Doug Anderson “Drive” Album Review

Doug Anderson “Drive” Album Review

Often when we drive our focus is on the destination.  But when God takes the wheels, the journey is sometimes more important.  This is why he hardly arrives at the time as our GPS would predict.  Yet, he’s never late.  It’s through this long scenic tour we get to smell the roses we never even notice in our rush.  It’s through such trips we get to chat and appreciate him with such intimacy that we wouldn’t have cultivated if we were in the driver’s seat.   And it’s through such apparent tedium we get to meet people we would have overlooked if we had always put on foot on the accelerator.  Such are themes found in Doug Anderson’s sophomore solo release “Drive.”  As an exhibition of his centrality of the “driving” theme, the CD itself is poised with a picture of a speedometer.  And disc front depicts Anderson in a suave pose of sitting in a red convertible donning on some cool looking sun glasses.  Released under the ever reliable Stow Town Records (with Ernie Haase and Wayne Haun as the co-owners), “Drive” is a follow-up to Anderson’s hugely successful debut “Dreamin’ Wide Awake.”This predecessor record garnered for Anderson the highly coveted GMA Dove Awards “Country Album of the Year” in 2012 and the CD produced three Top 40 radio singles. 

Keeping all frills to a minimum, the ebullient title cut and lead single “Drive” has a steely-eyed focus of surrender invoking God to take the car keys of our lives.  Featuring some delightful Keith Urban-like banjo licks and a sunny melody that propels us into the wide open unknown with only God at the helm, faith has never been more gorgeously depicted.  On “Yes I Will” Anderson digs deep into his Southern roots for some old time Gospel with a choral call and response reinforcing the same trust in God as the title cut “Drive.”  Calling to mind the current sounds of Florida Georgia Line, “Love With Open Arms” correctly check marks all the right categories for a great radio single to be.  Given the right promotion, “Love With Open Arms” could even work on secular country radio as these are the songs country DJs would gulp.   “God Works” is a track that is difficult to get tired of.  It’s a powerhouse of a pop-country ballad that puts Isaiah 64:4 into music where God works on the behalf of those of us who rest in him.

Just as Anderson covered Billy Dean’s 1990 album cut “Only There for a Little While.”  This time around Anderson reaches even further back in time to resurrect Dolly Parton’s 1975 no. 2 hit “The Seeker.” Described by Parton as her “talk with Jesus,” “The Seeker” is a modern day pilgrim’s prayer for God in the midst of his pain and despair.  Here Anderson gives “The Seeker” a Southern Gospel-upgrade with the patented four part harmonized chorus.  More tete-a-tete intimacy comes with “Moment by Moment Grace,” a first class ballad where we find a pastoral sensitive Anderson offering us hope in Jesus when we feel like our world have caved in.  The emotional shadings of this track really make a home run for the heart.  Just as it is traditional these days for Southern Gospel albums to house a track on heaven, Anderson’s contribution this time is the piano-cum string laden “I’ll Be There with You.”  The soaring crescendo with its haunting coda leading to its explosive chorus truly makes this song as transcendent as the song’s subject matter.

“Drive” again raises the bar for Stow Town Records.  Exquisitely produced that stands toe-to-toe with the best of the major label outputs out there, “Drive” is aurally pleasing to the ears.  Nevertheless, the pride of place is still the thematic focus of these 11 songs.  With the windows rolled down, the wind in our hair, and Jesus at the driver’s seat, this CD is a ride of faith filled with uncertainties, surprises and joy.  Joy because the one who holds the steering never loses his grip.  

Irene Kelley ‘s “Pennsylvania Coal” Album Review

Irene Kelley ‘s “Pennsylvania Coal” Album Review

Every genre wants to own Irene Kelley.  Her effervescent pure vocals like the virgin waters gushing out of the mountain peaks make it the perfect vehicle to carry a bluegrass tune especially those with an Appalachian charm.  Her ability to weave vignettes of life into her narrative songs with keening observations is what makes country music flourish.  Yet, the first genre that had had ever laid a claim on Irene Kelley is heavy metal.  Back in High School, Kelley started playing in a Led Zeppelin cover band only to be kicked out of it when she suggested that they do a Dolly Parton piece.  Ever since, Kelley has made a name for herself as one of Nashville’s finest scribes.  Over the years, she has had written songs for Loretta Lynn (“Hold Her”), Alan Jackson (“A Little Bluer Than That”), Trisha Yearwood (“Second Chance” and ‘O Mexico”) among many others.  Though she has had a few false starts, Kelley has finally been able to bless us with two albums of her own; both of which have been national treasures in the world of country/bluegrass music. 

