You Lifted Me Out…

Happy Easter! So how did you spend your Holy Week? Hope you spent this holiday wisely. We only have it once a year and what better way to spend it than live out the real reason for the holiday.

It’s been so long since my last update. I think I’ve broken pretty much everything I promised for the new year with regards to blogging. I say this a lot but let me say it again — It’s amazing how things don’t go always as you’ve planned and things still turn out better than you had imagined or hoped it would.

I’ll write about my Holy Week discernments (probably) later this week. But let me reveal to you one of them now: I’ve learned the great benefits one can get just by disconnecting oneself from the online world more often and for longer periods of time. Details will be posted soon. Hehe.

It’s also been ages since I last touched my book blog. I still love books. In fact, one of the reasons I’ve not been able to write more often is that I’ve been reading more now. I’ll update The Bookish Pinoy later this week or next week to share my book purchases for the first quarter of 2010.

Lastly, I regret to inform you that I don’t have a valid personal challenge to share for the month of March. I failed. I was so slow to recognize His challenge. I really, really felt bad that someone had to suffer because of my failure to fulfill the challenge. Even though I failed, I’ll still write about it here (maybe next week) with the hope that it would inspire people to act differently when faced with that situation.

I realized I don’t blog too much about music even though I proudly profess that I’m a music lover. So here it goes…

Last month, I discovered an amazing singer. Actually, I’ve been hearing his music since last year thanks to my younger sister who kept on playing his song “How Great Is Our God” while in the shower. And because I was born to love music, it didn’t take long for me to like the song in spite of my lifelong promise to automatically despise anything that my sister likes. The artist is Chris Tomlin, a popular contemporary Christian music singer with an amazing voice.

Yesterday, I bought his latest CD “Hello Love” in the House of Praise store at SM North Edsa. Yeah, I still buy CDs and there are three reasons why I still do.

First and most obvious, to support the artist and his/her music.

Second, to get the music in true CD quality. MP3s just don’t cut it for me anymore.

And third, just like with books I like having a real, tangible thing to hold for my favorite music. Not everything has to be virtual. I also always read the included liner notes to know who else is behind the production of the album. I think they deserve that at least.

And this particular CD — “Hello Love” — is just worth every single cent. It’s truly an amazing album! I would feel guilty skipping any of the songs here on playback because they’re all good. It’s one of those rare albums that doesn’t have a filler song. I’ll probably write a review of the full album at some later time but right now, let me share to you the first song in the album that instantly caught my attention. I named this post after the song’s title.

The catchy music and chorus is simply irresistible. (Oh what would I give just to be able to play the drums like that!) But what caught me most is how meaningful the message this song is sending out. This is definitely the current anthem of my life considering what I’ve been going through for the past several months.

The most meaningful words for me in the lyrics are the chorus and the bridge.

“You Lifted Me Out” by Chris Tomlin

You turned my way
You heard my cry
You turned my mourning into shouting
Sorrow may last for a night
But with the light I am seeing
I am singing

[Chorus]
You lifted me out
You lifted me out
And set me dancing, dancing
Free, now I am free
Your love rescued me
Now it’s the anthem I’m singing

Many will see
Many will hear
And find You strong enough to save
Many the wonders You have done
Your light has come, and I am singing
I am singing

[Bridge]
Lost is where You found me
Shattered and frail
But You love me still
Trouble may surround me
My heart may fail
But You never will
You never will

I can only hope that Chris will release this song as a single. And how I wish for this song to cross over to mainstream too. The song is very radio-friendly. But just the song please. I don’t think I like the idea of Chris Tomlin doing a Switchfoot. One of the things I admire most about Chris is his decision to use his God-given talents all for His glory. If only more artists would have the guts to follow his example…