I love a good soundtrack. In fact, one of my “when I grow up I’m gonna be…” dreams was to be a soundtrack compiler (ideally to a Richard Curtis flick). I’m still hoping. Anyway, I love how songs can perfectly accompany a particular moment or activity. But recently I’ve been noticing it’s not just one-way traffic. A song doesn’t just suit your mood, it can also re-direct your mood.

As a Christian I want to ‘tune my heart to sing God’s grace’, and so I’ve decided to have a handful of songs on standby to be my morning soundtrack, as I begin a new day, accompanying me as I do my ‘pre-leaving-the-house’ essentials. That’s not to replace time digging into the Bible and praying, but I suppose to provide an early opportunity to respond to that in praise. They’re my ‘bathroom liturgies’ or my ‘morning anthems’. So following on from the previous sets of three songs that I highlighted back in February, Easter, and in June, here are another three that I’ve been enjoying listening to in these summer months

1. How He Loves Us – David Crowder Band

This song has been around for a while, but it remains one of my faves. I recently spent a week teaching in the book of Ephesians, and Paul’s prayer that we’d know the height and width and length and depth of Christ’s love just hit me again. It is God’s will that we reflect and soak ourselves in the knowledge of the love of God in Jesus. I particularly like the way this song riffs on 2 Corinthians 4, reflecting on how God’s love transforms the reality of suffering.

2. Once for All – City Alight

My mate Tom shared this song on Twitter, and suddenly I’m hearing City Alight all over the place. They’re not unlike Rend Collective, and have that Mumford-esque rock/pop/folk sing-along flavour. Their songs Home and Jerusalem seem particularly popular for singing in church congregations and are excellent, but I love how Once for All takes me back to the cross of Jesus, calling me to see that everything has changed.

3. Fix My Eyes – Lou Fellingham

The Fellinghams have crafted some brilliant songs over the years, and this is no exception. Every day brings with it new challenges and new ‘invitations’ for our attention and affections, and yet this song reminds us it’s in Jesus Christ that there’s true freedom, life, mercy, hope and forgiveness; “In you there’s everything I was looking for”.

What about you? What’s your favourite song you’re listening to help ‘tune your heart’ at the start of the day?

Following on from the handful of songs I highlighted in February and at Easter, ‘bathroom liturgies’ is just a phrase I’ve ending up using to describe the tunes that have recently been part of my ‘morning soundtrack’. Here are three more that I’ve been enjoying listening to as summer breaks in, ‘tuning my heart to sing God’s grace’:

1. My Soul Is Well – Simon Brading & Jordan Dillon

If you were at Word Alive 2015, then you probably heard this sung a fair bit. The recording’s actually from 2009, so the song’s been around for a while. It’s a bit of a catchy modern riff on Spafford’s classic hymn, ‘It Is Well With My Soul’, fixing your heart on the goodness of the gospel;

“There’s no promise I am missing, all I need has been supplied… my soul is well.”

2. Father, Open Our Eyes – Jamie Brown

Jamie wrote this song as he listened to a Gary Millar sermon from Together for the Gospel, on “Jesus Betrayed and Crucified”, from Luke 22:39-23:43. More on the story behind the song here. Effectively a sung prayer to savour Jesus:

“Infinite grace and mercy, tenderness deep and wide; A strong lion for our defense, a humble lamb as our sacrifice. How can we take Him for granted? How can our hearts become hard? Oh, that again we would run to our friend, embraced by the grace in His arms.”

3. 1 Corinthians 15:58 – The Verses Project

The Verses Project is a brilliant idea. The aim is to create musical and visual art that helps people memorise and meditate on Scripture, and Ryan Walker’s simple take on 1 Cor. 15:58 is a great example. Simple, infectious, and it captures the climactic nature of the two halves of this verse.

For me 1 Corinthians is a book that comes with a lot of memories, having been where our discipleship groups back in Cheltenham spent a year, as well as being one of the focuses of my dissertation. As I wake up and face a new day, with various priorities, pressures and tasks before me, it’s so important to grasp that ‘labour in the Lord’ is not in vain. I don’t have a video link, but you can download it for free here.

What about you? What’s your favourite song you’re listening to help ‘tune your heart’ at the start of the day?

Many years ago, I worked for my parents who own a video production company. Because it is a family business, you inevitably end up wearing many hats and being the czar of many different jobs. I mainly managed projects and worked as a video editor. On production, there were times that I was called on to work as an audio tech and was made to wear headphones on long production days. In those days, having a really good set of headphones that picked up every nuance of sound was essential to making sure the client got what they needed.

First impressions.

Naturally, my first impression of these headphones is based off of the look of them. They have a classic over-the-ear style that is highlighted by a blue LED light that indicates the power for the noise canceling. The padding on the ear pieces seems adequate for extended usage periods.

They are wired headphones, but the 3.5mm stereo mini-plug cable is detachable. Something else I noticed right of the bat was the very nice carrying case that comes with them. It has a hard plastic exterior with a soft cloth interior that helps to protect the surface of the headphones from scratches. I never truly appreciated cases for headphones until I started carrying them from place-to-place. Now I can’t imagine not having a case.

A perfect fit.

Once I gave the headphones a thorough once-over exam, I tried them on. As I mentioned, they have a classic over-the-ear style and just looking at them, the padding on the ear pieces seem adequate and the peak of the headband seemed to be a bit lacking, but you don’t really know comfort unless you try on the product. So, I slipped the headphones on and found them to be exquisitely comfortable.

Quality.

Now that I had the headphones on my head, I was finally ready to plug and play some music. I plugged the provided cable into the jack on the headphones and then the one on my iPhone 6. Then I called up Pandora. I tend to have a very eclectic music purview and have many stations set up for different moods. From John Williams to Fallout Boy, the sound quality of these headphones was remarkable. There is an amazing depth of sound and incredible highs and lows that make listening to music a truly breathtaking experience.

It’s safe to say that because of my unique professional experiences, I’ve tested out a lot of headphones.

In order to test how voices sounded, and the overall art of sound mixing, I pulled up Netflix on my iPad Air 2 and watched a few minutes of a movie to hear all the nuances of the film. None of them were lost. In fact, I ended up hearing sounds that I hadn’t heard before. Echoes…birds chirping…wind blowing through trees…breathing of the characters…it was very impressive what the headphones ended up bringing out for me.

I would highly recommend these to any sound mixing specialist.