“Pennsylvania Coal” is Kelley’s long awaited follow-up since “Thunderbird” which was released a decade ago.  Kelley has proven the adage right: third time’s the charm.  If her previous albums demonstrate chapters of greatness, “Pennsylvania Coal” is the textbook of everything a sublime bluegrass cum country ought to sound like.  Just like what Kathy Mattea did with her record “Coal,” Kelley has allowed her hillbilly soul to skip back to her home town where she unearth some of her own stories of the joys and tribulations of growing up in a coal mining town.  And when Kelley re-paints her stories, she hardly paints in large and broad strokes.  Rather, she intricately outlines her plot before slowly coloring into each character the different emotional shades that often brings tears to our eyes and celebratory joy to our souls.  With a sepia tone underpinning, Kelley gently takes us back to the time of her grandparents in the title cut “Pennsylvania Coal.” Like the unrolling of a movie reel, she brings us into the struggles of how her Polish grandparents bought a 200-acre farm in Crabtree in order to raise eight children.  The way they struggled to make ends meet with her granddad later dying of lung cancer after the years of working in a coal mine just makes it hard not to fight back the tears.

Melancholy gets more attention with “Feels Like Home.”  Not the Linda Ronstadt tune of the same titular, “Feels Like Home” is a Peter Cooper and Kelley original that speaks of how things do not stay the same with the passing of time.  Slightly more propulsive via its chugging rhythm but still as morose in terms of its lyrical content is the banjo and fiddled led “You Don’t Run Across Your Mind.” While many artists are often so self-indulgent in telling their own stories that they don’t engage much of the listener, this is not the case with Kelley.  With the heart-wrenching ballad “Things We Never Did,” it is as if Kelley has read our personal blogs when she, David Olney and John Hatley re-visit the various “what if” scenarios of our lives.  What if we dated so and so.  What if we have followed the path less travelled.  What ifs have never pierced our hearts the way it does on “Things We Never Did.”

 

You can’t listen to a Kelley album without traverse with her all over the emotional map.  And she does make an occasional stop on a more joyous spot with “You Are Mine.”  Sounding like the 21^st Century of the famed trio of Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, here Kelley joins voices with her daughters Justyna and Sara Jean on this beautiful ode to friendship, love and togetherness.  With “Angels with Us” she pays her tribute a generation back where she sings of her mother’s teaching to her that God will never leave us alone in our times of need.  In short, this is an album that will get us crying, laughing and thinking, not because it is emotionally manipulative.  But because it captures with details of what life is all about.  

Tullian Tchividjian “One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World” Book Review

 
When I was growing up, our church would designate the fifth Sunday of the month as Gospel Sunday.  Structured with the unbeliever in mind, every aspect of the church's liturgy was stripped to its lowest religious denomination.  Song lyrics would be filtered through the contemporary worldly thesaurus to ensure that no "thees" or "thous" or "eres" would befuddle the unsaved.  The pastor would ensure that esoteric books such as Leviticus and Amos would be kept in abeyance while the more "evangelistic" passages (John 3:16 being a prime example) would be repeatedly recited right throughout the service.  Most fascinating was that the sermons on these Sundays were about the "Gospel."   And only on these odd Sundays we would hear the sacrosanct word "Gospel" and its assorted vocabulary such as "grace," "faith," "sin," "redemption" and the "cross."
 
