Not monetarily rich- but rich in the sense of deep meaning. I came across Songs for Saplings via Tim Challies blog. He's giving away some of their music, and I entered to win. Whether or not I win though I did happen to get some of their free songs for children. They have two CD's of scripture songs, and three CD's of teaching songs. The teaching songs are my favorite. Here are some of the questions the songs address:
Who is God?
Who made God?
Has God ever had a beginning?
What is a covenant?
What was Adam's part in the covenant?
Did Adam obey God?
Can you repent and believe in God?
What is meant by the atonement?
How were people saved before the coming of Christ?
Kids learn so much through music. You want kids to learn a verse, make a tune to it! Want them to learn rich truths? Have some quality music to have catch on to in the car-it's like unofficial catechism. The songs listed above are free. Just go to www.music.songsforsaplings.com
I'm sure I've mentioned Slugs & Bugs before. Our class loves their songs. Here are a couple that the kids have really been enjoying the past few weeks. I wish I could videotape how well they've got the song down-even the fast parts.
Memorizing scripture is easier when it's to the tune of a song-especially for kids who aren't embarrased about it. Therefore, I'd like to recommend this CD to families. It's definitely a CD I'd like to have in the car with my kids. If you order the CD with this code BTW20 you can get it for 20% off and it comes with 2 of the same CD's. So you could give one away. Hear the entire album here.
Go to Reach Records Music Madness for free christian hip hop this month. They are featuring Pro, KB and it looks like free music from Tripp Lee should be coming any day now. KB was fun to listen to. If you've heard I can play the background by Lecrae then you may think KB's I can't play the background is pretty funny. Enjoy!
I was so excited when I saw this video! I love rap and good singing all wrapped up in one! Not only that but these are some solid lyrics, no fluff my friends. No fluff. Enjoy the lyrics and excellent voices.
Yeah, You give me grace amazing
You give me grace amazing
You found my heart in the tomb
Wrapped up all lifeless and bruised
I was the living dead
Couldn't even lift up my head
To see You enter the room
Oh, Oh, Oh
That's how it is with us all
We weren't just damaged we fell dead at the fall
Only the innocent can breathe the air again
Underground, over my head
I'm almost sure I'm dead
Unless You breath life into me
I won't ever feel my dead heart beating
But you open these blind eyes to see
That's what makes Your grace amazing
No one can come to the Son
Unless the Father compels him to come
Our hearts are bottomless
If we're autonomous
Why do we choose corruption
Underground, over my head
I'm almost sure I'm dead
Unless You breath life into me
I won't ever feel my dead heart beating
But you open these blind eyes to see
That's what makes Your grace amazing
Who's a cripple encased in his heart of stone
Christ's the name that I'm calling on, calling on
He's the hope for the hopeless, yall
We were saved when He chose and called
Where is life if its not in the King
You're the God, lift Him up to all things
To His One, His Son
Trip Lee:
Look, you might have heard I was dead in the grave
With some shackles on my wrist
I was very enslaved to the lusts and the passions
In various ways
In the band, on the horse, I was dead and depraved
Sight wasn't just blurry and vague
I was blind as a bat, couldn't thoroughly gaze
At the glory of Christ or the story of life
The Father said come to Him, but I hurried away
I was stuck, couldn't choose to be found
Tell me when the last time
You seen a dead man moving around
Couldn't buy my freedom I was truthfully bound
Couldn't get myself saved
I was shooting them down
Only by Gods will does grace heal with great might
Found this video the other day by Json. The song is called "Parent Me." There are 3 different scenarios that Json takes us through. I'm sure you could identify with being raised in one of these homes or maybe even being one of these type of parents. Well hope you enjoy the video & lyrics. Also, Check out Sho Baraka talking about "Parenting a child with a disability."
[Chorus] - J.R.
