'Can We Really Be A Million Voices?'

Ok, so it’s time for another song of the week, and to tie in with this song, I also wanted to just talk about something that I’ve been thinking about.



Of course, BarlowGirl’s new album, ‘Love and War’ is coming out soon (by soon I mean in 50 days) and I’ve been listening to song clips and watching interviews a lot. BarlowGirl is really big on ‘getting out into the world and changing it.’ So just a little while ago, I was thinking about everything they say all the time. Things about this generation being the generation that everyone will remember and things about shaking up this world. A quote from their new album is “getting out of our comfortable walls and getting out into the world.” Most of their new songs center around this same idea.
Anyways, like I said, I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. This next generation really can change the world. The teenagers of 2009 are so incredibly capable of shaking up this world. 1 Peter 2:9 says, ‘For you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own special people, so that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light.’ It’s so true!
So many people look down on us, especially teenagers, because today’s generation is so different, and of course, we’re too young, but when I look at myself and a lot of the people around me, I see something different. The teenagers of this generation are very opinionated and although not many people like to listen, we have so many great ideas and thoughts inside of us that sometimes we never let out.
Teenagers have thoughts, and even though we don’t recognize it, we also have a voice.
The song that I wanted to tie in with this is called ‘Million Voices’ and of course, it’s yet another song by BarlowGirl.
My favorite line in this song says:

‘You were made to start the riot,
Take on the impossible and
We will slay the giants.
We are done with fake religion,
Fighting now to find the movement
Won’t stop til we find it'

Ok, it’s a little more than a line, but these lyrics are powerful and amazing! We really are made to start the riot. God didn’t create us just to sit around while this world crashes around us. God gave us a voice, even us teenagers, even 8 year olds, even the youngest of children. God gave us a voice to speak out! WE can take on the impossible, WE can slay giants, and WE can find the movement!
We were created with a purpose, a purpose to serve God with all that we have. We can let our voice be heard with whatever we do! We can make a difference just by being different. Another line in this song says, ‘Tell me who’d have thought that we would be so controversial and stand against the normal. Are we too outspoken loud and messing with the comfortable…’
WE can stand against the normal. We’re not meant to sit in this comfortable little pew our whole lives. We’re meant to stand out from this world! ‘Fitting in’ is so overrated! Let’s just stand out! Let’s let Christ’s burning passion shine through us… in every single thing we do!

But how can we be silent
when a fire burns inside us
Cause we're a million strong
and getting stronger still
they’ll remember we were here
with a million voices
breaking silence till
they’ll remember we were here

Lauren Barlow (youngest of BarlowGirl) always speaks before this song, and she always says, “You were meant to be the next Joan of Arcs, the next Mother Teresa’s. Who cares what everyone else in this world thinks?” (Watch a video of her amazing speech *HERE*) (Please watch it, it is such an amazing speech and it will change your view.)

She couldn’t be any more right. Who cares what everyone else thinks? I’d rather have a burning passion for God than ‘fit in’ with anyone else in this world. WE can stand out, WE can set ourselves apart from this world, whether we do it through purity, whether we do it by 'not dating' (like BarlowGirl), whether we do it by quitting something that we love, whether we do it by loving all the people around us, whether we do it by leaving the institutional church. You know, it doesn't matter! We can set ourselves apart from this world and do what God is calling us to do. It might not be easy, it might not be fun, but because our God is worth so much more than any worldly thing, it doesn't matter!
WE really are a million voices, no matter what anyone says. It doesn’t matter if everyone tells you ‘you don’t have a voice’ or ‘you’re not good enough.’ You are good enough and you do have a voice! You don’t just have one voice, you have a million! This generation was made to break the silence. We were made to break the silence of all the comfortable Christians around us. Let’s change the world! Let’s get out of this organized, fake, ‘box’ religion. Let’s remove our covers. Let’s be a million voices, and let’s let God’s passion shine through us!