This is because for many the Gospel Sunday is for outsiders; the Gospel is just for unbelievers; it's essentially just your entry ticket into heaven.  After which, you don't need to hear about grace anymore.  All you need now is hear about are sermons about how to work on your marriages; how to reach the world for Christ; how to study the Scriptures for yourself; and how to be better ethical Christians. But is such a model of the Christian life Biblical?  If you read the ethical demands of Scripture, they are intrinsically tied to the Gospel.  Husbands, for instance in Eph. 5:25, are called to love their wives not in a fashion they see as fitting.  But they are to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave his life for her.  The Gospel, such as the death and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, ought to be at the cynosure of how a family operates.  Similarly in Phil. 1:27 Paul encourages the Christians to conduct themselves "in a manner worthy of the Gospel."  The Gospel is not just an insurance policy for us to get into heaven; it should be at the center of how we live.

This is where Tchividjian's latest book "One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World" is of such a valuable resource.  Grace is not just a word we say when we want to speak to our non-Christian friend when we are sharing about the Gospel.  Rather, grace is the essence of our existence; it's the bedrock that makes our relationship with God and each other a joy and not a chore; and it's the impetus of our carpe diem. Grace, as Tchivijian defines it, is God's "one way love."  Our intuitions, our relationships and all our religious talks all tell us that God will only love us if we only are worthy.  If only we could somehow merit God's favor, maybe he would wink kindly at us.  But grace says God does not need carrot sticks to be snared; God doesn't require us to perform moral gymnastics to be our coach; He loves us with a grace that is "recklessly generous (and) uncomfortably promiscuous" (p. 33).

One of the book's most rewarding apexes is that Tchividjian is a contextual writer.  He does not just transcribe words on paper.  Rather, he takes some of the Bible's most glowing concepts about grace, lets them loose within our lives and allowing let them make a home run for our hearts.  And he does this in two ways.  First, Tchividjian is a stellar exegete of our life situations; he allows us to witness how grace transforms our relationships in our families, work places and churches.  In so doing, Tchividjian rightfully eradicates the common misconception that grace is merely just a Gospel word for the unbeliever.  Rather, grace if properly understood affects how we deal with God, each other, our family members, employers everyday in ways that are liberating and restful.   Second, as with every good writer, Tchividjian does an excellent in stepping into the context of legalists and those who insist of soliciting God's favors with good deeds.  Instead of setting up a strong person's argument where Tchividjian effortlessly knocks down every one who is skeptically of God's one way love, he gently steps into their shoes.  With pastoral sensitivity, heartfelt stories and the wizened use of his own testimony, Tchividjian prods alongside of us to help us move from an "I-am-not-good-enough-to warrant-God's love" attitude into one that responds to God's one way love with faith and humility.

Before we launch into a critique of Tchivdjian's views, a word needs to be said about the man who holds the pen.  Currently, Tchividjian serves as the senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale. "One Way Love" is his latest among his oeuvre of literature including the hugely popular "Jesus + Nothing = Everything" and "Glorious Ruin." Tchividjian is also the grandson of evangelist Dr. Billy Graham.  Though he grew up in a Christian family with an incandescent heritage, Tchividjian went through a period of rebellion which he details in his book where he wrestled with legalism and grace for an extended period of time.  Thus, this explains in part his passion in his writing about grace.  So, what does Tchividjian bring to the table with regards to his deliberation about grace?

Grace in T-Shirt and Levi's 501

Central to the book's thesis is Tchividjian's proposition that grace is not just religious rhetoric that the preacher reserves for Gospel Sunday.  Rather, grace is the elevator between heaven and earth.  It is God's one way street where we can gain access to him. Grace is the job interviewer who is willing to look passed our spotted resume and giving us a second chance on a job we don't deserve. Yet, Tchividjian doesn't leave it there; for him, grace needs be incarnated into the lives we live. It needs to be donned with T-shirt and Levi's 501; it needs to be the accent of our speech and the glasses we see the world. 

And in the seventh chapter of the book, Tchividjian gives us concrete examples of how grace affects us in terms of firstly our self-image.  In a world where we are easily bombarded with images of super skinny models and muscular hunks, it is so easy to be so absorbed in our own self-image that we begin to loathe ourselves.  Many Asian-American studies, for instance, have shown that most common cosmetic surgery among Asian Americans is double eyelid surgery. Amongst many young Asian Americas, there's a burgeoning discontent to accept God's design unique to each race; thus, in an effort to eradicate the Asian look, many have resorted to cosmetic surgery.  What grace does is that it liberates us "to be okay with being okay" (p. 148).  Grace and not cosmetic surgery makes us learn to accept who we are. .  

