Power of Visions

I admit, in my free time lately I have become a bit of a YouTube junky. When I first heard about YouTube, I thought, "that's nice, a way to share videos with people" and I didn't pay much attention. Then I had a professor in a class suggest that we should view YouTube videos as part of our "self-care" she commented how there is a lot of funny stuff out there and it would be good for us to take a break from our studies by laughing at some of the stuff that's out there.

I didn't really get into YouTube until a TA in one of my classes showed as a hilarious video about the way people misperceive Jesus from vintage21.com and I had to go looking for it. That was the beginning of the end. From that moment I discovered how easy it is to spend minutes, ok hours, on YouTube.

I rediscovered fun music videos from the past, like Michael W. Smith's Secret Ambition video. I had heard people talk about how powerful this video is, but had never myself seen it. Now that I've seen it I think that it was probably more powerful when it was originally produced in the 80's. I can't, myself, get past the idea that Michael W. Smith is walking in Jesus footsteps as if to say the song is as much about MWS as it is about Jesus (I know this is not the case having followed MWS and witnessing his ministry in a variety of settings) but it got me thinking about the power of visions. When I viewed the Secret Ambition video I also discovered a video that someone had created to the soundtrack of Rocketown another favorite of mine from the MWS discography (Secret Ambition is likely my favorite MWS song of all time).

As I watched the Rocketown video I realized that there is a power in the visuals that we match to music. I didn't feel like this person captured what I would have wanted to capture, but it was still powerful nonetheless. It reminded me of a "video" that I put together for Chris Rice's "Face of Christ" it was really less of a video as a PowerPoint presentation of still photos, but it was a powerful way to work with the words that Chris Rice recorded.

That thought led me into the idea of how songwriters have an incredible gift to paint pictures with their words. They are able to set a scene and tell a story usually in less than 4 minutes. What a gift! I wonder how many songwriters ever thought their words and music would back up videos on a technology called YouTube? As I thought of this, I came across an incredible use of video images in a video created, I assume, by a church for a worship setting to the song Tell Me Again I admit being partial to Geoff Moore's songwriting, but this is probably one of the more moving videos I have found on YouTube.

Some other stuff that I found and will likely watch again includes:

Michael W. Smith's performance of the u2 song 40 ... I have to admit I'm not really a u2 fan, I'm slowly coming around to being able to listen to them on the radio (there's just something about the effects they use to record or something) and I am definitely a MWS fan, so this will probably seem biased, but I think MWS does a much better job of 40 than u2 does.

Third Day's new song, Cry to Jesus ... my favorite concert experience was Third Day and MWS on the Come Together Worship tour but this new song from Third Day really hits me. There's something about Mac Powell's vocal quality and lyrics that really reach to my core. Again, add to that the visual images of this video and it really makes a person stop and think. Another Third Day addition to the video ranks is God of Wonders o.k. so maybe it's not totally a Third Day thing, but what great images!

A couple of funny videos from Geoff Moore caught my attention. Evolution, Redefined has always bothered me a little because of the message of the song (c'mon, it's possible for evolution and creationism to co-exist) but I've always loved the hilarious teacher in the song, what a great voice. Then there's Home Run a rather cheesy premise in some ways followed by a cheesy video, but it makes me laugh, and it's Geoff Moore so I find myself watching it over and again.

There's a lot of other funny stuff out there. I hope from time to time to link various videos to this blog. You'll find a lot of them linked directly below the main post. Not always are the videos I find deep and meaningful, but I generally think that everything that I link to my page will have some significance, if you have a hard time seeing it, let me know and I'll reveal my thinking.

Oh, and if you haven't already become a YouTube addict, I suggest taking a week or two of vacation and dedicating some serious time to the wonder that is YouTube.