Look at my life
Look at my pain
Look at my tears
These tears I shed
I feel so alone, with nobody to talk to
Cuz of the days that I spend without you
It's like you're here, but you're gone (but you're gone)
You're here, but you're gone (but you're gone)
It's like you're here, but you're gone (but you're gone)
And you're gone, gone, gone, gone away
[Verse 1] - Json:
I know you're working, I appreciate your grind
You give me everything I need, but I really want your time (I want your time)
I must confess, it's hard to express how I'm feeling
But I'm growing blocks a bit and it's quickly becoming buildings
Listen, you're never home
To the point to that I don't notice when you're gone
I'm getting older, but I'm growing all alone (I'm alone)
How can you raise me, without even knowing me?
Everything I do, is just to get you to notice me (I miss you)
Realize, you're the great influence in my life
But you're absence just might be what's ruining my life (you're ruing my life)
I got questions, but we don't talk on the usual
My friends are having sex, and I'm wondering, should I do it too? (What should I do?)
Who should I go to, if you are never there? (Where?)
And if you never ask, will you ever be aware? (Be aware)
You say you care for me, you don't get it apparently!
I'm young and just a child, I need my parent to parent me!
[Chorus] - J.R.
[Verse 2] - Json:
I know you're hustling (I know), I see you on your grind
You give me everything I need, but I really want your time (I want your time)
I stay in fresh J's, laced in new gear
But I would trade it all, if I'd only have you here
I smell the boodah you blowing, cuz it be so potent
Oh yeah, I know this, but you don't think I'ma wanna smoke it?
I see your love for the streets, and I want that love too
You taught me to be hard, but you rarely tell me, "I love you" (I love you)
Moms be mad, she always be talking bad about you
But honestly, Dad, I don't think I'll become a man without you
And she be gone, matter of fact she never home
She come into work, and I'm living like I'm already grown
I gotta place to stay, then get ta shop at the mall
But I'll honestly say, I don't have no guidance at all
You say you'd gun for me, but don't know I can barely read
I'm young and just a child, I need my parents to parent me!
[Chorus] - J.R.
[Verse 3] - Json:
I know you're in Church, I see your love for God (I do)
You give me everything I need, but I really need your time (I need your time)
Your godly life and love for people amazes me
But tell me should the Church take my mom and my dad away from me?
I say this simply, you know my life spiritually
Involved in ministry, but often, you don't remember me (Remember me?)
You teach the Youth and show them how to model and live
But at home you've never shown me what the Gospel is (Father I need you)
How can you share with those direly hopeless?
Inside I cry, cuz we've never cracked the Bible open
And I'm feeling the pressure, and don't know what to do
Know what it's like to be the only Christian in your school?
I rep that 1-1-6, they tell me to live unashamed (I'm ashamed)
But that's hard when those around you are on another thing
You study thoroughly, but don't get it apparently!
I'm a baby in the faith, I need my parents to parent me!
[Chorus] - J.R.
[Outro] JR:
Mama I need you.. And daddy I need you...
Annnddd Sho Baraka on Parenting a child with a disability
I've really been lovin' Girltalk. If you don't follow it already, I highly recommend it. Yesterday they posted their "Friday Favorite" which was a CD by Andrew Peterson. Though I definitely like the song that was mentioned I thought I'd post this one called "God of My Fathers" I don't even have children but it made me cry listening to the lyrics and praying about future children. Whether you are a parent or not I'm sure this song will bless you. My favorite parts are emboldened.
God of my fathers
Huddled in the harbor
Every man an ocean from his home
Their captors could not keep them
When they heard the drums of freedom
The dream of a kingdom
In a land they've never known
And God of my fathers
Strangers in this country
Pilgrims on these dusty roads
Across the great plains
In the bellies of the steel trains
To stake a new claim
In that wilderness of hope
Like my fathers I am looking for a home
Looking for a home beyond the sea
So be my God and guide me
Till I lie beneath the hills
Then let the great God of my fathers
Be the great God of my children still
God of my grandfathers
Gone these many years now
I guess they're shining like the sun
And I envision them
Grinning at the finish
And they smile and they smile,
'Cause they love to see me run
Chorus
Now we're counting stars and counting sand
Little feet and little hands
We're counting joys
We pray you'll know them
As you knew us when you wove us
As you hold us
Hold them, please hold them
Like their father, they are looking for a home
Looking for a home beyond the sea
So be their God and guide them
Till they lie beneath these hills
And let the great God of their father
Be the great God of their children
Let the great God of my fathers
Be the great God of my children still
In September, when I learned that this month was Adoption Awarness Month, I was so excited to learn about it-so I decided to make it a blogging project. I don’t know about you, but doing all this research has really gave me a lot to consider.
