The CCM Experiment: April 30

Feeling: Happy, relaxed.

Doing: Church, a potluck, hanging with friends, eating sushi, chatting with a waitress about BlimeyCow, taking down fair photos/decor, watching Maleficent.

Listened to: Hymns at church!

Lyric that stood out the most to me:

I will not forget
Your love for me and yet,
My heart forever is wandering.
Jesus by my guide,
And hold me to your side,
And I will love you to the end.

"Thy Word", by Amy Grant

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 29

Feeling: Frustrated, proud, excited, exhausted, happy, thankful.

Doing: Supervising my fair section, hiking in the Wallowa mountains, falling into snow drifts (and laughing as my Texan friend fell into them. It was his first time seeing real snow), driving long winding roads, enjoying God's creation and chatting about how well He has provided.

Listened to: Veridia

Lyric that stood out the most to me:

Ink stained green paper
Fast cars, soul chasers
Pretty pretty lies
Pretty pretty lies
Make-up, smoke eyes
Won't hide cries behind
Pretty pretty lies
Pretty pretty lies

- "Pretty Lies", by Veridia


Listening to this song in the car with my hiking buddy brought out some great conversation. He pointed out how the song was describing the standards that we all stress about living up to rather than pleasing God. It then launched into a talk about trusting God rather than trying to handle everything on our own and take all the credit for the blessings he sends into our lives. I love when music can spark a good conversation!

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 28

Feeling: A little tired, exhilarated, adventurous, relaxed, happy, and a tiny bit frustrated (but just because sometimes the internet doesn't always have what I want :P )

Doing: Eating at a local specialty waffle house, hiking on an abandoned railroad.

Listened to: ... Well, oddly we didn't do music today. So I heard the sound of my friend's voice and The Aux Cable Podcast (which we had fun replying to in the car, even though the hosts can't hear us. Haha)

Lyric that stood out the most to me:

No music = no lyrics. Though I learned a very visual lesson while hiking today that sometimes God knocks out a bridge when He wants you to explore other options. It all worked out - while we didn't get to follow the abandoned railway nearly as far as I'd hoped, we explored a lot of nearby territory that would otherwise have gone unnoticed.

Out for a hike, and a few miles in discovered the bridge broke! Uh oh. #Idaho #hikepnw

A post shared by Sarah Iddings (@adventureofsair) on Apr 28, 2017 at 10:38pm PDT

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 27

Feeling: Excited, happy, exhausted, glad, thankful.

Doing: Visiting friends, swing dancing, eating bagels at midnight.

Listened to: The Brilliance

Lyric that stood out the most to me:


"Love has a way of finding us
Just when you think that all is lost
So if you feel like giving up
Know love is never too far off."

- "Love Has A Way", by The Brilliance

In general, I just really love this song. It reminds me of being blessed with friendships just when I need them.

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 26

Feeling: Happy, relaxed, a little sore from hiking.

Doing: Hiking, driving, blogging, playing UpWords.

Listened to: Adventures in Odyssey, Twenty One Pilots

Lyric that stood out the most to me:

"Am I the only one I know
Waging my wars behind my face and above my throat
Shadows will scream that I'm alone
But I know, we've made it this far, kid"

- "Migraine" by Twenty One Pilots


I love this word picture they created for having an internal battle. It's a catchy reminder that we all have a war going on inside of us, and for Christians that means flesh against the Holy Spirit. Though it feels as if we are alone, we can take heart that we aren't- we have both our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are waging similar internal warfare, and we also have Christ inside us, enabling us to keep pressing on.

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 25

Feeling: Thankful, exhausted, busy.

Doing: Supervising the fair judges, hanging photos, decorating, managing the photography department, a library meeting, getting pulled over by a traffic cop, passing out awards, and hanging with Tim (who I am so grateful agreed to help me at the fair all day!)

Listened to: Shane & Shane, Veridia, Turning Circles.

Lyric that stood out the most to me:

"Your passion is a fire
An all consuming fire
I can't get enough
Furious love"

"Furious Love", by Veridia


You'd have to hear this song to get the full effect, but I really like the way that it captures the intensity of God's love, rather than portraying an almost hippie-like love story.

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 24

Feeling: Happy, tired, relaxed. Tiny bit stressed about coming fair stuff, but not too bad.

Doing: Watching Tim sign a million papers to buy a house, lunch with a friend, entering stuff in the fair, taking people's fair entries (no worries, I am the superintendent, not some jerk ;) ), organizing fair entries, decorating for the fair.

