Gary Allan is one of those Country artists that I like...but don't.  I like his songs but there is something about his voice that I can't get around.  That being said, "today's" song I like for, of course, lyrical content!  :)  Not only do I like the song but so does my friend, Misty, who actually shot the song my way as a suggestion.  Songs About Rain is about lost love.  There's a double meaning in Allan's lyrics as he's got "rain" coming out of his eyes for his lost love and he wishes he could blame it on all the songs about rain the radio is playing.  Boy, isn't it something how our hearts hold on to lost loves with a death grip?  So many times that death grip produces "rain" in our eyes that spills down our cheeks.  The good news is that means our hearts continue to hope and stay soft for love! Songs About Rain

I don't mean to be morbid.  Well, maybe I do because we all die.  We can't and won't get around that.  Anyway.  Today's song(s) are to be on my memorial service playlist. For real.  Yes, I'm being 100% serious.  I've actually told several people that and now I'm telling you so there's no reason they won't appear.  Today's song(s) are a twofer...sort of.  The second one is a sequel to the first.  They go together so together they must stay.  :) If (ha, I totally used that word again and we all know it is a gross understatement when it comes to who I'm about to mention) Steven Curtis Chapman is my favorite solo artist then Casting Crowns is my favorite group.  By far. Their lyrical content is rich, deep, and resonates with me on so many levels.  Lifesong/And Now My Lifesong Sings is my heart's cry.  I want my lifesong to bring pleasure to God's heart.  I want my lifesong to bring knowledge of him.  I want my lif...

So Brad Paisley has landed on this experiment a time or two already BUT I had to do this song. HAD TO.  I love this song and I love the video to it almost as much! It's so worth watching while you are listening to the song.  It reminds me of "When Harry Met Sally" and the couple interviews that are scattered throughout the movie.  I love those couple interviews.  Paisley takes the idea and incorporates it into this video and at the end the couple interview is with him and his wife, Kimberly Williams.  I have heard this song lots and had even seen the video before (I realized when I started to watch it again the other day) but I really loved watching the video and listening to the song with Lanny.  :)  My sweet husband can relate to every single little weird thing the women in this video express and almost everything Brad Paisley sings about.  Appreciation in marriage comes from the small, little things not the grandiose.  I'm fortunate to ha...

Thanks to my ADD friend (when it comes to music...) Rick today's song is courtesy of P.O.D. (Payable On Death)  A Christian heavy metal band that my hub LOVES and Rick does to!  Back in the day I listened to heavy metal a lot.  Not so much heavy like P.O.D. is but heavy nonetheless.  Now I can't really listen to it except for a song here or there.  I assume this is a sign of me getting old and any day now I will start exclusively listening to talk radio...NOT.  So P.O.D.  has a lot of talent behind their name.  They are great musicians and off stage are just regular guys who happen to love Jesus.  Lanny is always got an ear bent to the music part of a group, specifically bass, and he's been impressed with their talent since day 1.  This song is about the call all of us who believe in God walk under.  We are called to messenjah's (haha) of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We are the mouthpiece of God's wrath, love, forgiveness, s...

Oh Toby Keith.  He has such a way about him!  I actually REALLY like Toby Keith and this song just gets me!  To hear him sing it makes me laugh.  I had forgotten about this particular song until the other day when I was listening to Paul Colman and heard him do it.  I stopped and thought, "Wait a sec.  I know this song from TOBY KEITH."  So, I had to include it!  Despite what Toby Keith may or may not believe about God and Jesus I like him singing this song.  I like him singing it more than I do Paul Colman (although I provided his version today as well).  The funny thing about this song is how right on it is!  Jesus DID in fact forgive us and adore us while he hung on a cross that was made by haters of him.  The amazing thing about Jesus is that he loved and forgave the very ones who built the cross and sentenced him to it.  Not one person was excluded from his forgiveness and adoration.  NOT ONE.  My favorite...

Chris August is a gifted artist - vocally and as a musician.  I think he might be rather new on the scene or I've just had my head stuck in the proverbial sand.  :)  He has a lot of great songs to choose from but I went with this one for today.  While it isn't upbeat and peppy it addresses a topic that needs more of a voice in today's society.  Forgiveness is a work of the heart and of the will in most cases.  Forgiveness is hard.  We have somehow fallen into believing that forgiving a person also excuses them for what they did/said.  That is not the case.  Forgiveness simply provides freedom from resentment, bitterness, grudges, etc.  It excuses nothing, it doesn't "okay" the act or the words.  But it does free you from years of ick.  Unforgiveness becomes a heavy weight around the heart and will drag you down if you don't make the choice to let it go and forgive.  Interacting with someone who refuses to forgive is tedio...

This is another hymn in which I haven't sung in years (which is kinda sad because maybe if we sung it more in "contemporary/traditional" church we would remember to DO IT) but the minute I saw the title I started singing it as if no time has passed at all.  :)  Thereby proving that my long-term memory is just fine, it's my short-term that seems to suffer as I age - ha! So.  I'm trying REALLY hard to not write a very cynical summary of this hymn.  See, I agree 100% with the basis of this hymn.  Unfortunately the church at large doesn't practice this at all .  Like not even close.  "We" have fallen into the trap of thinking that if we throw some money at the problem or utter the words, "I'll pray for you" (when we know and they know we won't be) that is showing Christ's love.  WRONG.  Love, see, is practical most often.  It can't be shown or given through dollars or uttered words that mean nothing.  Love has to be hand...