On My Itunes Playlist...

Bruce Springsteen's The Rising fills me with the hope that, although there seems to be a mile inch thick wall between the heat and dreariness of late summer where we now reside and the cool nights of fall, if you just listen and look up, you can see change coming in the air. That change will bring it's own issues, but at least we'll have football and the approaching footsteps of Christmas.

The David Crowd Band's Make a Joyful Noise/ I will not be Silent never gets old and reminds me that the things we take a natural liking to can be the things God also most likes. I also think that if I had this song 15 years ago it would have ruined me because "I will not be silent" would have encouraged me to be louder about my already obnoxious beliefs about God and faith. Now, though, not being silent has more to do with being who I am than in being what I think a good boy should be.

The Riddle by Five for Fighting makes me remember how much Kyle adored his children.

K.T. Tunstall's Black Horse and The Cherry Tree makes me want to dance and somehow reminds me of my childhood. Maybe because I think she sounds like Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics.

What If by Nichole Nordeman exposes what I've always suspected: That the greatest apologetic for the Christian faith is that there's the possibility it's wrong. But, if it's right, it's the greatest cause for celebration in the history of the world.

Seven Spanish Angels by Ray Charles and Willie Nelson takes me back to slow drives on East Texas backroads in my dad's old pick-up truck, with the smell of pine straw floating in and chewing tobacco floating out.

I think of the Rolling Stone interview I read with Anthony Kiedis when I hear the Chili Pepper's Dani California. I couldn't help but dance when the band was jamming one day and someone asked if his excitement is fake. He said it would be fake if he DIDN'T dance.

I think of Elizabethtown when I hear Ryan Adam's Come Pick me Up.

I believe Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars will go down as the soundtrack for the past few months. I'm not exactly sure what the lyrics are getting at, but there is a feeling of loneliness in the midst of community that I get when I hear it. And, of course, I think of Grey's Anatomy.

And then there's My Little Corner of the World by Yo La Tengo, which makes me think, once again, that I'm here and hopefully being here is good enough to make it.