Our Music

As you can probably hear I have added a new feature to the blog. I was looking at my niece's blog and I saw she had music on hers. So after some instruction from Jennifer I had added music to the blog.

I have found that music helps me worship and nothing draws me closer to God's thrown then music. These songs are some of my favorites that have helped me. They all have meaning to me and bring back memories of difficult times but also a faithful God. Songs like "Breathe" by Michael W Smith. A song Andrea and I heard in concert. I still can see Andrea standing next to me singing that song with her hands raised in praise to God, tears streaming down her face as she sang, "I'm desperate for you." "How Great is Our God" is another one of Andrea's favorites. If you remember the blog I wrote about Andrea wishing she was in Heaven, it was this song she was singing. "Cry out to Jesus" is a song that speaks to when Ginger and I were in the pit and all we could do is cry out to Jesus. "Believe Me Know" is a song that Andrea heard the week before she found out she had metastatic cancer. She was in the parking lot of K Mart in Goldsboro when this song came on the radio. Later she told me when she heard this song she knew the cancer was back. It is a song of believing and remembering God's faithfulness in your life. I still remember when I first heard "Praise you in this storm." Andrea and I were laving base on the way to chemo and this song came on the radio. All I remember saying to Andrea was, "Did you hear the words to that song?" I listened to it many times when I was discouraged. Turns out Ginger found comfort in this same song. Although we were apart, it turns out we both were finding comfort in the same Christian music.

"Cry on my shoulder" is a special song for Ginger and I. We heard it together when I went to San Angelo to see Ginger on New Years Day. We were sitting in my car talking and listening to my ipod. I sang the words to Ginger, poorly but I sang anyway, but we could have both sang the words to each other. It was our first song.

"With Hope" is a powerful song by Steven Curtis Chapman and it was sung at Troy's memorial service.

But I chose the first song for a reason. It is by Jeremy Camp and it is called "Beyond Measure." This is a song speaks to our life right now. Many of his songs have helped me as his words were my words. Songs like "I still Believe"and "Walk by Faith" were written after his wife died. Ginger and I listened to these two songs when life overwhelmed us like a wave crashing over us we were tossed around, unable to find our way to the surface, struggling to breath. On my first trip to Phoenix Ginger and I went to a Jeremy Camp concert and he sang these two songs. I will never forget that night as we sang these songs, songs we both listened to before we met. In that moment we both related to each other and the pain we had gone through alone and now we were singing them together.

If you don't know, Jeremy Camp lost his wife to cancer and since then Jeremy Camp has remarried and has a daughter. "Beyond Measure" is about his life now and how God has blessed him beyond measure. Take the time to listen to his words and you will feel the emotion of a man who has suffered and has found joy, a man who has had to surrender his desires and trust in the sovereignty of God. This song helps Ginger and I as we deal with our joy and the sadness of losing Troy and Andrea.

Anyway hope you enjoy the songs!

Jim