Happy Friday! Here's Day 5!
Chapman released This Moment in 2007 and it included the very sweet "Cinderella." :)
Honorable mentions go to "Children of God" and "Yours."
Next up was 2009's Beauty Will Rise, which was his first album after the loss of his daughter Maria. So many songs on this album have come to mean so much to me, but I had to go with the title track for sure.
As well as "Spring is Coming."
Honorable mention goes to the very dear "February 20th." So beautiful.
Chapman released another "best of" type album, re-creation, which included some new songs, some old songs, and some remixes of old songs. One of the new songs on the album, "Do Everything," became a bit of an anthem for me as a young mom. Plus, the video is adorable. :)
And the honorable mention for this album is another of the new songs, "Long Way Home."
One day left in our trip! See you tomorrow!
Friday, March 31, 2017
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Steven Curtis Chapman | 2001-2004
Happy Day 4!
Chapman's first album of the new millennium was 2001's Declaration. I had to go with two again here--the first is "God is God."
Second up is "See the Glory." Chapman co-wrote this with his son Caleb!
Honorable mentions go to "Live Out Loud" (which is a cute music video) and "Magnificent Obsession." :)
Chapman released All About Love in 2003, which was an album mostly full of songs he'd written for his wife Mary Beth. It was also the first album that included cover songs--"I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" and "I'll Take Care of You." My first pick from this album is "We Will Dance."
And the non-"love" song on the album, "Moment Made for Worshipping."
Honorable mention goes to the title track, "All About Love."
Last album for today is 2004's All Things New. I had to pick "Only Getting Started" because it features (sort of) local boy Jonny Lang (who became a Christian in 2000)!
Honorable mentions go to the title track, "All Things New" as well as "Much of You."
Some of my favorites coming the next two days! Stay tuned!
Chapman's first album of the new millennium was 2001's Declaration. I had to go with two again here--the first is "God is God."
Second up is "See the Glory." Chapman co-wrote this with his son Caleb!
Honorable mentions go to "Live Out Loud" (which is a cute music video) and "Magnificent Obsession." :)
Chapman released All About Love in 2003, which was an album mostly full of songs he'd written for his wife Mary Beth. It was also the first album that included cover songs--"I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" and "I'll Take Care of You." My first pick from this album is "We Will Dance."
And the non-"love" song on the album, "Moment Made for Worshipping."
Honorable mention goes to the title track, "All About Love."
Last album for today is 2004's All Things New. I had to pick "Only Getting Started" because it features (sort of) local boy Jonny Lang (who became a Christian in 2000)!
Honorable mentions go to the title track, "All Things New" as well as "Much of You."
Some of my favorites coming the next two days! Stay tuned!
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Steven Curtis Chapman | 1996-1999
Day 3!
1996 brought Chapman's Signs of Life. I had a really hard time narrowing down which videos to share, so I picked two. First is "Lord of the Dance."
1996 brought Chapman's Signs of Life. I had a really hard time narrowing down which videos to share, so I picked two. First is "Lord of the Dance."
And second is "Let Us Pray." :)
Honorable mentions could be to the entire rest of the album, but I'll go with "Children of the Burning Heart" and the title track, "Signs of Life."
Next up was Greatest Hits, which was obviously mostly previously recorded songs, but there were a couple new ones, and "Not Home Yet" has always been a favorite of mine! Plus, it's another actual music video which is cool. ;)
Last for today is 1999's Speechless. This came out the year I graduated from high school and its songs are definitely part of my "late high school/early college" soundtrack. Again, I had to pick two to share. First is "Fingerprints of God," which Chapman wrote for his daughter Emily who was an early teen at the time. Such a sweet message to a girl in that awkward middle school phase of life!
Second is "Be Still and Know."
And honorable mentions to "Dive" (which KTIS still plays as though it came out just last week!) and the title track, "Speechless."
See you tomorrow!
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Steven Curtis Chapman | 1990-1994
Welcome to Day 2!