I think I can say that I do understand God’s adoption of us better. I think I can say along with C.J. Mahaney “I was adopted when I was 12.” There is such a beautiful picture of the gospel in that. Taking someone that is not our flesh, that may not even look like us, and taking them in, giving them a home and love and giving them the family name. Loving them as your own, because God loved us as his own.
I’ll leave this final post with a video by Steven Curtis Chapman. The official music video is really awesome too. Hope you’ve enjoyed the posts.
My husband got me into hip-hop before we got married. As I enjoy all things related to reaching children for the glory of God, I really loved this story. It’s so hard to find good children’s stories where God is the hero and the focus of the story. Often times it’s about the cute little donkey that gave Jesus a ride into town-and how special the donkey felt. Sadly, the majority are super fluffy and unfortunately it’s hard to find God-centered ones. (However, not all books are this way! If you are looking for solid children’s books look up: R.C Sproul, Noel Piper & Francis Chan-and that’s just a few authors)I’m hoping that one day this story of Penelope Judd is made into a book. If they lyrics in the video are too small I posted them below as well.
Penelope Judd By Shai Linne
Once upon a time in a distant land
Far beyond the sea where there lived no man
Or woman- in fact, lo and behold
The oldest person there was only 12 years old
Because all the grown-ups had washed away in a flood
One town in particular there was called Mud
Because every sister, cousin and brother
From head to toe in mud they were covered
But anyway, in this town called Mud
There lived a little girl named Penelope Judd
Now Penelope was a very sad, sad girl
Because she was living in a bad, bad world
Where kid teased each other and acted really mean
They lied, cheated and stole and their speech was obscene
With no grown-ups around, nobody was really wise
So every kid did what was right in their own eyes
Penelope would cry- like every single day
No matter what she did, the tears wouldn’t go away
But deep down in her heart, she hoped it would get better
Because of what her grandpa had written in a letter
He said, “Penelope, it’s great news that I bring
On the mountain top there lives a great King
The King has a Son, and being a proud Father
He’s going to throw the Prince a huge party in His honor
But the good part: and I hope it gets you excited
Penelope Judd, you’re officially invited!
He’s sending a Dove- He’ll tell you all you need to know
Just have your bags packed and be ready to go”
It had been such a long time Penelope was waiting
She wondered if the letter was true or just faking
But one day she was playing outside
And to her great surprise, the Dove had arrived!
He said:
Off we go with no delay
Don’t let nobody try to make you stay
We’re gonna see the King, we're on our way
And all the old things gon’ pass away
The Dove told her that He was sent by the King
If she wanted to go, she had to run and grab her things
Penelope said, “OK. I’ll be right back!”
Ran into the house and came back out with her knapsack
The Dove said, “Penelope, the party is in a day
Stay alert, follow me and I’ll lead the way”
So as He flew and Penelope walked the path
She waived good-bye to her friends and they started to laugh
They said that she was silly for following the Dove
Just to go to some stupid party up above
Penelope and the Dove continued on their way
But then she got sad, because part of her wanted to stay
But then she thought to herself, “Why would I want to stay?
Because all they do is play in the mud all day
And while they’re doing that, I’m gonna see the King!”
It made Penelope so happy, she started to sing
She said:
Off I go with no delay
And ain’t nobody gonna make me stay
I’m gonna see the King- I’m on my way
And all the old things gon’ pass away
Now when they had been walking for a long time
They reached the foot of the mountain and they started to climb
Penelope got scared, not sure if she could keep
going because the mountain was very, very steep
On top of that, it was now dark outside
The Dove said, “Keep your eyes on me- I’ll be your guide”
Getting to the top was a difficult trip
But the Dove was there to pick her up whenever she slipped
And she was so excited when they got near the top
that she didn’t even stop when her knapsack dropped
The Dove led her to the Palace and said, “Farewell!