Also, a dearth of grace is what takes the life support out of our marriages.  Often, we have been very vocal and manipulative in forcing our spouses to high jump across impossible hoops in order that they might conform themselves to the images we have created for them.  Our society encourages us not to respect our husbands until they have earned our respect.  And our TV soaps teach us that if you can't get sexual satisfaction at home a little extra marital hanky panky wouldn't hurt.  "We have," as Tchividjian so eloquently puts it, "use one another in the basest and most selfish ways: for our own self-aggrandizement" (p. 151).  Grace is what makes us treat others as true human beings rather than just mere objects we can use to provide for us what we cannot provide for ourselves.

Grace is Not Single and She Shouldn't Be Treated as One  
  
As much as we appreciate Tchividjian's emphasis on grace, what then is our responsibility?  Sure, salvation is entirely by God's grace in the sense that we can never contribute anything to God's salvific act.  But don't we need to appropriate such a grace in our lives through repentance and faith in Jesus as Lord?  If this is the case, in a book that is 236-pages in length, why is repentance never discussed?  In fact, after his discussion of Luke 7:36-39 where a woman came to weep before the feet of Jesus, Tchividjian goes as far as saying that repentance and a resolve to want to change are not necessary:  "Note that we don't have any record of her saying like 'I'm sorry. I promise to live a reformed life from now on." We don't have a record of her saying anything at all! All we have a record of her doing is kissing his feet, washing them with her tears, and drying them with her hair. No promises to do better.  No declarations of her own fidelity and determination to live a changed life" (p. 174).  Being the grandson of Billy Graham who is never afraid to talk about sin and repentance, Tchividjian has fallen Texas miles away from the tree. 

One could counter argue and say that this is a book primarily about God's grace and it not a full-fledged exposition of the Christian gospel.  However, can grace be talked about in isolation from the rest of the Gospel?  Grace is never single and it should never be treated as one.  Grace by itself can only be salvific for those who accept it.  And it can be eternally condemning to those who reject it.  Jesus, as Simeon puts it, did not just come to see "the rising of many in Israel" (Luke 2:34).  But by his same grace, Jesus has also come to cause the "falling of many in Israel."  Grace may be God's one way road to us but if we choose not to meet him in repentance and surrender to His Lordship, the road will ultimately drop into the abyss called hell.   This is why if we are called to preach the Gospel we are to preach it in its entirety.  Every aspect of the Gospel - sin, wrath, judgment, grace, salvation, cross, death, resurrection, eternal life, hell, propitiation, redemption and glorification - all need to be judiciously weighted and expounded.  Each of these terms is in marriage with each other; to elevate one at the expense of the others will cause us to tread on dangerous (and even heretical) ground.  

Further, on an etymological front, one is a little nervous to define grace as God's one way love.  In one sense, Tchividjian is right, the Bible is replete with examples of how God's love is unconditional.  But on the other hand, God's love is far more complicated than that.  There are also passages in the Bible such as Matt. 25:46, John 14:8 and James 4:8 where God's love is also contingent upon our response. Tchividjian would do well to read D. A. Carson's "The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God" (Crossway, 1999) to see how these tensions can be kept intact. 

Though Tchividjian is to be congratulated for liberating grace out of being a word reserved for special occasions to being a lifestyle for all believers, the book still needs to be read with caution. Grace is an important component of the Gospel, but it is still part of a family of truths.  In order to hear God's entire story of redemption, all members need to have a say, not just one.

 

Anne Graham Lotz “Wounded by God’s People: Discovering How God’s Love Heals Our Hearts” Book Review

Even madman Adolf Hitler knows about this.  Prior to his attack on Soviet Union in 1941, Hitler mulcted Joseph Stalin of his military prowess when he allowed Stalin to witness some forged documents indicating that his officers were conspiring against him.  In a moment of rage and paranoia, Stalin executed 35,000 of his top ranking officers representing over half of the Russian officer corps.  With the strategic minds and the invincible force of the Russian army conspicuously weakened, Germany launched its all out massive assault on the Soviet Union leading to more casualties and atrocities imaginable to the human mind. 