Chapman's fourth album was For the Sake of the Call and I had to go with the title track for this pick. It's such a great song! And our youth choir sang it a million years ago, so it's even more special. :)
I have to share a second video. "No Better Place" was a classic "encore" song in a lot of his concerts and I can still picture him running through the crowd on one of the last choruses. :)
Honorable mentions go to "Busy Man" and "You Know Better."
Next up was The Great Adventure! I obviously picked the title track because it was his very first music video. Please just take in the mid-90s goodness! And also count the costume changes. ;)
Honorable mentions go to "Go There With You" and "That's Paradise."
Last for today is Heaven in the Real World. I have to share the title track because I think it's a really cool video.
I also have to share "Remember Your Chains" since, as I shared in Sunday's post, it's the song I can pinpoint as my "come to Jesus" moment. ;)
Honorable mentions go to "King of the Jungle" and "Treasure of You."
Come back tomorrow as we finish out the 90s!
Chapman's fourth album was For the Sake of the Call and I had to go with the title track for this pick. It's such a great song! And our youth choir sang it a million years ago, so it's even more special. :)
I have to share a second video. "No Better Place" was a classic "encore" song in a lot of his concerts and I can still picture him running through the crowd on one of the last choruses. :)
Honorable mentions go to "Busy Man" and "You Know Better."
Next up was The Great Adventure! I obviously picked the title track because it was his very first music video. Please just take in the mid-90s goodness! And also count the costume changes. ;)
Honorable mentions go to "Go There With You" and "That's Paradise."
Last for today is Heaven in the Real World. I have to share the title track because I think it's a really cool video.
I also have to share "Remember Your Chains" since, as I shared in Sunday's post, it's the song I can pinpoint as my "come to Jesus" moment. ;)
Honorable mentions go to "King of the Jungle" and "Treasure of You."
Come back tomorrow as we finish out the 90s!
Monday, March 27, 2017
Steven Curtis Chapman | 1987-1989
Welcome to our week of a Steven Curtis Chapman walk down memory lane. :)
I'm going to post a few albums each day and share a song (or two) from each album. It was hard to pick one (or two) for most albums, so I'll have links to a few more. ;)
First up is his debut, First Hand. I picked the song "Weak Days" from this album because it was his first radio single.
Honorable mentions on this album go to "Run Away" and "My Redeemer is Faithful and True."
Next up is Chapman's sophomore album, Real Life Conversations. Please enjoy "My Turn Now" from this album. And really, really enjoy the mullet in that cover photo. :)
Honorable mentions on this album go to "His Strength is Perfect" and "His Eyes."
Chapman's third album was More to This Life and I picked the title track to share with you.
Honorable mentions on this album go to "Love You With My Life" and the iconic wedding song "I Will Be Here." :)
Come back tomorrow for the early 90s, where Chapman lost the mullet and shot his first music video!
I'm going to post a few albums each day and share a song (or two) from each album. It was hard to pick one (or two) for most albums, so I'll have links to a few more. ;)
First up is his debut, First Hand. I picked the song "Weak Days" from this album because it was his first radio single.
Honorable mentions on this album go to "Run Away" and "My Redeemer is Faithful and True."
Next up is Chapman's sophomore album, Real Life Conversations. Please enjoy "My Turn Now" from this album. And really, really enjoy the mullet in that cover photo. :)
Honorable mentions on this album go to "His Strength is Perfect" and "His Eyes."
Chapman's third album was More to This Life and I picked the title track to share with you.
Honorable mentions on this album go to "Love You With My Life" and the iconic wedding song "I Will Be Here." :)
Come back tomorrow for the early 90s, where Chapman lost the mullet and shot his first music video!
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Book Review | Between Heaven and the Real World
Last July, a post on Instagram caught my attention. Contemporary Christian recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman was announcing a book coming out in March. I actually remember lying in bed when I saw it on my phone and I immediately went to Amazon and preordered it. I'm not big on buying actual books (Hello, library! Or Kindle!) and I certainly don't usually preorder anything. But this was different. No one else's music and ministry has impacted my faith and my life quite like Chapman's. I knew this was going to be a book I'd want to own.