-Amy

(Once again, here is the link for Lauren Barlow's speech. I encourage you to watch it. It is so powerful! CLICK *HERE*)

BarlowGirl 'Beautiful Ending' music video Premiere

I have to post right now because I just watched something that made me cry!
Someone from youtube sent me the premiere of BarlowGirl’s new music video for their new album in September, Love and War.
The song is ‘Beautiful Ending’ and the music video is the best music video of all time!
This is the link…http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/premieres/ Click on it!!!!!!!!!
Go watch it NOW!!! It is just beautiful.
Wow, now I really cannot wait for September!
Absolutely Amazing!
-Amy

Week #13- Lose My Soul by Tobymac

Am I waaaaay to late for another song or what?

I knew when I started, that my song of the week would turn into 'song of the week and 3 days' or 'song of whenever Amy has time and feels like writing about another song'

Ok, maybe that last one was a little too long :) haha.

Well, I'll go ahead and do one now. I think it's about time I do a song by my brother's favorite artist, TobyMac, who much like many artists this year is working on a new album.

Tobymac used to be a member of D.C. Talk until he started his solo career and created a band called 'Diverse City' made up of a very diverse group of people. Toby lives his life speaking out against prejudice and racism. He full knows that God loves everyone just the same, whether we're black, white, yellow, or grey. (That was a line from Toby's song 'Diverse City')

Tobymac not just lives this truth out through his music, but also in his family and his life. Toby and his wife, Amanda had 3 children of their own, and adopted 2. Tobymac is not only an extremely successful, grammy award winning, gold album artist, but a loving, devoting father and family man.

Choosing just one of Tobymac's many great songs is hard, but I think I'll talk about 'Lose My Soul' which also features two other artists, Mandisa, and Kirk Franklin.

Watch the official music video for this song *HERE*

To read the full lyrics to 'Lose My Soul' click *HERE*

I'm also, actually going to post the first verse and the chorus right here, because the lyrics are just so good.

Father God, I am clay in your hands,
Help me to stay that way through all life's demands,
'Cause they chip and they nag and they pull at me,
And every little thing I make up my mind to be,
Like I'm gonna be a daddy whose in the mix,
And I'm gonna be a husband who stays legit,
And I pray that I'm an artist who rises above,
The road that is wide and filled with self love,
Everything that I see draws me,
Though it's only in You that I can truly see that its a feast for the eyes- a low blow to purpose. And I'm a little kid at a three ring circus.

I don't want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
Don't wanna walk away, let me hear the people say.
I don't want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
Don't wanna walk away, let me hear the people say.

Wow, I for one, love these lyrics! Just to hear an artist sing that or write that, shows their heart. You can feel Toby's feelings as you read or listen to this song.

The world of fame out there, even the Christian music one is filled with... well... self-love.

I truly believe that when Christian artists start out, they go into the industry thinking, "This is for God" I am not doubting that at all, but I also believe that once they get pulled into the business of the whole thing, they might lose sight of God because the new thing in their view is themselves and money. (I'm not saying this is true for all the artists. Most Christian artists have a true passion for God and music... but maybe for some it is.)

Fame is all about your image, not really who YOU are, but who the world wants you to be.

I love the lyric in this song that says, "and I pray that I'm an artist who rises above, a road that is wide and filled with self-love."

Tobymac understands that God is most important. Not his image, not himself, but God. Everything He does is for God. God really is the most important thing in this world. Not just knowing who He is, but our relationship with Him.

We could have every single thing in this world, every electronic, every fan, every CD, DVD, and all the money in this world, but if we don't have God, then we're still left at nothing.

"I don't want to gain the whole world and lose my soul"

If we gain the whole world, but lose God, lose our soul, then what did we really gain?

New Music: BarlowGirl, 'Love And War'

I am extremely excited about this blog post! I just wanted to share some information about BarlowGirl's 4th studio album, set to release on September 22nd.

More and more news is coming out into the world wide web about this album. To read a full article about the CD, click *HERE*.

BarlowGirl's single, 'Beautiful Ending' is already out on Christian radios and is a beautiful song. To hear the song and view the acoustic video of it, click *HERE*.