See you inside!” He flew away; Penelope rang the bell
A huge angel answered, looked her up and down
She knew something was wrong because he had a big frown
“Can I help you, ma’am?” “Yes, I’m here for the party
I have an invitation” He said, “I’m so sorry!
There’s no way that I can let you through these doors
The King won’t let anyone dirty up His floors”
She didn’t understand, so without coming near her
He reached into his pocket and He pulled out a mirror
And for the very first time, she saw that she was dirty
The Palace was spotless- she knew she was unworthy
As the angel continued, “I’m sorry, little friend
but…”A voice inside the party said, “You can let her in”
The next thing she knew, the Prince Himself was at the door
He looked at her, smiled and said, “There’s room for one more”
He reached out and touched her- instantly she was clean
Wearing the brightest robe that she had ever seen
If the Mud kids had seen it, they would have gone blind
“Where’d you get it?”, she asked, He said, “Actually, it’s mine”
Hey all, still figuring out this whole blog thing. Sometimes I feel like I have so many things to discuss that I don’t know where to start. Then I get a little shy & decide not to blog about it all. So while I organize those thoughts and work on my bravery, here’s a really cool song by Giano that I found on Rapzilla.com. (Christy, you should really like this one). There’s some Spanish in it! Yay for Spanish! I love it when people mix Spanish & English together in songs! So enjoy! If you click on the link below you can download it to your itunes for free.
http://www.rapzilla.com/rz/content/blogcategory/24/66/12/12/ (It's at the very bottom of the page)
Lyrics to Beautiful World
How about Jesus? Yeah, we love the Lord, Hardcore!
Verse 1
He’s beautiful, computable? No! We want more, He’s so indisputable, [our] vocals are so sore from the praise. Our anger’s been changed to pure joy; our autobiography shame is pure poise. The sword of our Lord and His Spirit are not boredom. It’s obvious, your not timid to say you know Him. The multiplied languages say our corazón is purified, ordered, be glorified Lord! There’s so much pain the world, demasiado la muerte (pecado), pero la gracia…claro que si! Frequentemente alabamos, forget about it, let it out, ready shout, vamos! Cristo—el fuego dentro, the first degree; traigo la luz pa’ la lucha cuz it burns in me. No caigas tú por el falso, que somos la sal de la tierra, cantaremos el canto!
Hook:
[Beautiful World] That we live in, inside us, surrounding our minds but be reminded that God has designed a [Beautiful World] So we gotta obey, while we praise to relate to see His beautiful face when He breaks the sky. [Beautiful World] That we live in, inside us, there’s peace for a time but the prophecies cry for the fire [Beautiful World] So we gotta get straight in probation, the patience of the saints is the faith when the saints arise!
Verse 2
Oiga mi gente, we want God’s seal por la frente, in Jesus we’re speaking in tongues basicamente, neither is speech in the muttering, we’re coming to the summit, running with bilingual lungs, si me entiendes? Ponemos la Luz, Christ’s light y la Cruz, and His hindsight is acute, cuz He’s right (right) para siempre! And so seguimos, mis amigos—my peoples, being feeble we preach cuz we know the evil He freed us. He indeed is the Chiefest of 10 mil, Priest of the most heathen redeemed to believe—obediente! Perfectamente, we teach a beautiful message, using the coolest of weapons—es la mente de Cristo, espiritu santo, Salvado por sangre, the blood y el Padre en el frente! La profecía, to go to the world to give these pearls, so the word could be heard rapidamente!
Who is God?
Kids learn so much through music. You want kids to learn a verse, make a tune to it! Want them to learn rich truths? Have some quality music to have catch on to in the car-it's like unofficial catechism. The songs listed above are free. Just go to www.music.songsforsaplings.com
" I don't even have children but it made me cry listening to the lyrics and praying about future children. Whether you are a parent or not I'm sure this song will bless you. My favorite parts are emboldened.