Today's song has been picked purely because I have to be functioning much earlier than I am used to today and I'm gonna need coffee to get me jump started! ;)  Plus Julian Smith is hysterical and this song is VERY funny!  I drink my coffee "white" and every morning without fail, as I am doctoring it up, I think briefly of my friend Brandon who in 6th grade (I think?) was already drinking coffee pretty much every morning and one day thought to himself, "What if there's a time when I have coffee but no cream or sugar to put in it?  I had better learn to like it black."  And so he did.  He started drinking it black because of the "what if"!  I love that story and if you know Brandon then you love it for the same reasons I do, he cracks me up!  So in our coffee relationship Brandon is black and I am white.  ;)  But we have learned how to get along! Haha! Racist Coffee

Admittedly I don't listen to Joss Stone.  Admittedly I don't know why I don't!  It certainly is NOT because of her voice!  Joss Stone has an incredible voice.  She has a maturity to her voice that betrays her age, 24!  Seriously.  24 years old and she can sing with that voice?  Incredible.  My boss (and friend!), Stephanie, threw this song my way and I'm grateful.  This is a GREAT song.  By all accounts this song is literally about God.  I don't know where Joss stands spiritually but this song is truly all about Jesus as far as I can tell!  It is a remake, originally sung by Candi Staton.  Candi was a gospel singer (although I have NEVER heard of her) so that explains the Jesus in this song! :)  I love that Stone decided to remake it because her voice does it justice.  So, by now you know me well enough to know that I have got to point out a few things about the truths in this song.  :)  Well really the one overwhelming truth in this song is that God's love IS

In 2000 a book was published underneath Anonymous titled, "The Heart Reader".  Click here for more on that book and my review of it.  What does that book have to do with today's song?  Well simple really.  Brandon Heath's "Give me your eyes" is like the soundtrack title song for that book!  Every time I hear today's song I think of that book.  (Which means I'm probably going to re-read it again soon to refresh my memory on it!) Brandon Heath is amazing.  He's the younger Steven Curtis Chapman in my book!  (THAT is saying A LOT about him!)  Plays guitar beautifully, writes amazing, has a great voice, and is one of the most down to earth guys you'll ever meet.  Young Life Service Center hosted him yesterday for a private concert that he wanted to put on for SC staff.  Brandon is a HUGE supporter of YL, grew up in it, understands the value of it, etc.  But enough about just Young Life! :)  Before releasing his own music Brandon wrote songs fo

I have always loved the music of Rich Mullins.  He lived his life according to the Word of God and for that I deeply respect him.  He is most "famous" for the song 'Our God is an Awesome God' but his music was so much more than that song.  One of my favorites of his, and one that really has ministered to me and continues to, is today's song, "Hold Me Jesus".  "You have been my King of Glory, won't you be my Prince of Peace?"  Love that line!  It's true.  When we find ourselves in dire straights we need the Peace that passes all human understanding and comprehension.  So if you find yourself in dire straights, in circumstances that have you shaking like a leaf, in tribulation then reach out to the One whose embrace can give you peace. Hold Me Jesus Rich Mullins was a different Christian.  He was different because he held fast to the Word of God and didn't allow the "American Dream" to dissuade him from Jesus.  Before h

Ever read "My heart, Christ's home"?  It tackles the subject matter of today's hymn.  In fact, today's hymn is kind of like the soundtrack to that book(let).  I HIGHLY recommend it, it's short but deep.  In my experiences and observations the reason people don't have room for Jesus is because he wants to move in completely and occupy every space and people don't like that.  Our ego's simply won't allow for Jesus to occupy.  But he stands, oh so patiently and without force, and waits for us to allow his access.  He bore your load of sin, can you not now let him in?  Have You Any Room For Jesus? (BLUEGRASS!!) Have You Any Room For Jesus? (What you would hear in a small Baptist church on a Sunday morning!)

Okay, I have a confession.  I really, really, really like Metallica.  :)  No really I do!  I have always liked their sound, I love James Hetfield's voice, I love Lars Ulrich's persona and drumming.  It's a bit out of personality for me but I'm going to blame it on the fact that in High School I dated a guitar player and then I ended up marrying a bass player!  It got into my blood!  James Hetfield is amazing.  His voice is so distinct and well, this is silly but I will confess, back in the day when he had all his hair he was a dead ringer for the Cowardly Lion from Wizard of Oz.  I'm just sayin'.  Now with short hair  he's not so much but I still think of the lion when I look at him.  And look at what I found when I google imaged James: Apparently I am not the first person to think this about James.  HA!  That's hysterical.  But back to the music.  Metallica just has this sound that is deep and gritty and I have always been drawn to.  I has to be from