Beautiful Ending was inspired by a lot of people that started this Christian music ministry for God, but then throughout the ministry they somehow lost sight of who God was and they lost their relationship with Him, because they got caught up in the fame and the industry. This song is BarlowGirl's way of saying, "Is our ending going to be beautiful?' The bridge says, 'At the end of it all, I want to be in Your arms.'

It's a beautiful song and the radio version of it is awesome!

I also found the track listing of all the songs on the album:

1. Come Alove
2. Open Heavens
3. Beautiful Ending
4. Stay With Me
5. Our Worlds Collide

6. Love is Marching
7. Running Out Of Time
8. Time For You To Go
9. Prelude

10. Sing Me A Love Song

11. Tears Fall

12. Hello Sunshine

To hear Rebecca, Alyssa, and Lauren talk a little about the album, you can view this video *HERE* and to hear yet, another song. 'This is Not Forever', now known as 'Stay With Me', you can click *HERE*

*UPDATE* And to hear 30 Second clips of ALL the songs click *HERE*

I for one am EXTREMELY excited for the sisters' new album. I've heard a all the clips and they all sound amazing. I think the album's music is a lot 'rockier' and it's going to be really great. I can hear the extreme passion in their voices! Each of BarlowGirl's albums has been better and better, so no doubt this will be the best one yet!
So, get ready everyone and mark your calenders, BarlowGirl's 4th studio album, 'Love And War' comes out on September 22nd, 2009!

You can also see if they are coming to a town near you as they tour this fall with Superchick and VOTA. They will be in Tallahassee on November 13th. (I'll be going to that one!) :)

-Amy :)

A Day On A Florida Beach

Today, we got up bright and early in the morning to head to a beach more than an hour from our house. It was very nice. The waves were big and we all had a good time jumping them... well, except me because instead of jumping them or diving into them, they hit me and I tumbled over. Mouthfulls of salt water were the high point of my day :) Just kidding. I eventually got the hang of it. Anyways, when I wasn't wrestling with waves, I was trying to take some good pictures. So, here are some of my favorite pictures from today at the beach :) (The last one is my cousin, Emily)

Week #12- Ocean Wide by The Afters

Ok, so I think a new song is long overdue.

I've been wanting to do this song for awhile, but I never actually took the time to do it, so I am doing it now. This song is called 'Ocean Wide' by a band called The Afters...

This song plays on the radio all the time, so that's how I know it.

You can read the lyrics.... *HERE*

and you can hear the song *HERE*

Ok, so there is a story behind this song (like most songs) and it goes like this...

The lead singer of the band knew a girl and she called him one day to tell him that her parents were getting a divorce. Her dad left a note to her family that said something like 'I can't keep living a lie' and then he walked out on her and her family. Their hero walked out on them.

This girl's expreience inspired the song 'Ocean Wide' because we realize through experiences like this that the only one true love in the whole world is God's love. Even when all other loves in this world give up on us, we always have our love from God and like the lyrics say, we can always hold on to Him.

It's hard to go through expreinces like this. Divorce is a big one, that I have actually seen people go through. A lot of people just give up on love completely because all these worldly loves give up on us, but God won't, and He never has. Love really is an ocean wide. Love is all around us, but it's so hard to find.

One of the lines says 'You see through all my fears.' I love that line because it's so true. God sees through all of your fears. He sees through all of our tears, and He is the only one whose love will remain with us forever and it will always hold onto us, even when we don't feel it, it's there.

I know that it's hard to forget, I do all the time, but we have to remind ourselves that God is with us. He is holding us and carrying us through this life. While every other love has its flaws, God's love is perfect. God loves us for our imperfections, God loves us for who He created us to be, and God love is all around us. God's love never leaves. Love is an ocean wide, it's there but hard to find. God's love is also an ocean wide, but it's easy to find because it's always with us. God's strong arms are always holding us, and they will NEVER, ever leave.

