Oh SNAP!

I don't know if you know this about me, but I have A LOVE FOR MUSIC. All kinds, I can listen to pretty much anything. . . with the exception of Scremo (If you can - I applaud you, I usually get a headache). SOME of my favorites are listed below. . .

Acoustic pop: Matt Kearney, The Rend Collective Experiment, Tori Kelly, Andrew Allen - Loving you tonight, (a new favorite) Taylor Thrash, Andy Grammar, the Workday release, Lorde - royals is my favorite though, Jason Reeves, Phillip Phillips, Tyler Ward, and He is We. 

Pop rock and R&B: Pink, Katy Perry, Imagine Dragons, NEEDTOBREATHE, one republic, Bastille, Avicii, Tristan Prettyman, Bruno mars, Jason Mraz, one direction, OneRepublic, Taylor swift, Christina Aguilera, Demi Lovato, Passenger, Gavin Degraw... and SO MANY MORE!

Rap: Eminem, Benjiah, Trip Lee, Lecrae - Don't waste your life,  Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, KJ-52, pitbull, T-pain, Lil Wayne - How to love is my favorite, Grits... and more... 

...Then there is 

Country: Carrie underwood, Florida Georgia line, Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Lady Antebellum, The Band Perry, Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, Jake owen, Zac Brown band, Hunter Hayes, Kelli Pickler... the list could go on forever. . . and I haven't even mentioned my favorite worship bands!  

I say all of that to say. . .

 THE COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS were on tonight!
I have to say Carrie underwood and Brad Paisley were FANTASTIC hosts! 20 minutes into the ceremony I was impressed with their sarcastic and playful humor on rough events to address and their more than creative introductions - Particularly The Duck dynasty intro, that one was defiantly my favorite! All I kept thinking was OHHHHHHHHSNAP!! 
Not just about the show as a whole (which I really Loved), but more or less because as I sat their watching performance after performance - listening to lyric after lyric I began to see just how much these songs represented our culture.

How we think, what we value, why we do what we do. . . and It breaks my heart. 
This Is my country, these are my people, and they are lost. The only world they know is unsatisfying, filled to the brim with double standards, empty, self-centered, its all about what makes you happy. There is a bigger word than individualism that can be used to define our culture - Existentialism. . . and I would go as far as to say Epicureanism. Christianity might be the face. . . but the HEART of this country is a mix of those two.
So, how do I react when I know truth. When I know there is something bigger and more satisfying than MY PLEASURE to live for? How do I approach a world (friends, neighbors, strangers) that believe WHATEVER WORKS FOR YOU IS RIGHT.

2nd Corinthians 4:1-6 says  "Therefore, by having this ministry by the mercy of GOD, WE DO NOT LOSE HEART... In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbeleivers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the Glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as servants for jesus's sake. For God who said,'let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light  of the knowledge of the glory of God". 

The answer. . .Be encouraged. Pray, trust, & as soon as possible act. Act as a light in a dark, dark place. 

- Jacqueline