Often such is the blueprint Satan uses to attack God’s church.  In our western cultures, with our governments’ hand off religious policies, our threat is hardly from our pagan rulers these days.  Rare also are the cases when an established Bible-affirming church is rattled by the threat of a strand of erroneous teachings from an outsider.  Most churches are equipped with enough intelligent minds and Bible literacy to radar any impeding dangers when an outsider tries to weave in erroneous doctrines into the church.  Unlike in the New Testament or in some Communist countries, outsiders --- be it the government or a cultic group outside the church --- are hardly a threat to churches.  Nevertheless, Satan has a new game plan.  It may take years for a church to witness a slight increment in its membership roll, but it only takes one congregation meeting gone awry to vacate half the church.  Nothing missiles more irreparable damages to the congregational life and slams the doors of the church faster than when Christians wound each other (especially its leaders).

Anne Graham Lotz has had firsthand experience of what it means to be assaulted by fellow believers.  She has seen with her own eyes how congregations can tear at each other’s throats in ways so vicious that you would hear of a law suit coming your way if such behaviors were replicated in a secular corporation.  Before we start to explore some Lotz’s own experiences and how she responded to those who have hurt her in her latest book, “Wounded by God’s People,” it is suffice to say a word first about Lotz.  Her middle name “Graham” is a giveaway; Anne Graham Lotz is none other than the daughter of famed evangelist Dr. Billy Graham.  Over the years, she has followed in the footsteps of her father in becoming one of the most sorted after speakers where she has spoken on seven continents, in more than twenty foreign countries.  And like her dad, she is equally prolific with her pen: her books “The Magnificent Obsession,” “Expecting to See Jesus” and “The Vision of His Glory” have become popular Bible study guides across women and home groups all over the world.

“Wounded by God’s People” is her most personal book to date.  Anchored in her own personal experiences where she and her husband were “booed” out by the churches where they were part of, Lotz uses these experiences as her starting point.  From which, she chronicles for us with palatable emotions her journey towards healing using the Biblical story of Hagar as her GPS.  What makes this book such a rapid page turner is the way Lotz narrates her stories.  She holds her pen the same way a CCTV operates:  when she and her husband Danny were voted off by her church, we can’t help but feel ourselves watching the video of that fateful day unrolling in slow motion before our very eyes.  We can’t help but wonder how a church that is built upon sturdy columns of bricks could house a congregation of such paper-thin loyalty.  We can’t help but feel puzzled about how the beautiful spire of the church that points skyward towards the cobalt blue can construe such an agenda that descends straight into the pit.   We can’t help but imagine how a congregation that can rise from the pews to sing “How Great Thou Art” on Sunday morning could get up of their seats a few moments later to vote out their deacon and his wife, who had taught, led and gave their lives to the church.  Ghastliness indeed gets a whole new look when the Lotzes were voted off by 600 members accompanied with a thunderous applause.  Right or wrong, can anything be crueler than to applaud for someone’s dismissal? 

Danny and Anne Graham Lotz are not alone.  According to survey conducted by “Christianity Today,” 1,500 pastors leave their respective churches each month in the US alone.  Out of the current pastors in America alone, 23 % have been forced to resign or fired in the past.  45% of those who were forced to resign left the ministry for good; while 34% of pastors now serve congregations which have forced their previous pastor to resign.  But the implications are not just for leaders, church fights have dire repercussions for churches.  Rarely does a congregation go unscathed when they have to vote off a church leader; often the repair is irreversible.  And let’s face it, church fight is the major cause of church shrinkage.  And in many cases, it is also the factor that can ultimately lead to church closures.

Nevertheless, this book is not a pity party; neither is this Lotz’s paltry attempt to air the dirty laundries of her churches for all of us to see.  It is not even a book that merely helps us to palliate our pains; Lotz is not just a school nurse handing out temporary bandages for our lacerated bruises.  Rather, her purpose is more ambitious (and should we say Godly); she wants us to face up to our pain and by God’s help to walk out of “the cycle of pain” (p. 53).   The goal is reconciliation (see pages 207-216): reconciliation to both God as well as to others.  