Hannah and Elizabeth

Yesterday, we had two families over at our house. Two girls (one from each family) quickly became friends and so I decided to take them outside and take some pictures of them. I usually don't get to do that often because I only have one sibling and stuff, so we went outside and took about 80 pictures. We got attacked by some fire ants, it started raining and Hannah got sunburn, but overall, it was lots of fun :)

We had a good time. They just kept looking at the camera, even when I told them they didn't have to! They were dancing, running, talking, and biking. It was fun. So, here is the result from our burning ant bites, wet hair, sunburn, and laughter! :)
See th video of ALL the pictures we took *HERE*

My Christian Bubble...

I have to share this. Ok, so last night I was listening to Total Axxess on the radio. They had a guest band on the show. Flyleaf. You may know them from their hit song, ‘All Around Me’. Flyleaf is ‘if you will’ a Christian band. But what’s interesting about them is that they don’t just play in churches and at ‘Christian’ concerts, but they play at mainstream shows. Flyleaf is a very hard rock band and many times have gotten judged harshly for their decisions to play at different shows and to sing a certain way. One thing that I found so crazy is that all the judgments and the criticism that the members of this band receive is from Christians! Now, if you think about it that makes no sense. Here are a group of people who play hard core music and proclaim their faith from many stages, and the one group of people that judges them and doubts their faith is Christians!
One thing I’ve realized a lot is that Christians nowadays seem to think that we are on top of the world. We seem to think that everything we do is right and there is only one way to do it. We don’t look outside of the box. We don’t see past our little Christian bubble.
Lacey Mosley, the lead singer from Flyleaf has had a very hard life but God has really used her and changed her. When Lacey was only ten years old, she began to use drugs and continued to for a long time. She began to change everything about herself, left her family, and even considered suicide. One thing that Lacey shared about on the radio was that she became an atheist because all the Christians around her judged her so harshly. All the people at the church criticized her because of how she looked and how she acted. Because of the hatred, she received from these Christian people, she became an outspoken atheist.
After awhile of struggling, God brought Lacey to a point where He showed her who He was. He showed her He was real in her life, and Lacey began to follow Christ every day. Now, Lacey shares with thousands of people what God did in her life. She doesn’t share this at churches, but she shares it at mainstream shows, where she finds girls who were just like her, girls who had lost all hope in a God. She shares with these girls the light that God shone in her life. Through Lacey, God is reaching other people. Lacey is able to show love and compassion to people because of her life experiences, and what she has undergone.When talking about the criticism she receives for what she does, Lacey says that she doesn’t believe that just because her and her band are Christians, they should be labeled a Christian band, she says this, "We all share the same faith. And so when we deal with the whole 'Christian band thing,' we kind of think about something P.O.D. says, like, 'If you're a Christian, it affects everything in your life. So if you're a plumber, does that make you a Christian plumber?” "I don't know the answer. We're a band, its part of who we are, so it comes out in our music, and it's the fuel for what we do. And finding faith saved my life. So I'm not ashamed of it at all. And most of our album reflects that."
Last night on the radio, the host of Total Axxess was very impressed with this band. I also was, for this very reason. Lacey and her band get so criticized because of what they do. When she gets asked how she feels about it, all she says is, “Well, it’s sad because they don’t understand, but you know, whatever?!” I love that. She has so much grace for people. People do not understand anything about her life and her reasons for doing this, and instead of getting angry about it and scowling those people; she just shows them grace and says, ‘whatever.’
The producer of Total Axxess went to one of their concerts and said that all the people at the show had you know a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Flyleaf played some worship songs and the people raised their beer bottles in the air. Some people will read this and think that’s so weird, but it really isn’t. Flyleaf is living out their faith in places were normal Christians would never be caught dead. Flyleaf sees that God loves everyone the same and sometimes the best place to share our faith is with people who never hear it or people who have given up on it. Another thing that the producer saw at the concert was afterwards, backstage he saw like 4 or 6 teenage girls gathered around Lacey and heard her sharing her testimony with them. The cool thing about that is that those girls really had someone to connect with. They had someone there who had gone through what they were going through. Some youth pastor somewhere may have said, “Don’t cut. Because… well, because it’s bad.” Lacey was able to share with these girls her story, she was able to tell them how God helped her through it. Sometimes, we don’t need some man who is better than us to tell us the rules and what not to do, but we need someone who has been through the things that we are struggling with and it able to connect with us.
Sometimes, as Christian we don’t realize that we’re not on top of the world. We forget that Jesus hung out with tax collectors. We forget that everyone is loved equally. Most importantly, we forget that it’s not our job to judge others. Flyleaf takes a big step. A step out of the Christian bubble and a step into the real world. We don’t have to live this sheltered life. We can be radical and do out-of-the-ordinary things. We can live our life out-of-the-box. We can, (in the words of Lauren Barlow, ‘Shake this world up a bit!’
I really enjoyed these 2 hours on the radio with Flyleaf. What they do is amazing and different. The way they react to things is loving and full of grace. I love what this band is doing, and I hope we all see the effect that it has on the world.

