It’s been a while since I’ve listened to some spoken word artists. While this piece you’re about to listen to isn’t strictly spoken word, it’s still pretty good. It’s like a poem wrapped up in a story, wrapped up in a song. Sage takes his rhymes and weaves them into a story that you can follow, all to the beat of some instrumentals.

Hope you enjoy!

The Best of Times
Sage Francis

It’s been a long and lonely trip but I’m glad that I took it because it was well worth it. I got to read a couple books and do some research before I reached my verdict. Never thought that I was perfect. Always thought that I had a purpose. Used to wonder if I’d live to see my first kiss.

Don’t listen when they tell you that these are your best years. Don’t let anybody protect your ears. It’s best that you hear what they don’t want you to hear. It’s better to have pressure from peers than not have peers. Beer won’t give you chest hair. Spicy food won’t make it curl. When you think you’ve got it all figured out and then your universe collapses trust me, kid it’s not the end of the world.

Here’s a fun fact about me, I love the song Ave Maria. in fact, I have nine different versions of it in my music library. I’m sure that I’ve sung this song at least once when I was a part of the children’s choir at St. Luke Catholic Church and I can still remember Mr. Delvecchio telling us how to pronounce each word in Latin. It wasn’t until years later that I realized the words we were singing were the words to the "Hail Mary" prayer.

Sometimes I just close my eyes and imagine that I’m in an old Gothic cathedral as the sounds of the music echo throughout the stone sanctuary. The room is full of so much color as the light passes through the stained glass windows.

It is such a beautiful arrangement and I love the version that Christina England sings. Her voice is so clear and beautiful. Have a listen, I think you’ll see what I mean.

I’ve been looking for some new music and came across Matt White’s new song, "Falling in Love (With My Best Friend)." It’s a pretty easy going song and actually sounds similar to his other song, "Love." Enjoy!

Falling In Love (With My Best Friend)
Matt White

It’s so good
What we got
You and me
We laugh a lot

We’re just friends
Simple as that
I don’t want it to end
But I’m falling in love
with the best friend I got

They say you don’t want to fall in love
You don’t really want to mess this up
You don’t really want to fall in love
Because falling in love just breaks your heart

If we kiss
If we touch
All of this
Could get rough

Ain’t no thing
Ain’t no strings
Ain’t no I love you, you love me
We won’t get caught up in the stuff it brings

They say you don’t want to fall in love
You don’t really want to mess this up
You don’t really want to fall in love
Because falling in love just breaks your heart

They say you don’t want to fall in love
You don’t really want to mess this up
You don’t really want to fall in love
Because falling in love just breaks your heart

You don’t want to fall in love
You don’t really want to mess this up
You don’t really want to fall in love
Because falling in love just breaks your heart

Falling in love just breaks your heart
Falling in love just breaks your heart
Falling in love just broke my heart

The second person that caught my attention was a man who had just begun to recognize what was really important in his life when his wife told him that she was filing for divorce.

My heart broke so much for these two people who were coming from two different situations, but both being washed by the redeeming waters of the baptismal. I know from personal experience how hard a divorce can be, but I also know that while one chapter in their life is "ruined," the story of their life is not over. I came to realize this several years ago when I realized that my circumstances didn’t dictate who I was going to be and that the saving power of Jesus can give new life.

As I think about divorce, one of the songs that has resonated with me over the years is Wonderful by Everclear. It’s a great song that speaks to the pain that divorce causes. What this song fails to do is show that life does go on and that things do get better.

Wonderful
Everclear

I close my eyes when I get too sad
I think thoughts that I know are bad
Close my eyes and I count to ten
Hope it’s over when I open them

I want the things that I had before
Like a Star Wars poster on my bedroom door
I wish I could count to ten
Make everything be wonderful again

Hope my mom and I hope my dad
Will figure out why they get so mad
Hear them scream, I hear them fight
They say bad words that make me wanna cry

Close my eyes when I go to bed
And I dream of angels who make me smile
I feel better when I hear them say
Everything will be wonderful someday

Promises mean everything when you’re little
And the world’s so big
I just don’t understand how
You can smile with all those tears in your eyes
Tell me everything is wonderful now

Please don’t tell me everything is wonderful now

I go to school and I run and play
I tell the kids that it’s all okay
I laugh aloud so my friends won’t know
When the bell rings I just don’t wanna go home

Go to my room and I close my eyes
I make believe that I have a new life
I don’t believe you when you say
Everything will be wonderful someday