Oh yeah, it's Friday!  And for today's song I gave us something we could dance to.  :)  'Course this white girl don't dance but y'all bust your moves if you want! So today's song is courtesy of my bestie, Jodi.  Now here's the funny thing.  I heard a different song by the same group on the radio the other day and planned to feature them because I loved their sound, etc. And then she suggests this song which is PERFECT for a Friday in terms of music! :)  So at some point you'll hear the song I had heard but I loved this song for today.  Royal Tailor is a new group, I think.  Although they have A LOT of songs out there already.  A group of 4 guys who apparently (according to the comments below today's featured video) hail from a United Pentecostal background.  I'm not sure what UPC is doing these days but they certainly wouldn't be approving of this groups video and the dancers in it.  Oh it's all clean and there is NOTHING wrong about it

Wow.  Does Candye Kane have a voice!  And her band backs her up in smooth and beautiful ways.  I have never heard of her before my friend, Misty, shot this song my way for the experiment.  Forget the words for a moment, especially if they get a rise out of you, and listen to Kane's voice and Laura Chavez's guitar playing.  A-MAZING.  In today's pop and hip-hop saturated culture this voice and this music is refreshing.  It's earthy, real, and unique.  To really read a review of the band from someone who knows way more than I ever will about music and such, click here .  It's a great review of the album Kane released in 2009.  Kane is in the Blues genre and rightfully so.  I love her voice and her style.  And her band can play.  As a group they go the range.  They are impressive to say the least.  I'm not going to focus on the lyrics of today's song.  They are funny but cause much controversy and I don't feel like going there today.  :)  But if any of yo

I remember hearing about Duran Duran in 6th grade.  If you have been following this experiment then you know that it was in 6th grade that I started listening to music other than the "Golden Oldies" that year.  But I never did really catch on to Duran Duran even though they were similar in other music I was starting to listen to.  Today's song is recommended by my cousin, Jodi.  The video cracks me up, it's so...British...and so 80's!  But the lyrical content is decent, good even.  It seems to be about lost love but I have to wonder since so many of the groups at that time sang songs with deep political undertones.  One of the later stanzas in the song does reference something more than lost love so I suppose the song is up for interpretation. :) The one thing I didn't like about the groups during this time period, which was their heydays, was their attempts to be profound by being vague.  It's a pet peeve of mine and in fact there are groups today who d

I CANNOT believe I haven't done this song yet especially because my amazing friend, and one of my besties, Stephanie dedicated it to me a while back.  What was I thinking not putting it on here until now?!?  Sheesh.  Thanks dear friend for two things: 1) Dedicating it to me in the first place because you heard my heart and you know me.  I'm so grateful for you. 2) Reminding me to listen to it again and put it on the experiment!!  :) So this song is well, simply put, the BEST!  Stephanie claims to sing it a lot and I remember now why after listening to it again.  What a great song of encouragement and affirmation to give to the people in your life.  What a great song to sing to yourself, reminding yourself of God's belief in you.  See, God believes in us.  Ephesians 2:10, among other verses, back this up.  Sidewalk Prophets have a great sound.  Very easy to listen to and they put out a great message.  On the particular radio station I listen to (which is a Christian one

I'm not sure if I don't know of one woman who doesn't struggle with her beauty.  Even the beautiful struggle with their beauty, whether that be internal or external.  It seems that part of the Fall (you know Garden of Eden, the serpent, Eve chomping on a piece of fruit she shouldn't have, the fallout...) was women struggle with beauty - heart and external.  We are never quite satisfied when we glance in a mirror and we know, in the depths of us, how ugly we can be in our private lives - our very hearts.  It seems that we silently ask, if not out loud, "Am I enough for anyone?"  Bethany Dillon tackles this issue in today's song.  And the conclusion of the matter is that we ARE enough for at least One.  And it's the One that matters. We are enough for our Creator, the One who knit us together in our Mother's womb, the One who knew our days before they came to be, the One who loves us without conditions.  The One who calls us beautiful.  Society, an

Written in the late 1800's, today's hymn is obscure and I have personally never heard of it (as much as my memory can recall) and maybe have never sung it BUT Plumb in 2007 decided to give it some recognition and did their own version and put it on their album for that year!  That's what I love about the hymns.  They are timeless.   Today is Father's Day here in America and in order to thoroughly celebrate Father's Day we have to start with the true Father.  God, our Father, is the model for you, Dads, to follow and look to.  Don't look to your earthly Dad - he isn't the model to follow. Why?  Because he is flawed.  Oh sure he may have taught you many things but he's probably failed you in some way as well and as humans we cling to the failures and ignore the successes. That is why we must look to God and he alone for our model.  God is the PERFECT Father and when we all look to him we will not be disappointed.  Happy Father's Day!   Children Of

  HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!   I know so many amazing Fathers.  I have an amazing Father myself and my redheads have an amazing Father!  Being a good Dad takes fortitude, courage, strength, and presence.  Today's song is from the group Sanctus Real and it was birthed out of the lead singer's own personal experience with being a husband and father.  When he took a long hard look he found himself lacking and he knew that he needed to change and quickly.  And he knew that the ONLY way he was going to change and be better was through Jesus.  Through counseling and re-evaluating he emerged with a fresh awareness of Who he needed to lead him so he could lead his family.  That's the key to being an amazing Father, allowing yourself to be led by the One who was our Father first.     Lead Me

The Easybeats.  Never heard of them, even though I grew up listening to their era of music.  Until I saw a little more info on them I thought they were a group of the present and I thought to myself, "Wow, they have a Beatles sound going on." And then I found out more about them.  Turns out today's song was from somewhere right around 1966.  So they have a Beatles sound because they were competing, so to speak, with the Beatles.  I won't hold it against them because I like the song and I like the sound of this song.  :)  Today's Friday, hip-hip-hooray! Friday On My Mind

Today I've picked the soundtrack of Memoirs of a Geisha as the "song" of the day.  I've highlighted four tracks from the soundtrack although every single piece of music on the soundtrack is beautiful.  Any cello piece you hear is the work of Yo-Yo Ma and is hauntingly beautiful.  The music for this movie complimented the movie so well, I believe it is one of the reasons you watch the movie and feel it so deeply.  The music pours into the feelings and when combined they make for a powerful experience.  Haven't seen the movie yet?  Don't worry, I hadn't either until this morning!  I literally watched it for the first time ever today after reading the book for the first time ever a couple of weeks ago.  Hey cut me some slack.  When the book came out I was busy having babies and when the movie came out I, well, I just wasn't interested, due in part to my ignorance of the movie and the book and what a Geisha really is.  Reading the book and seeing the care

So in my quest to make sure I had at least one song from each letter of the alphabet today I tackle the q's and was reminded of Que Sera Sera.  OF COURSE!  A few artists have done this song but I picked the version from Pink Martini for a couple of reasons.  1)  I just really really like the name Pink Martini.  2)  Her version is dramatic, theatrical, and a bit creepy in some of its undertones!  Whatever will be will be.  The future's not ours to see BUT (oh gosh you totally knew that was coming right?) God does see our future.  He's the one who planned it!  So this song is right on a spiritual level, whatever will be will be according to God's design/plan for each of us.  He says in Matthew 6 to not concern ourselves with tomorrow for today has enough cares of its own.  So in truth que sera sera is a biblical principle that we all could learn and should learn to live by!  :)  Que Sera Sera

My friend, Emily Gray, is one of the funniest people you will EVER meet.  I promise!  She has us in hysterics on a daily basis through her blog.  She works at Young Life and is not just funny but honestly one of the coolest people I will ever have the honor of knowing.  Seriously.  Last week she wrote a blog about her sympathy for Zombies.  It's a must read so click here .  We all loved it.  Another friend, Kenny, loved it so much he requested (apparently) a song to be made out of it.  She complied.  And so I "let" her have yesterday to launch her world premiere of the song (okay, I had NO idea until yesterday she even did it but still I let her have the day!) but today I give it the dubious honor of being on my little 'ole experiment.  So without further ado I give you...  Zombie Love (Sidenote:  Thanks to Emily I get to have at least one song on my experiment that starts with a Z but that in NO WAY influenced me to highlight her song.  Yeah...in no way...WINK)

Let's just talk about Queen, shall we?  Great musicians, Freddie Mercury had an amazing voice, the band all together was just incredible.  I think that it's hysterical that Queen was this hard rock band and yet Mercury was so flamboyant.  The two were such an odd mix that worked out in the end! :)  Perhaps most recognizable for Bohemian Rhapsody, Somebody to Love Me, We Will Rock You and We are the Champions, to those who aren't into that kind of music at all but have seen Wayne's World (haha) or any movie with the other songs as part of it's soundtrack, I picked this song today so that they would get some recognition for a different song! :)  If you know Queen's music then you wouldn't even have to double check, "Who sang this?" It's Queen through and through, they had a great sound that saturated every bit of music they did.  Without Freddie, who died in 1991 from AIDS, the band has continued to play music for different venues , most notabl

