Kaylee Everly - Blog #1

Music is the common denominator in many cultures. It brings people together and helps them share experience and communicate. It has the power to help a person get through the day. It also can help them meet their Maker. I did not grow up a Christian. But because I loved to sing and dance a friend told me about this group at her church called Zoe. It was a program that gave kids the opportunity to get together every friday night to sing, dance and act and then after a few months of practice the group would tour for a weekend at the beginning of summer. All of my friends were in it so I decided I might as well join. It turned out to be one of the most important decisions I have ever made. Through the music and the bible studies I got to know God for the first time. Since then Christian music has been extremely important to me. While I listen to many kinds, it is the one that inspires and initiates the most emotion within me. My favorite artist is Tenth Avenue North. I chose to review "Healing Begins," "By Your Side," and "Times."

I went to their concert as a senior in high school. It was one of the most amazing things I have experienced. The way the crowd came together was unlike any concert I had ever been to before. There was so much love and passion in the crowd. God was there. "By Your Side" focuses on how God will never leave you. The lyrics are very repetitive but I believe there is a purpose to that. It reinforces over and over again that God will not leave you. That He will be with you always, by your side, whenever you need Him.

"Healing Begins" is about owning up to your mistakes. It's about finally realizing that you can't be your own god. It's about finally letting your own arrogance and pride die and letting God in. As a very prideful person, this has been something I have really struggled with. The beautiful thing about music is that songs can mean different things for different people. Depending on what you need to hear at any given time can completely change what you get out of a song. Music has the power to lift you up or pull you down. Tenth Avenue North's music is very powerful. While convicting and challenging at times it also can completely revive a person.

"Times" is a song that I am very emotionally connected to. Like the others it's focus is that God will never leave you. He is with you all the time. Through the confusion, chaos and pain, in your sorrow and under the weight of your shame he is there. It talks about how he doesn't care where we've been. He will still be there with open arms, even when we doubt and question him. This is what keeps me going and this song is a reminder of that. All of Tenth Avenue North's songs remind me how much I am loved and how much I should love other people.

Lyrics:
By Your Side
Healing Begins
Times

Works cited:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwH0Dnom5DY - "Times" - Tenth Avenue North

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe1yKciSlT4 - "Healing Begins" - Tenth Avenue North

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHgNCj4DU_M - "By Your Side" - Tenth Avenue North