Promises mean everything when you’re little
And the world is so big
I just don’t understand how
You can smile with all those tears in your eyes
When you tell me everything is wonderful now

No
No, I don’t wanna hear you tell me everything is wonderful now
No
No, I don’t wanna hear you tell me everything is wonderful now

I don’t wanna hear you say
That I will understand someday
No, no, no, no
I don’t wanna hear you say
You both have grown in a different way
No, no, no, no
I don’t wanna meet your friends
And I don’t wanna start over again
I just want my life to be the same
Just like it used to be
Some days I hate everything
I hate everything
Everyone and everything
Please don’t tell me everything is wonderful now…

I don’t wanna hear you tell me everything is wonderful now

God Gave Me You
Dave Barnes

I’ve been a walking heartache
I’ve made a mess of me
The person that I’ve been lately
Ain’t who I wanna be

But you stay here right beside me
Watch as the storm goes through
And I need you

God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
For when I think I’ve lost my way
There are no words here left to say, it’s true
God gave me you

There’s more here than what were seeing
A divine conspiracy
That you, an angel lovely
Could somehow fall for me
You’ll always be love’s great martyr
Ill be the flattered fool
and I need you

God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
For when I think I’ve lost my way
There are no words here left to say, it’s true
God gave me you

On my own I’m only
Half of what I could be
I can’t do without you
We are stitched together
And what love has tethered
I could baby, never undo

God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
For when I think I’ve lost my way
There are no words here left to say, it’s true
God gave me you, gave me you.
Gave me you.

You and I
Ingrid Michaelson

Don’t you worry there my honey
We might not have any money
But we’ve got our love to pay the bills

Maybe I think you’re cute and funny
Maybe I wanna do want bunnies do with you if you know what I mean

Oh lets get rich and buy our parents homes in the south of France
Lets get rich and give everybody nice sweaters and teach them how to dance
Lets get rich and build a house on a mountain making everybody look like ants
From way up there, you and I, you and I

Well you might be a bit confused
And you might be a little bit bruised
But baby how we spoon like no one else
So I will help you read those books
If you will soothe my worried looks
And we will put the lonesome on the shelf

Lets get rich and buy our parents homes in the south of France
Lets get rich and give everybody nice sweaters and teach them how to dance
Lets get rich and build a house on a mountain making everybody look like ants
From way up there, you and I, you and I

Lets get rich and buy our parents homes in the south of France
Lets get rich and give everybody nice sweaters and teach them how to dance
Lets get rich and build a house on a mountain making everybody look like ants
From way up there, you and I, you and I

It’s a beautiful song that takes a glimpse at three different people who are going through different trials and really wanting to know what love is. At the end they hear, "I will love, you for you. Not for what you have done or what you will become." What powerful words, especially for those who really need to hear it. While human relationships and love can let us down, the love of God doesn’t, which is pretty awesome.

The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing" – Zephaniah 3:17

Love Me
JJ Heller

He cries in the corner where nobody sees
He’s the kid with the story no one would believe
He prays every night, Dear God won’t you please
Could you send someone here who will love me?

Who will love me for me
Not for what I have done or what I will become
Who will love me for me
Cause nobody has shown me what love
What love really means

Her office is shrinking a little each day
She’s the woman whose husband has run away
She’ll go to the gym after working today
Maybe if she was thinner
Then he would’ve stayed
And she says

Who will love me for me?
Not for what I have done or what I will become
Who will love me for me?
Cause nobody has shown me what love, what love really means

He’s waiting to die as he sits all alone
He’s a man in a cell who regrets what he’s done
He utters a cry from the depths of his soul
Oh Lord, forgive me, I want to go home

Then he heard a voice somewhere deep inside
And it said
I know you’ve murdered and I know you’ve lied
I have watched you suffer all of your life
And now that you’ll listen, I’ll tell you that I…

I will love you for you
Not for what you have done or what you will become
I will love you for you
I will give you the love
The love that you never knew

We talked a great deal about what’s going on in Haiti. My mind is still processing through everything that’s going on over there, while wondering how the church and the rest of the world will respond.

Anyway, at the end of the service, we showed a music video by the musical group, The Elms. The song is called "This Is How The World Will End" and I had originally heard it months ago when Starbucks was handing out cards with a free download of the song (to promote building water wells in Africa). It wasn’t until I saw the music video today with the lyrics on the screen, that I truly got the point of the song. I think you know what I mean, when you spent months upon months singing a song because it sounds good, yet you never take time to really listen to the lyrics.

