But I didn’t have neighbors, that’s why they call it hood...

First, from Christianity Today:

Four alleged members of the Latin Kings in Elgin, Illinois, are asking to be removed from a lawsuit barring gang members from meeting in public. The four men say they are now Christians who have left the gang or were never members. They also want to talk with current Latin Kings about Christianity in order to lead them out of the gang. The Kane County state's attorney office filed suit against 81 alleged Latin Kings in September, attempting to weaken the group.

Now, please listen closely to the lyrics presented in this excellent song.

Just some things to ponder as we start out 2012.

Are you going to waste your life?

This speaks for itself I think.



"Reach Records presents the offical Don't Waste Your Life music video ft. Cam singing on the hook.

Be sure to check the DWYL Tour website to see when were coming to your city! http://www.reachrecords.com/dwyl

Special thanks to the video team at Desiring God (http://www.desiringgod.org) for their production and editing of this project."

On music...and old folks.

From generation to generation, our musical styles differ. Our parents don't fully appreciate the music to which my generation listens, as their parents did not fully appreciate the music to which our parents listened. I don't fully appreciate much of the new music out there, and feel the quality has dropped in a short time, even over the last five to ten years.
Over at the Challies.com blog, Tim notes "The Strange Phenomenon of White Middle-Aged Pastors Listening to Rap Music".
He lists several factors for this, but the one that seems the best to me is what he calls, The Depth Factor

I remember an old friend who used to tease me about the rock music I listened to, saying that every song is the same: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, done One thing we find in rap music is that the word count tends to be much, much higher than in the average pop or rock or country song. Many of these rap songs have word counts in the hundreds. That kind of word count allows a kind of theological depth and engagement that simply cannot be squeezed into two verses a chorus and a bridge. And in this way a lot of these rappers are leading their listeners into deep theological waters.

I think it is a very encouraging trend. Also, I wanted to share this video.