Ladders, Rocks and Lightning Swords

Last weekend I was at a prophetic forum hosted by my church and we had visiting worship leader Andy Smith. He was a total legend, his seminar was a hilarious, yet insightful stream of consciousness and he lead worship in such a free and unplanned way that was so refreshing. 

I came home singing a spontaneous song he'd brought with the lyrics:

"When I stand up, I stand up in a suped up, supernatural Jesus; I'm hidden in Him; it's like I've got a Holy Spirit exoskeleton" 

Which my five year old claims is the best 'Jesus' song he's ever heard. Sorry Andy, apparently it still doesn't measure up to gangnam style :-\ 

I bought Andy's new album Ladders Rocks and Lightning Swords, which is excellent, but the song I want to post today is one he shared the lyrics to in the seminar at the forum. This song was written whilst Andy was a part of the Eden project in Manchester and it's so beautiful. 

Enjoy.

Pride of Mine - Freedom4Her

It's been a loooooooooonnnnnnnggggg time since I did one of these posts, and it's not even a Saturday(!) - but I really wanted to share this song/album with you!

I met David Olinger years ago and fell in love with his song 'My Deliverer' (prize if you spot me and/or Will in the video!) and his album 'Hope' is every bit as good as I'd hoped it would be.

My favourite song is called 'Pride of Mine' and you can listen to it in the widget below, but I encourage you to buy the whole album, because it really is great - and as if that wasn't a good enough reason, for the entire month of march, 100% of the profits will be donated to 'Freedom 4 Her' to help the fight to eliminate sex trafficking and save lives.

For more on why this cause is close to my heart right now, and a training opportunity you can read my post on Human Trafficking on my main blog.

But right now, turn up the volume, get happy, sing like you want to, dance like you want to and remember that you'll never live this moment again...

Pride of mine, hurry up and die so I can sing like I want to. Pride of mine, hurry up and die so I can dance like I want to. Pride of mine, hurry up and die so I can love without caution. Pride of mine, I don’t have time for you or your rules. We’ll never get this moment again. I’m gonna worship like it’s my last. We’ll never get this moment again. I’m gonna worship with all I have. Isn’t He worthy? 

Coconut Woman

It's so sunny this morning!

It's getting me excited that summer is just around the corner. I know we're predicted frost soon, but in good faith I have been getting out some of my favourite summertime artists to listen to.

One of the best is Harry Belafonte. Nothing screams summer like one of his albums (except the Christmas ones -  although even they have a somewhat tropical feel....).

The first time I heard Harry Belafonte was in his song 'Jump In The Line' for the movie 'Beetlejuice' and it's still one of my favourite songs. Me and the kids dance around the kitchen to it A LOT. Apparently he is best known for the Banana Boat song though.

Although Harry was a brilliant singer, song writer and actor, perhaps one of the most significant parts of his career is that he has been a social activist fighting for civil rights and humanitarian causes since his rise to popularity in the 1950s. In fact, Belafonte was one of Martin Luther King Jrs friends and confidants - raising thousands of dollars in concerts to bail him and others out of prison on numerous occasions.

Despite being a massively interesting guy, politically and socially, he is also responsible for bringing Caribbean style music to US popularity.

This is one of our family favourites - The Coconut Women. It's a fun song, especially the tonuge in cheek parts about drinking rum making you 'dance like a gypsy'. My kids love it and we always end up dancing and giggling when we listen.

Hope you enjoy it in preparations for summer.

Cherry Blossom

The first song I want to share with you is by Andy Squyres. He's written loads of amazing songs, and you should definitely buy his album Be Magnified on iTunes, but this is one of my favourites, the Cherry Blossom song.

Enjoy