about the project and offered to help.  Together we began emailing each other song ideas and refinements.  We introduced the new songs to the churches we serve.  Musicians Pili Bailey and Matthew James also contributed their talent to the songwriting process.

We crafted these six songs to encourage us to lift our eyes up to Heaven.

1.  Strength And Song - inspired by Exodus 15.  After Moses and the Israelites crossed the Red Sea out of Egypt they sang a song of celebration to the Lord.  This new take on Exodus 15 teaches about the power of singing scripture.  The catchy melody aims to get people singing and clapping.

2.  On Your Name.  When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray He started off with “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.”  Jesus wanted us to respect God’s name.  The Bible continually mentions the name of the Lord as a significant force.  This song summarizes many powerful aspects of God’s name.  The melody is easy to sing and follow.

3.  Power - inspired by Psalms 96-99.  Based off of the psalms of enthronement that describe God’s sovereign rule.

4.  Lifeline - inspired by Psalm 86.  This song speaks to the place of desperation that we all find ourselves in at some point.  We can find power when we take our eyes off the desperation of the situation and place it on the truth of God’s always present love and goodness.  That change of thought brings us to a place of surrender and hope in the desperate places.

5.  All Of My Life.  This song accentuates the point of redemption when we run to God instead of running from Him.

 Renewed - inspired by Psalm 1.  This song celebrates life transformation and renewal.  It humbly acknowledges God’s way as the best and expresses a desire for His way.

Musicians:
Drums: Ricky Lawson
Bass: Gene Simons (tracks 1,2), Matt Morgan (3-6)
Guitar: Ryan Biermann (1-6), Mark Arvizu (3,5), Mark Bratton (4,6)
Keys: Luke Graham
Lead Vocals: Luke Graham (1-4,6), Laura Gonzales (5), Pili Bailey (4), Josh Boyer (6)
Background Vocals: Vanessa Barsamian (4), Dena Hempel (5,6), Cindy Lund (1,2), Stacey Percival (1,3)

Song information:
1.Strength and Song words & music by: Luke Graham © 2006 More Left Music
2.On Your Name words & music by: Luke Graham/Matthew James © 2008 More Left Music
3.Power words & music by: Luke Graham/Marco Sassoon © 2010 More Left Music
4.Lifeline words & music by: Luke Graham/Pili Bailey © 2010 More Left Music
5.All Of My Life words & music by: Marco Sassoon/Miranda Keller © 2009 CausePraise Publishing
6.Renewed words & music by: Luke Graham/Marco Sassoon © 2009 More Left Music

Craig Ferguson

In the midst of the recent late night fiasco Craig Ferguson retains my vote for best late night host.  He’s funnier and has more heart than the other guys.

In this video from 2007 he explains why he won’t tell jokes about Britney Spears on his show.