Shawn McDonald

There are very few books, very few movies and very little music I will say I don't like. Each is a piece of art to me, and therefore has taken time, effort and talent to produce (although I have to argue Reggaton takes very little of any of those). I'm new at reviewing these modern paintings, but after hearing Shawn McDonald live last night at First United Methodist Church in downtown Charlotte, I saw something in his artistry that I've never seen before in a singer/guitarist.

I felt many things: I felt the similar amazement that I did two years ago when I saw a live Flamenco performance in the heart of Spain. I felt like I was an intruder watching a painter color a blank canvas. I felt like I wanted to dance, even though no one around me was doing so. The kind of dance you do alone with no one else around, closing your eyes and eventually falling onto a big fluffy mattress. I felt like the words I know so well from the Bible were coming alive to a sound they were meant to reverberate. I felt like art and poetry and wisdom and grace were all meeting in a conference room mixing themselves to create a sweet-smelling aroma, hoping to please the King.

In the hip hop movement of his shoulders as he played the acoustic guitar like a drum and a piano, in the ups and downs, ins and outs of his sweet yet momentarily sour voice ... it all hit me in ways I didn't expect. The audience was packed, but he was singing to his King, and I felt I should hide behind a curtain in the great hall. Each song had a story behind it, every thought-provoking lyric was premeditated, yet free.

I have a lot of favorite artists, Christian and non, and if you ask me I'll send you the long list. But no artist expresses me as a whole person like Shawn McDonald does. His music has an authentic grab and distinct sound that is augmented by words expressing a true relationship with Christ. There is a passion, a child-like simplicity (with lyrics like "Your love is like eating a slice of apple pie, it's like sugar on my tongue so pour out your mercy clear my busy mind") and a very real sense that you are watching/listening to an artist, not a puppet being controlled by green popularity.

If you just check a few songs: look into Shadowlands, a modern version of Psalm 23, and Greed, a look at what society tells us.
You can check him out at www.shawnmcdonaldmusic.com

The Shack

This book may be one of the most talked about in recent Christian circles. It opens the mind of the reader into a realm where the Father, Son and Holy Spirit exist in the easiest way humans can understand them: as humans. The plot is compelling, although if you've already heard from someone else what it is, the first two or three chapters seem unnecessary.

The writer at the beginning lost me in his somewhat showy way of writing, but once the plot picked up the writing solidified and the book was hard to put down.

Get a few other friends to read this at the same time and then get together and talk about all the theology (or claims against status quo theology) that pops up inbetween pages.

Bella

The main character is a former professional soccer player whose daunting past won't let him stay silent when a coworker expresses interest in an abortion. This selfless figure revisits his past to change the future of a child. This is almost a romantic film, but not like one expects. Set in NYC and amidst a Mexican family, culture flows freely in the movie.

Must be one of my top ten favorites.

Finally, the potter and the stone

It will give you one less reason to stare at me.
My brother in law got me the Harry Potter books for Christmas last year. It wasn't until a week or so ago that I could pick up book #1. I've gotten so many dropped jaws having not read these stinking books until now. Correction, they are not stinking at all.
There is a first for everyone, and for me, this is the first time I have EVER read a book after seeing the movie. Someone bake me a cookie, or rather, pop me some popcorn because I really want to watch the movie again, and plan to TONIGHT. Woohooo.

I remember the swarms of people yelping about how Christians shouldn't read this book. I say wingardium leviosa to that. I remember in college writing an article against a freak-a-zoid Christian church out west who had a Harry Potter book burning shindig. The arguments against J.K. Rowling couldn't ever cover only her, when J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis (both Christians) had their magic and wizardry stories coming out in movie form.

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone, along with Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia, for me, portray the gospel each in their own creatively brilliant ways. With Harry Potter ... it is the story of redemption. He is the chosen one who comes to fight evil. Although Harry finds favor among authorities, he also has to fight authority to battle evil. He realizes there is a bigger plan, bigger than his life with the Dursleys, bigger than his schooling at Hogwarts. He understands his purpose is not merely to die a "muggle" in the shadows of his horribly wretched cousin. He learns to put his life on the line to do the right thing. He matures more through experience than through head knowledge.

My favorite quotes come from wise old Dumbledore.

1."To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."
2. "The truth." Dumbledore sighed. "It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution."
3. "Call him Voldemort, Harry. Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself."

It is sad that Christians underestimate the power of Christ. God is all-knowing and all-powerful. Yes there are evil forces in the world, but the total truth is that God is Lord over it all. His truth will come forth from any story, I'm sure of it. We must not fear more than we seek. We must not judge more than we compassionately understand. We are called to stay level-headed and not accept unsound doctrine (2 Timothy 4:3-5) — even when it comes from ourselves.

the Prayer book

Andrew Murray and A.W. Tozer must have come out of the same bean pod. They are strikingly similar to me — the kind of authors that say simply what it means to be Christ-like. I sit and read and shake my head along with all they say, wondering all along why I did not see such simple-but-profound insight before.

I borrowed this copy from a friend/co-worker/pastor. I might just have to get one of my own. I've never been one to get my prayer life in order, and I have to admit I came to this book hoping it would do so.

I was reading a pamphlet sent out by Samaritan's Purse (www.samaritanspurse.org) which quoted some of Murray. I shared it with my pastor-friend and the next day he brought me the book.

This is the quote that caught my eye. Hope it catches your heart:

"... He is waiting patiently while he listens to (God's own elect).
"Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth,
and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter
rain" (James 5:7).
The farmer longs for his harvest, but knows that it must have its full
amount of sunshine and rain, and he has long patience. A child so
often wants to pick the half-ripe fruit; the farmer knows how to wait
until the proper time.
And it is the Father, in whose hand are the times and seasons, who
knows the moment when the soul is ripened to that fullness of faith in
which it can really take and keep the blessing.
The insight into this truth leads the believer to cultivate the
corresponding dispositions: patience and faith, waiting and
anticipating, are the secret of his perseverance. ...
... Christian, give God time. He will perfect that which concerns you."



Andrew Murray (1828-1917) served for 60 years in the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa.

Judith's Pavillion

My newest read was recommended to me by a car salesman. The kind of car salesman that doesn't fit the normal prototype. I really like meeting those kinds of people. I haven't gotten far into it yet, but it is the like the vault room of a bank ... the bank being the mind of a neurosurgeon. Somehow it feels like I'm reading something I shouldn't be.

I certainly don't understand all the medical terms, but his fluid and concise writing allows amateurs in the medical field the ability to understand the story without the medical school training.

more to come

el cielo

This hefty piece of nonfiction is in the works.

It's stretching my mind more than it has been stretched in a long time. Some of it is hard to take in.

The concept of eternity when you really think about it, is difficult to comprehend. Driving to school today, I thought about how hard it is to think that the life we live in eternity will last forever. Time won't affect it like it does here. I wont grow old. I'll remain where I am always. That in itself is tearing the sides of the boxes in my head.

and then ... there's so much more