So when this baby arrived in my mailbox on March 8th, I quickly finished the other book I was reading (I have a really hard being in the middle of more than one book at the same time...) so I could Dive in. (Emphasis and pun intended...). ;)
I seriously read this book so fast that I almost want to go read it again right now! But I lent it to my mom, so I guess I'll have to wait. :) I honestly have only amazing things to say about the book and I can't recommend it enough, so instead of walking you through the book and his life (you should really just read it yourself) I'll give a quick glimpse of how I've been impacted by his story.
I really have my mom to thank for the introduction to Chapman's music. His first album, First Hand, came out when I was seven years old and we owned it, as well as his next two, on vinyl. (I'd love to know where those ended up!) When I hear some of that early stuff, I am transported to a childhood in our house in North Minneapolis. (This was an era of a lot of vinyl--Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Twila Paris. I have amazing memories of Christian music in our house!)
My first Steven Curtis Chapman concert (of many) was in 1992 with his Great Adventure tour. My pre-teen self was in her glory! I was officially hooked on this singer-songwriter who could also put on a pretty cool live show. (In fact, he did a Live Adventure recording and video later that year and I remember watching it--on VHS, obvs--many, many times). :)
In 1994, Chapman released Heaven in the Real World. Of course there was an accompanying tour, and of course we went to the concert when it came to Minneapolis. I vividly remember sitting in the balcony of the Northrup Auditorium and bawling my eyes out when Chapman sang "Remember Your Chains." I grew up in a Christian home and accepted Christ as a young child, but if I had to pinpoint a time when my faith became my own and I really started to understand what Jesus was doing in my life, it was sitting in that dark auditorium wondering why on earth I was crying!
The albums kept coming every year or two, and each one held so much goodness. Through high school and college, although my taste in Christian music had changed over the years and some artists and come and gone, I still made sure to buy the latest Steven Curtis Chapman album when it came out. I remember getting All About Love when Dan and I been married for less than a year and loving all of these songs Chapman had written for his wife Mary Beth.
On May 21, 2008, Chapman's 5-year-old daughter Maria Sue (one of three daughters they had adopted from China) was accidentally hit by her big brother Will Franklin after she ran into the path of his SUV in their driveway. She died later at the hospital. I remember being so heartbroken seeing this on the news that night. The chapters in the book that tell of this event and the weeks and months of grief that followed are so beautiful and powerful. Chapman's next recording, Beauty Will Rise is full of songs that recount the grief, and hope amidst the grief, of losing their precious Maria.
Just a couple years later this album would prove to be extremely poignant and healing as we grieved our own losses. To see that someone could go through that kind of loss and still be able to point to the Lord was huge for me in my pain and grief. I held to the truth in the title song from that album:
Out of these ashes beauty will rise
And we will dance among the ruins
We will see it with our own eyes
Out of these ashes beauty will rise
For we know joy is coming in the morning
Just as Beauty Will Rise had spoken so deeply in our grief, Chapman's Glorious Unfolding spoke just as deeply in our healing. Every single song on that album rings so true to what we experienced and felt from God in the years that followed losing Hannah and Charlie. From the title track:
And this is going to be a glorious unfolding
Just you wait and see and you will be amazed
You've just got to believe the story is so far from over
So hold on to every promise God has made to us
And watch this glorious unfolding
So grateful for a God who holds it all--the grief and pain, the healing and joy. And so grateful that He uses others and their stories and gifts to point us to the truth of who He is.
After finishing Chapman's book, I requested his wife Mary Beth's book from the library. It came a few days later and I devoured it in about a day and a half. I loved reading the same story from a mother's point of view. It was beautiful and hard and it brought so much of my grief to the surface again. So I have to give Mary Beth a shout-out for her beautiful book Choosing to See. Again, so much hope in the middle of the pain.
So there you have it. Go order yourself a copy of Between Heaven and the Real World and enjoy!