Space Invaders   

One of the book’s most glowing lessons is that Lotz teaches us that wounds are space invaders.  A wound like a clothes moth may appear miniscule; but if you leave a clothes moth in a closet long enough, it will ultimately invade the entire of your closet space and leave its marks on all the clothes inside.  A wound untreated will cause our inner-self to spiritually decay to such an extent that the wounded becomes the wounder.  Lotz illustrates this well when she tells the heartbreaking story of how she accidentally ran over her dog Cedric (pages 59 &60).  While Cedric was lying crumpled in the driveway, Lotz rushed to gather the dog in her arms.  Instead of resting in his mistress’ arms, he drew back in pain, fiercely growling at her before sinking his teeth right into Lotz’s hand.  This is because when we are in pain, our natural reflux is to bite back in pain. 

First, wounds invade the space in our hearts in such a way that it blurs our vision between God’s people and God Himself (p. 47).  When we are wounded, it’s easy to think that God is as malicious as the people who were supposed to represent him.  Lotz herself is first to admit that after she was hurt by her church she stopped attending church in a self-imposed exile for a year (p. 67).  Lotz even goes on to tell us the story of William, a journalist, who was shamelessly abused by the organized church.  Not only was William unable to distinguished between God and his people, he even went public with his views on why he has surrendered his belief in God.  Wounds have a way of overstaying in our hearts and forcing God out if we don’t turn to Him in repentance.

Second, if left unattended, wounds can so burgeon in our hearts that it squeezes others out of our lives.  Of all the stories Lotz tells in the book, one is most grateful of how she never allows her wounds to stain her.  Despite often being the victims of criticisms and unfair treatments, Lotz and her husband love others with an admirable Christ-like love.  Love is a word that is often victimized in the hands of frivolity.  But this is not the case with Danny and Anne Graham Lotz: their story of how they stood by their pastor Steve when their church wanted to fire him after he was met with an accident is enough to well tears in our eyes.  In a world where friends are more like banes easily tossed around by the wind, the Lotzes are friends we would love to covet.

Third, wounds have a way of making us so self-righteous that we would turn everyone who has had offended us into Satan and his devils incarnate.  Despite all the pains we have had endured, we do have our blind spots too: “wounded people” as Lotz writes, “need to repent of their sins (too)” (p. 100).  However, what is disappointing is that Lotz doesn’t bring her exultation to her own church struggles: why did as many as 600 church members vote against her husband?  Why did her church refuse to allow her Bible class to be run on their property?  Were there any blind spots she has had picked up from her church debacles?

Photoshop Exegesis

In reading this book one has to admire Lotz for carefully walking with us through every twist and turn of Hagar’s cycle from pain to reconciliation.   Along the way, she has uncovered for us many gems that have often overlooked if it were not for Lotz’s careful eye.  Nevertheless, Lotz’s exegesis of the text tends to be too myopic at times.  Often she would even admit she has to “read between the lines” in order to bring out what she wants to say about Hagar and the Biblical text.  There are even times she would even go as far as psychologising the passage in order to elucidate what Hagar must have been feeling at the various junctures of the story.  Such exegetical photoshopping of the text is not only uncalled for but it also leads to reading too much of our contemporary nuances into the text. 

Instead of such myopic photoshopping, Lotz would be better off to consider how the story of Hagar contributes to the wider context of the book of Genesis and the Bible as a whole.  It would be more profitable, for instance, to consider how Genesis 16 prepares us for the exodus and the universality of sin.  Just as Israel would one day be mistreated by the Egyptians when they were forced to live in Egypt; here we have an Israelite (Sarai) mistreating an Egyptian (Hagar) as she was forced to flee to Egypt.  Sin therefore spares none of Adam’s children; as cruel as the Egyptians were to the Israelites, given the chance the Israelites did not do any better either.  This is why the Apostle Paul has to return back to same of motif of Hagar and Sarah again in Galatians 4.

Nevertheless, Lotz has placed her finger on the white elephant few churches are willing to talk about.  Unless we face up to our wounds and stop hurting others, we would ultimately be falling victims to Satan’s master plan.  Do the church, your church leaders and yourself a favor by picking up Lotz’s “Wounded by God’s People” today before the next congregational meeting is turned into Satan’s workshop.

 

Word Aflame