Flowers... and flowers... and more flowers

We went to our friend's house yesterday and they have a garden, and another garden, and a gazillion animals so I took a few pictures of their flowers. Here are two mixed pictures of some of the flowers.

Independence Day- Fireworks!

Here are some pictures from yesterday.

We went to go see fireworks and it was jammed packed with people.

I was surprised that there were so many people in one little city!

My camera has a firworks setting but I didn't really like it. I did get a few decent pictures but I didn't get very many good ones...

Here are pictures of the lake we were at and the fireworks.

More Beautiful You- Week # 11

Wow!
I am soooo late! Sorry! I've had a great week! My cousin spent a few days here and so we had some fun with shopping, skating, computering... ect.

So I had a little break from everything.

Then yesterday was my grandma's birthday :) so we had a good time here at our house talking, eating, laughing.

Now I'm back to the real world... finishing up school... It's getting harder and harder to stay focused now that I know that in a few months I'll be in college, in a classroom again!

But I'm trying to get it finished up.

Saturday is 4th of July and I will be taking pictures of the fireworks and stuff that I will be sure to post probably on Sunday so yeah.

But I didn't forget about my blog and my songs, so here is a song that I have been wanting to do.

It is called 'More Beautiful You' by Jonny Diaz. It's more of a girl focused song, but something that is different about it is that a guy wrote it, so the point of view is interesting.

You can read the lyrics *HERE*

There is also just an amazing music video *HERE*

A few days ago, I entered an online contest about this song to win a Jonny Diaz CD and also a year subscription to this magazine. Anyways, the contest simply said, "define beauty"

So, this is what I came up with and this also goes along with the song:

Beauty shines from within. Beauty is not on the outside but rather on the inside. God created each and every one of us absolutely beautiful because we were made In His image. Beauty is what makes us unique. Beauty is the ability to be you without limits. Beauty shows who you are. Beauty shows passion. Beauty shows Christ inside of you. Some may say that beauty is defined by our size, our hair, or our eye color; I say that beauty is defined by Christ. This world does not know beauty like our God knows beauty. We are all beautiful because we are made to be nothing but ourselves. Our intelligence, our athletic ability, our musical talent, our voice, or even our laughter makes us beautiful. Beauty shows the special and unique talents and personality that God has given each of us. These come from our hearts, not our bodies. Take a look in the mirror and tell me what you see. Don’t say, “Imperfect hair, crooked teeth and a large body.” Say, “beauty.” Smile at yourself and tell yourself that you are beautiful, not because of how you look but because you were created by God, in His image. That makes you beautiful!

^That is what I entered in the contest...

Especially in today's world, I think that girls never understand that we don't have to do what this world says to be happy. Rebecca Barlow struggled with an eating disorder when she was 16 years old and she always shares her testimony. My favorite quote from her speech is "Don't look to the ways of this world to define you."

It's so hard to live in a world where everyone has to look perfect, dress a certain way, be a certain size, have a certain face, ect. We never realize that God doesn't look at our outside appearances, but He looks at our hearts.

God made all of us beautiful, but He didn't make us so that we could have the 'perfect body' or the perfect hair or the perfect anything, He made us with a special purpose which is beautiful in its self.

We just need to remember that we are all beautiful. Not for the reasons that this world says, but for the reasons that God says. We are all shining from the inside out and even better, we have God burning inside of us. That makes us tremendously beautiful!

*Amy