Okay so maybe just read the lyrics today and ignore the music.  Dear me this hymn needs to be updated musically!  It could be SO good but this is putting me to sleep!  :) I picked today's hymn because of the words and it was nowhere to be found on YouTube and the only place I found it was the link I have included.  Oh well.  Let's just focus on those lyrics shall we?  So here's the deal about "church".  WE are the church, each of us and collectively we make up the church.  A building is NOT a church, it simply houses the church.  A building cannot and will not save you, make you holy, create good habits, etc.  And as the second verse says, "There is potential within us...." There is potential within us as the church BUT unfortunately we have mistaken the building to be the church and we have spent a lot of time and money on the actual building and neglected our own souls.  Our buildings may be "pretty" but the people in those buildings have fo

Vic Chou is a boy band member.  He sings in Mandarin (in case you are wondering what dialect you are listening to!) and he is Taiwanese.  He also is an actor.  I think he might be kind of a big deal but I don't know for sure since I can't read, speak, or understand Chinese and all it's various dialects! ;)  So here's the deal.  I feel completely uninspired for today's song and one of my unspoken goals for this 365 experiment is to get at least one song from each letter of the alphabet on there.  So I googled "songs that start with x" and all the ones from rappers, etc were going to obviously be really inappropriate and disgusting so I focused in on the Chinese ones!  :) That's how I landed on Vic Chou.  He has a very nice voice and from watching the video he tells a good story in his songs.  I have absolutely NO CLUE what the song is about because when I googled the lyrics they all came up mandarin so...I kinda have to go by the video and his demeano

Coffey Anderson is a virtual unknown right now but I bet his name will gain some recognition in the next few years.  He is incredibly talented vocally and musically.  AND can we please just talk about how cool his name is?!  :)  Coffey?  C'mon, what a great name and his beautiful skin matches his name.  You just have to think he's cool! Coffey's voice is smooooooooth.  And I downloaded his album and it is an interesting mix of black gospel and contemporary worship.  He did throw in on his album a version, hip hoppish in style, of the classic Father Abraham!  I've included it today as a bonus just because if I get it stuck in my head I need some company! HA!  Today's song was put on my radar thanks to one of my bestie's, Jodi.  She shot it my way and knows me well.  She knew I would like it.  :)  Today's song is such a great proclamation of faith in Christ.  A couple of lines in there that are so important when it comes to accepting God and his gift of sal

Sometimes there's just a song (or in my case a song or two or three...) that just...gets me.  Like everything about it gets me - it becomes a verbalization of my heart and life.  And no matter how old it is it is still a song I gravitate toward, it never becomes old to my heart.  This is one of those songs.  He has rescued me.  What from you ask (knowing that I have led kind of a sheltered life)?  From myself! None of us are hidden from ourselves.  I am, in my human nature, selfish, cynical, doubtful, lazy, lacking grace and mercy, well I think you get the picture.  So do I need rescuing?  You bet! And anyone who interacts with me at all will agree I need rescuing! :) I'm pretty sure any of you would much rather be on the receiving end of my nature indwelt by God rather than the human one I just described.  It's just a guess... He has rescued me.  What from you ask?  From hurts and wounds. Because by HIS wounds I am healed.  (You are too btw) He has rescued me in a thous

I find the lead singer of Green Day to be a wee bit creepy.  There.  My confession is out and I feel so much better.  :) He has dead eyes.  Very strange.  Anyway.  This song fits in well with my theme week last week BUT I didn't use it so today it is!  :)  This song I actually first heard done as a parody so I can't help but fill in lyrics with the parody instead of the real thing.  But looking up the lyrics to make sure I was hearing the real song and not the funny version I found that I really do love the sentiment of this song.  It's another one of those that verbalizes taking advantage of moments and capturing them.  I have always loved the idea of taking snapshots of moments and capturing them like you would with a camera.  Photography draws me, always has and so the idea of using it to capture moments pulls at me.  When all is said and done at the end of your life will you be able to say that through the whole of life - good and bad - you had the time of your life? 