The footage in the music video below was taken by Luke Renner, who is an Indiana-native and was in Haiti when the earthquake hit. Since then, he’s been taking footage almost non-stop and updating his Twitter account with updates (the footage in the video is before the earthquake hit). I’d challenge you to watch the video twice. First, just listen to the song and take in the pictures. The second time, read the lyrics. It’s amazing.

This Is How the World Will End
The Elms

When the dollar made with blood is spent,
When an enemy can’t become a friend.
When the better man won’t lend a hand,
Baby, this is how the world will end.

When a day of hope is a rarity,
Or a diplomat hasn’t time to see
That a child lost is a true offense,
Baby, this is how the world will end.

Bring a chair up to the table.
Bring a message to the crowd.
Where’s a common trust to deliver us from the wretched and the proud?
Sing a tune about the promise.
Speak on that which we depend.
And if a certain light don’t shine again,
Baby, this is how the world will end.

When the poorest kid is fending for himself,
Or the widow cries, but she gets no help.
When we know what’s true, but we still pretend,
Baby, this is how the world will end.

Bring a chair up to the table.
Bring a message to the crowd.
Where’s a common trust to deliver us from the wretched and the proud?
Sing a tune about the promise.
Speak on that which we depend.
Now let that certain light come shinin’ then,
Baby, we could change the world again.

But if that certain light don’t shine again,

Baby, this is how the world will end.

One of my goals for the next year is to get back into playing piano. While I’m not the best pianist, there is something greatly therapeutic about practicing a song so many times that it becomes a part of you. In a way, the notes just go straight from the brain right to the fingers and onto the keys. I’ve decided to make my comeback to piano by learning how to play Jon’s song, "Indiana." I chose it for two reasons (I seem to have a lot of reasons): one, it’s not too difficult to play and that’s the beauty of it. Second, the song kind of mirrors my feelings about my hometown.

I love Indiana. And while I’ve contemplated moving somewhere else (and probably will at some point in my life), Indiana will always be a deep part of who I am. While this song has the theme of a guy whose heart has been broken and uses his home in Indiana as a distraction, I still love it. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, life is going to take you many different places and when it’s all said and done, there will always be home. Okay, enough rambling on about what I think about the song.

Indiana
Jon McLaughlin

I’m glad I never lived next to the water
So I could never get used to the beach
And I’m glad I never grew up on a mountain
To figure out how high the world could reach

I love the miles between me and the city
Where I quietly imagine every street
And I’m glad I’m only picturing the moment
I’m glad she never fell in love with me

For some the world’s a treasure to discover
And your scenery should never stay the same
And they’re trading in their dreams for explanations
All in an attempt to entertain

But I love the miles between me and the city
Where I quietly imagine every street
And I’m glad I’m only picturing the moment
I’m glad she never fell in love with me

The trick of love is to never let it find you
It’s easy to get over missing out
I know the how’s and when’s, but now and then,
She’s all I think about

I wonder how it feels to be famous
But wonder is as far as I will go
Because I’d probably lose myself in all the pictures
And end up being someone I don’t know.

So it’s probably best I stay in Indiana
Just dreaming of the world as it should be
Where every day is a battle to convince myself
I’m glad she never fell in love with me

My Immortal
Evanscence

I’m so tired of being here
suppressed by all my childish fears
but if you have to leave
i wish that you would just leave
’cause your presence still lingers here
and it won’t leave me alone

These wounds won’t seem to heal
this pain is just too real
there’s just too much that time cannot erase

When you cried I’d wipe away all of your tears
when you’d scream I’d fight away all of your fears
I held your hand through all of these years
but you still have…all of me

You used to captivate me
by your resonating light
now I’m bound by the life you left behind
your face, it haunts
my once pleasant dreams
your voice, it’s chased away
all the sanity in me

These wounds won’t seem to heal
this pain is just too real
there’s just too much that time cannot erase

When you cried I’d wipe away all of your tears
when you’d scream I’d fight away all of your fears
i held your hand through all of these years
but you still have all of me

I’ve tried so hard to tell myself that you’re gone
but though you’re still with me
I’ve been alone all along

When you cried I’d wipe away all of your tears
when you’d scream I’d fight away all of your fears
i held your hand through all of these years
but you still have…all of me
all of me
all of me
all…
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