Wednesday, December 31, 2014

#87 YOU ARE MY EVERYTHING - Offering of Love


Among the more difficult decisions I had to make while compiling this list was what to do with the songs from Vineyard's great Offering of Love CD. So much so, in fact, that I chose to forgo the normal random worship image with lyrics that I usually put at the top of my posts and put the album and tracks right up there front and center.

On my initial, hurried list of the top 100 songs, I ended up with a preliminary list and then a few dozen songs that just didn't quite make the cut. When I looked those songs over, I found that there were FOUR songs from this album just outside the top 100. I initially toyed with the idea of just giving the entire album a spot on the list, but that would break the solemn oath that I have made to you my readers to keep this list pure and consistent and free from rash, emotional, and biased decisions on my part***

***NOTE: I have made no such oath, nor do intend to keep any part of this fictional oath. I steadfastly reserve the right to do pretty much whatever I want in the future on this blog. Who knows, perhaps you'll spend a whole year following this blog, and when we finally get to the top ten, I'll just start listing my all-time favorite hobbits, or my favorite John Cusack movies, or more likely, my top ten all-time cats that I have owned. Holy Crap, just got an idea for another blog - gotta go. 

Who will be #1 on the Top 100 Countdown?
Offering of Love was released on January 1st, 2000, and as such may sound a little bit dated to you if you haven't heard it before. However, it is still chocked full of great songs. The album's opener, New Song, is very similar to You Are My Everything. It's just a well done pop/light rock song that's really easy on the ears with a great, singable chorus. Easily could've made the list.

Nothing Else Matters is very similar to song #88 on the list, Surrender. It's very slow, with no major key changes, no real rock elements, and doesn't have any 'worship anthem' characteristics. HOWEVER, it's a beautiful song that plays extremely personal, and is very well done. My personal favorite song on Offering of Love is Let Your Healing Come, which doesn't really play like Sunday morning or youth group worship, but is an excellent song none the less. A modernized Let Your Healing Come would be a huge hit for someone like Jesus Culture (get on that, KWS).

As I mentioned before: You Said, Hillsong's By Your Side is a chronically underrated album. It is, but it's a chronically underrated album that has most of it's songs on youtube. Offering of Love is also really underrated, so much so that I couldn't find any of the songs on youtube. There is a remake of Let Your Healing Come that has exactly 1 view, but listening to it makes me want to vomit.


The reason I chose You Are My Everything to make the top 100 list is for the kids. You see, while none of the songs from Offering of Love went on to worship glory, we used to sing You Are My Everything a lot at youth gatherings. And it wasn't just for a bit after the song came out, it remained in the worship rotation for years, and the young folk seemed to enjoy it.


Many, many people commented last week on my pro-Grinch stance, and ask why I didn't take the time to extol the virtues of their beloved Christmas icon, Santa Claus. Well, the reason I didn't prop up Santa Claus is because Santa Claus IS A FRAUD! Yeah, I said it, Santa Claus is a horrible human being who should be looked up to by absolutely no one. Why is it that we poke holes in a few minor flaws in the great Grinch's character but we blatantly ignore HUGE failings from Santa Claus?

First of all, let's start with the obvious: "He sees you when you're sleeping". Seriously? We're having this huge discussion here in the U.S. about the NSA monitoring some of our emails and stuff, and here's this UNELECTED Santa watching everything we do. And we're alright with that? He's basically just a big, fat, unemployed dude in a red suit who watches your children sleep. In my neighborhood, a guy like that would have to report to the authorities.

And what about the serial breaking and entering? We're ok with that as well? Oh, and Santa doesn't just break into your house in the middle of the night, but he eats your cookies and then kisses your mom as well. "Yea, but he leaves gifts for us", you retort. Sure, like that makes everything ok. Let's say your father wakes up at 3am and goes down stairs to see some fat dude makin' out with your mom. You think your dad's gonna be ok with that just because the guy gives him a tie? I think not.

And what about Santa's treatment of Rudolph? Here you have a young, awkward, shy reindeer who everyone else, Santa included, makes fun of just because he looks a little different than anyone else. Is that REALLY the message we should be sending to our kids? And Santa doesn't even seem to care that they wouldn't let Rudolph join in any reindeer games. If you're a reindeer and you live at the North Pole, there are exactly two activities for you: Reindeer Games and Snow Licking. And Santa never stepped in and just let the abuse happen.

As a matter of fact (and this doesn't get publicized), there is a pending court case, Kringle v RRN Deer, in which Santa is the defendant accused of a hostile work environment and olfactory discrimination. This case has been pending for 173 years, and continues to get delayed because of Santa's political connections. Oh, and don't even get me started on Santa's strong-armed tactics to make sure the elves never get a union.

Well, there's a few minutes of your life you're never getting back. As I mentioned, there wasn't a video for the song, so I had to make one - here ya go:

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