Strong Love

I have this friend, she has this joy-dance she does during worship sometimes. She looks up and smiles and it's just her and Jesus.

There are moments I wish I had an inhibition or two less, so a joy-dance could come from me as well. 

I'm working on it. This song puts me a step or two closer. 

(It picks up in the middle of the first line, and it's kind of long, but if you have ten minutes it's worth it.) 

Becoming a servant to find freedom is counter-intuitive. Only in Christ, though, have I been bound in freedom, for I am bound in love.

I am bound, and yet can breathe deeply. There are no chains here. No fears.

Only His arms, that hold me.

Maybe His love is the only thing strong enough to free us, because it is the only thing strong enough to keep us close to Him? 

Here's the lyrics: 

Strong Love

Jon Thurlow 

Death nor life, 

Nor angels nor powers, 

Present things or things in the future, 

Height nor depth nor any created thing, 

Could separate me from Your love. 

Your love, 

Is written on my heart, 

And there is not a flood,

That could quench this love, 

I know it's Your love, 

It's stronger than the grave, 

And death could never take me from this love. 

I know the end of the story, 

I come up from the wilderness, 

Leaning on my Beloved. 

Your love is so high, 

Your love is so wide, 

Your love is so deep, 

Your love is so long. 

Your strong love,

Your strong love, 

And it's Your strong love. 

In Defense of Coldplay

Just in case you read that title and thought, "Oh, is this going to be one of those creative posts where she writes about some cultural phenomenon displayed in Coldplay's songs?"

No. This is a post in which I will defend Coldplay, because obviously, without avid fans like me posting ardent rants on their blogs, Coldplay's existence as a band would inevitably cease altogether. 

In highschool, my friend Annika gently pulled the Kenny Chesney albums from my hand and replaced them with good music.

As you can see from my soundtrack Kenny is still there, for sentimentality's sake. 

Either way, the band that has risen above all the rest to steal my affections is Coldplay. From what I can tell, people either radically love or radically hate this band. Here's my two cents: 

1. I don't even care if they did sell out. 

There was a time in college when I had this thing about never being "that person" who was into fads. I wanted Chacos WAY before they were worn by every christian camp counselor across the nation & waited to buy them until they weren't so much "the thing." I also didn't wear shirts with the country of Africa on them because, let's be honest, if it was possible for an entire continent to be a fad - Africa was it.  Seriously, there was a time when I was against "raising awareness" because everyone was raising awareness for everything, Lindsay Funke style. 

All that to say, even when people accused Coldplay of becoming a fad, ask me if I stopped listening. Go ahead, ask me. 

No. Because they're that good. 

2. This deserves a whole number all to itself.

3. Last, just in case you heard vicious rumors about plagiarism with their new song, Every Teardrop is a Waterfall, some quick (and highly reliable, I'm sure) research showed that they gave credit to the creators of the original tune by listing them as songwriters on the album. 

So, to end my Sunday morning musical soapbox, I'll leave you with this sweet, sweet musical goodness.