What Grace is Mine

Words: Kristyn Getty
Traditional Melody arranged Rob Mathes

What grace is mine that He who dwells in endless light
Called through the night to find my distant soul
And from his scars poured mercy that would plead for me
That I might live and in his name be known

So I will go wherever He is calling me
I lose my life to find my life in Him
I give my all to gain the hope that never dies
I bow my heart, take up my cross and follow Him

What grace is mine to know His breath alive in me
Beneath his wings my wakened soul may soar
All fear can flee for death's dark night is overcome
My Saviour lives and reigns forevermore

So I will go…

 



"What Grace is Mine" is from Keith and Kristyn Getty's new album, "Awaken the Dawn." The Getty's have produced another solid album with sound, creative lyrics and interesting melodies. It is definitely worth the purchase.

Popularity: 43% [?]

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Zune HD and Zune software 4.0 were both deployed earlier this month to much acclaim. The new software features the ability to pin items to a quickplay list, choose your start-up page, and introduces the "Smart DJ" feature. Smart DJ allows you to pick an artist and then Zune customizes a playlist based on the artist from your collection or from the Zune Marketplace if you are a Zune Pass subscriber. As a side note: the Zune Pass is considered by best to be the best subscription deal available today. Zune software 4.0 also introduces a mini player, Windows 7.0 integration, utilizing jump lists, and enhanced, richer mixviews.

 


The Zune HD has a beautiful, sleek design, and boasts an OLED screen, which is brighter than the average LED screen found on most Personal Media Players (PMP.) The 3.3-inch screen provides rich color and accentuates the beauty of the well-designed touchscreen interface. As implied by its name, the Zune HD provides HD video out, meaning that you can play 720p HD video on your TV by connecting your Zune to a dock that connects to your HDTV. You can also play HD Radio on your Zune HD, with the built in HD Radio tuner. As with the last firmware, you can add music played on the radio to your cart to be purchased (or downloaded via the Zune Pass) the next time you either sync or connect via a Wi-Fi connection. Note to all Pens fans: the Penguins will launch an HD Radio channel in the Pittsburgh area October 1 on 105.9. Oh, and if you must have it, the Zune HD has a nice little web browser. I have seen various comparisons of speeds between the Zune HD browser and other PMP browsers. The speed tests appear to demonstrate that they are pretty much the same speed, as each result varies from web site to web site.

Apps and video were new introductions to the Zune Marketplace. Evidently, the videos and apps available at launch were mostly to whet out appetite. The real launch for these items is due in November along with Xbox 360 integration.

My favorite features by far are the interface and OLED screen. The interface allows you to expand or diminish the size of the web page or photo you are viewing by pinching or expanding your fingers (hard to explain.) The interface is slick, fast, and glides like a well-greased trombone slide. I have also had a lot of use for the quick play list and Smart DJ features. The Smart DJ feature has produces lists that I actually enjoy. I don't have a lot to compare it to, personally, but others have said it is by far the best of these type smart playlist features available. The Smart DJ is available on the device via the Zune Marketplace and on the web. Zune 4.0 allows Zune Pass subscribers to stream music from the Zune Marketplace website over the Internet without having the Zune software on the machine.

I think most consider Zune HD a huge success and sales seem to reinforce that thought as Amazon and many Best Buy stores have been out of stock. There will always be those who cannot give Microsoft any credit, but quite a few skeptics have been won over by Zune HD.

 *Some outlets were reporting that althought the video was HD, 5.1 surround sound was not supported on HD video out. This is not correct. 5.1 surround sound is supported. An optical audio output is present on the Zune media dock and Microsoft has confirmed its support.

Popularity: 9% [?]

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I am awake late due to a pretty bad stomach virus so I thought I would throw out some quick hits:

• Mike Huckabee has added a new news radio show to his media makeover.  His show will be a brief take on the news starting Jan. 5th.  I think it will be more long the lines of Paul Harvey than Rush Limbaugh.


• The Romney people are still bitter about Huckabee and taking cheap shots at him..check out political blog comments to see what I mean.  I have one thing to say to them...."Wahhhh!"  Romney is a wash but Huck is here for a while.


• Is it just me, or does it seem obvious that other Republican leaders are visibly jealous of Sarah Palin's popularity?


• The RNC filed a lawsuit today to have McCain-Feingold declared unconstitutional.  How poetically ironic.


• Hillary Clinton is rumored to be on the short list for President-elect Obama's Secretary of State.  Bring back the royal food tasters, she'd be third in line for the presidency.


• A Catholic Priest in South Carolina informed parishioners that if they supported Barrack Obama they needed to do penance before they could take communion because of his gross anti-life stance.


• The Steelers are having a pretty good season considering the amount of injuries they have sustained.  Most teams would have losing records right now, not be at the top of their divisions given they way they have been beat up.


• What's the deal with fining Steeler players for legal hits and only explaining they are hitting too hard?  It is football, right?


• I found the three freebies from the new SG album (T4G Live) completely underwhelming.  It might be nice for people who did not grow up in a mainstream church, but it did not feature new arrangements, new lyrics, or even exceptional talent.  It's just a bunch of guys singing hymns that are available on other albums with better arrangements, so what's the point?  The only plus is that Bob always sounds good, but he is hard to hear most of the time.


• I still have the best dog in the world, who has been very patient with a sick owner for the last three days.

Popularity: 8% [?]

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Amazing....free firmware upgrades for all Zune devices (generations 1 and 2) as generation 3 Zune (120 GB) comes out this week, Sept. 16.

Some new features include:

• Purchase music from FM radio


• Purchase music from the Marketplace from your device (using WiFi)


• Clock (a lot of people wanted this, but isn't that what your cell phone is for?)


• Games (Not a big deal to me, but you know, people must have their games)


• Desktop software and Marketplace upgrades

The video gives brief overviews of several of the features.

Popularity: 5% [?]

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Sovereign Grace Music recently released a new CD focusing on the Psalms. Here are my thoughts.

Musically

Assuming that SGM is targeting a "pop worship" genre, they have successfully created interesting, creative melodies. If you liked U2, especially in the 80's (which I did) you will be pleased.

From an arrangement standpoint, I was a little disappointed. The songs have all started to sound the same to me. A friend suggested that mixing up the vocalists more frequently might help that problem. I think could definitely help. Truthfully, I am bored with the Guitar, basic rhythm section and an occasional string arrangement. The guitar solos also sound very similar to me, could possibly from using the same type of effects on the guitar. I am not sure why SGM is not using a broader variety of instrumentation; they certainly have both the arrangement and performance talent in-house. From a completely personal preference perspective, I wonder how many times they will reference trumpets in their songs and not bother to actually use one.

What I do like musically is the use of more "space", meaning more instrumental interludes.

Album Art

Not crazy about the album art at all. I guess I am too old.

Lyrically

It almost goes without saying that the lyrics are clear in their meaning and sound doctrinally. However, there often seems to be a lack of poetry in the lyrics. Poetry helps the listener remember the lyrics. One well crafted line is from the song. "Out of the Depths". It is as follows: "…like a watchman for the morning, I will wait for you, oh, Lord…" It is a solid analogy with excellent musical prosody.

Favorites

My three favorites on the album are:

1. Glorious and Mighty
   
2. I Want to be Where You Are
   
3. Out of the Depths
   

Honorable Mention:

1. Taste and See

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