And stay tuned to the blog this week. Reading this book made me look back at so much of Chapman's old music (thank you, YouTube!) and it was SUCH a fun trip down memory lane. So each day I'm going to go through a few albums at a time, highlighting a song or two from each. It'll be fun. I promise. ;)
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
So when this baby arrived in my mailbox on March 8th, I quickly finished the other book I was reading (I have a really hard being in the middle of more than one book at the same time...) so I could Dive in. (Emphasis and pun intended...). ;)
I seriously read this book so fast that I almost want to go read it again right now! But I lent it to my mom, so I guess I'll have to wait. :) I honestly have only amazing things to say about the book and I can't recommend it enough, so instead of walking you through the book and his life (you should really just read it yourself) I'll give a quick glimpse of how I've been impacted by his story.
I really have my mom to thank for the introduction to Chapman's music. His first album, First Hand, came out when I was seven years old and we owned it, as well as his next two, on vinyl. (I'd love to know where those ended up!) When I hear some of that early stuff, I am transported to a childhood in our house in North Minneapolis. (This was an era of a lot of vinyl--Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Twila Paris. I have amazing memories of Christian music in our house!)
My first Steven Curtis Chapman concert (of many) was in 1992 with his Great Adventure tour. My pre-teen self was in her glory! I was officially hooked on this singer-songwriter who could also put on a pretty cool live show. (In fact, he did a Live Adventure recording and video later that year and I remember watching it--on VHS, obvs--many, many times). :)
In 1994, Chapman released Heaven in the Real World. Of course there was an accompanying tour, and of course we went to the concert when it came to Minneapolis. I vividly remember sitting in the balcony of the Northrup Auditorium and bawling my eyes out when Chapman sang "Remember Your Chains." I grew up in a Christian home and accepted Christ as a young child, but if I had to pinpoint a time when my faith became my own and I really started to understand what Jesus was doing in my life, it was sitting in that dark auditorium wondering why on earth I was crying!
The albums kept coming every year or two, and each one held so much goodness. Through high school and college, although my taste in Christian music had changed over the years and some artists and come and gone, I still made sure to buy the latest Steven Curtis Chapman album when it came out. I remember getting All About Love when Dan and I been married for less than a year and loving all of these songs Chapman had written for his wife Mary Beth.
On May 21, 2008, Chapman's 5-year-old daughter Maria Sue (one of three daughters they had adopted from China) was accidentally hit by her big brother Will Franklin after she ran into the path of his SUV in their driveway. She died later at the hospital. I remember being so heartbroken seeing this on the news that night. The chapters in the book that tell of this event and the weeks and months of grief that followed are so beautiful and powerful. Chapman's next recording, Beauty Will Rise is full of songs that recount the grief, and hope amidst the grief, of losing their precious Maria.
Just a couple years later this album would prove to be extremely poignant and healing as we grieved our own losses. To see that someone could go through that kind of loss and still be able to point to the Lord was huge for me in my pain and grief. I held to the truth in the title song from that album:
Out of these ashes beauty will rise
And we will dance among the ruins
We will see it with our own eyes
Out of these ashes beauty will rise
For we know joy is coming in the morning
Just as Beauty Will Rise had spoken so deeply in our grief, Chapman's Glorious Unfolding spoke just as deeply in our healing. Every single song on that album rings so true to what we experienced and felt from God in the years that followed losing Hannah and Charlie. From the title track:
And this is going to be a glorious unfolding
Just you wait and see and you will be amazed
You've just got to believe the story is so far from over
So hold on to every promise God has made to us
And watch this glorious unfolding
So grateful for a God who holds it all--the grief and pain, the healing and joy. And so grateful that He uses others and their stories and gifts to point us to the truth of who He is.
After finishing Chapman's book, I requested his wife Mary Beth's book from the library. It came a few days later and I devoured it in about a day and a half. I loved reading the same story from a mother's point of view. It was beautiful and hard and it brought so much of my grief to the surface again. So I have to give Mary Beth a shout-out for her beautiful book Choosing to See. Again, so much hope in the middle of the pain.
So there you have it. Go order yourself a copy of Between Heaven and the Real World and enjoy!
And stay tuned to the blog this week. Reading this book made me look back at so much of Chapman's old music (thank you, YouTube!) and it was SUCH a fun trip down memory lane. So each day I'm going to go through a few albums at a time, highlighting a song or two from each. It'll be fun. I promise. ;)
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)