We are big fans of Taylor Swift in this house.  A few reasons.  1) She's brilliant.  We watched a docu about her around the time she was prepping for her first headlining tour.  She is so smart.  She designed stage, costumes, everything.  She didn't rely on others to do it, she put the work in herself.  2) She hasn't let the fame get to her head, she has stayed grounded.  As parents, Lanny and I love that about her - she can be a good role model for our girls. 3) She's incredibly talented. Her voice, her guitar skills, her piano playing.  She writes all her own songs, she's GOOD! This song really, as a parent, catches me.  In the heart that is.  :)  And yes I teared up.  I dare you, as a parent, to watch it and not get at least a little emotional. :) I've been watching my oldest, who is 13.  Oy.  She's killing me because I remember being 13 myself so how is it that I have a 13 year old?!  My mother is laughing gleefully with thoughts of what she calls &quo

THANK YOU Jessica!  I have never heard of Gungor and she threw this song my way and WOW!  I am loving it!  I am loving his style and his songs.  Gungor is worth checking out! Gungor's explanation of the song and its inception (see link below - worth listening to!) resonates with any honest believer I know.  Faith isn't always easy, it isn't for the faint of heart, it isn't for cowards.  Faith is for the brave, for those who know God is their only true source of strength.  As this song says, we cannot create nor sustain true strength, that is from God and he alone.  Where do we plant our faith?  In the solid foundation of Jesus Christ.  When life comes at us the only place that we will have safety is within the shelter of Jesus.    Gungor's DL about the song Please Be My Strength

Today's hymn is actually a Catholic one.  When I was a younger child I was in my church children's choir (I told you I could sing!) and we sang a song that contained the last few lines of today's hymn, "For it is giving that we receive, it is pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.  Make me an instrument of your peace, I want to know what it's like to follow you, when men look at me I want them to see the light of the world inside."  Darn it all if I can't find that song!  (And yes I already searched for it using those exact words...)  But anywho, it was my favorite song, still is actually.  I find myself humming it often.  All three songs are based on St Francis of Assisi's influence on a life of faith.  Born into a wealthy family he grew up to reject wealth and take on a vow of poverty.  In addition he had a special love for the earth and God's creations.  He was a humble man whose thoughts on faith a

Kris Allen, an American Idol winner, finishes out this week's theme.  Truthfully I'm not all that fond of Kris Allen and his music but the song fits and I don't always switch the station when it comes on so it gets a spot on the experiment.  Kris Allen, like almost all other winners, hasn't done much since winning.  This song hit the charts and did decent but we haven't heard from him since then.  The message of the song runs a similar theme to the others from this past week.  But as with the others this one asks a few different questions and poses a few different thoughts.  Put all the songs together and you've got quite a thought provoking life challenge in front of you!  But this song addresses the 86,400 seconds we each have on a daily basis to make sure that people know they are loved.  When people are dying they make sure they communicate with the people they love and this song says that each day we should live like we are dying, each day let us take adva

Francesca Battistelli begins our wind down of this weeks theme.  Her voice is deep and earthy, rich in tone and she sings songs with depth.  Here in the Peninger home we are fans of her music.  As with the other songs featured this week today's song addresses the moments in each day that make up life.  An attempt to move past the moment without granting it full attention will bring regret down the road.  Hindsight is always 20/20.  I would much rather devote full attention to the moment when it presents itself than to think of it later and wish that things could have been different or that I had paid more attention to it.  I've let moments pass me by before and the regret I have isn't fun.  But regret can serve as a teacher and I have learned from the mistake of not seizing the moment.  Carpe diem!  :)  So what will you do with the moments life hands you today?  Don't Miss It

I believe Skillet has already landed on this experiment but they had a song that fit this week's theme so well so they get to be on it again!  :) I love Skillet.  They are great musicians and do a successful cross-over between Christian and secular radio.  In fact many of their songs have been used as TV show theme songs, on movie soundtracks (like the newest installment of Transformers), etc.  Today they contribute to my theme of moments of life.  The main idea behind Skillet's version is that tomorrow could be one day too late and as soon as we let the moment slip away it becomes part of the past, we can't do anything about it.  So when we are faced with moments and we hesitate we should consider the cost of what would happen if we let it go without doing something about it.  We can't erase moments and we can't rewind them either.  So what will you do with the moments life hands you today? One Day Too Late

I have a confession.  I don't listen to Nickelback.  I have actually never heard one of their songs.  Never, that is, until I Googled this week's theme and they popped up in it. I listened to the song, read the lyrics and they made the cut.  :)  Now, I know it's probably like music blasphemy or something to have never listened to Nickelback but deal with it.  Ha!  So this song is EXACTLY what I was looking for.  It's perfect.  It asks what would you do if today was your last - would you donate your last dime?  Forgive?  Make sure people in your life know you love them?  Live every moment to its fullest?  Heal a broken heart?  Look at yesterday without regret?  The truth is that today could be your last day and it could be mine.  We aren't promised tomorrow.  So what will you do with the moments life hands you today? If Today Was Your Last Day