flyleaf is awesome!

Flyleaf is one of my favorite bands. I have utilized their songs several times when I teach the Bible to students. Their lyrics are powerful and their sound is incredible! Lacey Mosley (the lead singer) has a powerful testimony of where she's been to where God has brought her. The lyrics are very honest and often times filled with intense emotions. They have only put out one album (although it was re released with some acoustic songs and several music videos), but the music world has taken notice of their talent.

However, one part of the music world that should be supportive of this band has not taken notice for whatever reason. I have not heard their music on Christian radio in this area. One reason for that may be that the types of Christian stations around this area do not play a lot of music that is more aggressive. Their lyrics are distinctively about faith in God and knowing Jesus Christ (more so than The Fray who have recently been adopted by Christian music radio stations). RadioU may be playing flyleaf, but I don't know because their signal is not very strong in this area.

I guess what has brought me to think about this is that sometimes when I am driving home late at night from the juvenile detention center that I work at I flip through the radio stations and I have noticed this show called "X albums you should own." Twice on that radio show (very much a mainstream radio station) I have noticed that the entire flyleaf album was being played. I could not see that happening on our local Christian radio stations (one reason is that they don't have much variety for their programing). They just don't fit the style of music that is common there.

It was amazing to see this as an example of bringing Jesus into the culture (instead of just making another sub-culture for Jesus music). It is amazing to hear lyrics of praise to Jesus and the love and power of God and faith in Him in the middle of commercials for strip clubs and the DJ talking about how "hot" he thinks Lacey Mosley is. Flyleaf is not shy about their faith in God. They talk about their faith on their websites and I have heard that Lacey has several scriptures written on her arms during her concerts.

To me this is Christ-like. Jesus did not come into the earth to make another sub-culture. He came to bring God to people where they were at. He changed and affected the culture and dramatically changed the course of history. I believe that Christians should share Jesus in the culture that we are in and that we should be influencing culture for the glory of God!

learning from those younger than me

I recently rode in the backseat of a teenager's car. I don't think that I have done this since I was a teenager. While it brought me to pray (because people drive a little differently when they are first learning how), I began to think about somethings. I also had some thoughts provoked from getting kick-boxing lessons from a high school student recently.

I spend a lot of my time working with middle school and high school students. While I am always looking to see what I can teach them, very often I learn from them and am encouraged by them. Sometimes I hear people say things like, I need more depth of learning from Bible teaching. While I do appreciate depth in teaching, I think that sometimes we are missing the point and just don't get it. The truth is that we can learn from anyone if we are really looking to. How often do we actually pray, "Lord teach me." I have had the blessing of several years of formal theological education. I still need to hear continually that I need to share my faith, love God more, and avoid sin. There is a subtle temptation to become arrogant in our faith. The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. The vital truth is this:



Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NIV)