People who've been around me any length of time will eventually hear me refer to my new best friend Beth Moore. Love, love, LOVE the way that Southern girl speaks and how she makes Jesus as real and accessible as, well, "the girl next door". Of course, she's spent a lot of time with God and knows Him intimately and has the way of sharing her relationship with Him in such a way that you just gotta have a piece of it. Hopefully, the "piece" is of Christ, not Beth (she'd hate the latter).

The Bible studies of her's I've gone through have had great impact in my own life and spiritual growth. There's a lesson during each series that I'm convinced God inspired her to write just for ME! (all Beth's "best friends" feel that way ;) ).

All good things must come to an end, though, and I'm afraid I'll have to inform Beth that I have a new best friend Nichole Nordeman. I picked up her newest CD recently, Brave, and it's fantastic (listen to the music player when you click the link)! She didn't become my new best friend, though, until I read through her lyrics with the accompanying explanation for the origin of each song. She expresses well and succinctly her life experiences as well as those around her, and her response to each. Although I loathe the overuse of this word (can't believe I'm using it here...), she's REAL. Gotta love that.

I am also LOVING Derek Webb's CD, Mockingbird, right now, too. It's a "wow, did he just say that?!" kinda CD. Provocative ... thoughtful ... convicting... challenging ... and at times, in your face. While you're giving Nicole a whirl, give Derek a try, too. (Derek used to be a frontman for Caedmon's Call and left the group to fly solo. There's some story there, but I don't know what it is...I AM thinking he's probably freer to say what he really thinks now....!).
Look at some of his lyrics and see if you agree:

"There are two great lies that I've heard: ‘the day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die’ and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him” -from “A King & A Kingdom”

“Don't teach me about moderation and liberty, I prefer a shot of grape juice” -from “A New Law”

"Peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication it's like telling someone murder is wrong and then showing them by way of execution” -from “My Enemies Are Men Like Me”

Oh, yeah, thanks to Amy & Wendy for encouraging me to listen with BOTH ears ;).