Listened to: Jordan Taylor

Lyric that stood out the most to me:

"I know I shouldn't search for feeling
'Cause when that search is all that consumes you
All this intentional living
Turns to thoughts of only you"

- "Waiting", by Jordan Talyor

It's easy to get consumed in the search for good feelings. But in the end, feelings are fleeting, and continuously trying to keep a stream of good feeling highs can become all consuming if one isn't careful.

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 23

Feeling: Happy, excited, exhausted.

Doing: Church, hanging with friends, 6.5 mile walk through town, and more church and more friends!

Listened to: Shane & Shane

Lyric that stood out the most to me:"Though You slay me
Yet I will praise You
Though You take from me
I will bless Your name
Though You ruin me
Still I will worship
Sing a song to the One who's all I need

My heart and flesh may fail
The earth below give way
But with my eyes, with my eyes I'll see the Lord
Lifted high on that day
Behold, the Lamb that was slain
And I'll know every tear was worth it all"

"Though You Slay Me", by Shane & Shane

It's not every day you come across a song that portrays intense pain and struggle while still worshipping God. This one was based off of the life of Job. When there is so much talk about God giving you "your best life now", people tend to forget that book of the Bible in which God did not give Job his "best life now", but rather allowed him to suffer affliction and test his faith.

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 22

Feeling: Excited, happy, thankful, exhausted.

Doing: Picked up one of my best far away friends from the airport today! We then proceeded to spend near all afternoon hiking. His FitBit said we did around 83 flights of "stairs" in 3.6 miles, haha.

Listened to: Wintergarten (their song Star Machine 2000 has been my mood-theme-song today), Shane and Shane.

Lyric that stood out the most to me:


"I chose my pride instead
Of the glory of Your name
All the wrath of God that I
Deserve with every breath
Fell upon Him"

- "You Loved My Heart To Death", by Shane & Shane.

Man, how often do we do this? I don't know about you, but I feel like this is a recurring theme in my life- choosing my own pride over His glory. Very striking lyric.

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 21

Feeling: Productive, happy, exhausted.

Doing: Nursing home housekeeping work, library shelving, a walmart run, discussion time with my Praxis "mastermind group".

Listened to: The Phil Vischer Podcast

Lyric that stood out the most to me:

I'll be honest, at this point I am so sleepy I can't recall anything from the podcast episodes I heared. But I did write down some quotes that I thought were great in the book that I am reading, so I will share one of those instead:

"Attention, success, and comparison hold my soul hostage until they get what they want. Spoiler alert: they want everything. And they are never satisfied. They will never let you go."

- Emily P. Freeman, "Simply Tuesday"

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 20

Feeling: Tired, happy, grateful.

Doing: Nursing home housekeeping work, blogging, chatting with friends, Bible study group.

Listened to: Wintergaton

Lyric that stood out the most to me:

Well, the only music I listened to today was instrumental. I keep coming back to Wintergaton. Really enjoying these tunes! Learned today that you can pick them up on Bandcamp for basically $8 for the entire discography, as long as Bing added up the exchange rate correctly. Check it out here!

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 19

Feeling: Exhausted but satisfied.

Doing: Nursing home housekeeping, library shelving, bookbinding, blogging.

Listened to: The Aux Cable Podcast, Welcome Wagon (folk), The Jazz Typhoons (Jazz...duh)

Lyric that stood out the most to me:

"Those are my best days, when I shake with fear"

- "My Best Days, Parts 1 & 2", The Welcome Wagon

This repeated line at the end of their song is not only an oddly happy tune, it causes you to stop and think. Is it true? It may not seem like it in the moment of fear, but looking back on those days when I've been fearful, in the end God has carried me through.

I also will add that The Welcome Wagon is one of my favorite bands that I've discovered this month. Their music is so chill and pleasant to listen to. The vibe makes me think of firefly-lit nights spent in Nashville and their lyrics range from fun and a little quirky ("Rice And Beans (But No Beans)" ) to thought provoking and reminiscent of the book of Psalms ("My God, My God Parts 1 & 2"). Their album is only $8 on Bandcamp. Check them out!

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 18

Feeling: Happy, exhausted, productive, social.

Doing: Nursing home housekeeping, blogging, hanging with friends, prepping for the county fair (I run a department out there).

Listened to: BarlowGirl

Lyric that stood out the most to me:

I can't believe that I'm here in this place again
How did I manage to mess up one more time?
This pattern seems to be the story of my life
Should have learned this lesson by the thousandth time.

'Cause I promised myself I wouldn't fall
But here I've fallen
I guess I'm not as strong as I thought
All I can do is cry to you.

Oh God you have to save me
You're my last and only hope
All my right answers fail me
I can't seem to make it on my own.

Always thought that I would be strong enough
What made all of them fall couldn't take me down
Yeah, did I think that I was above it all?
I have learned that pride comes before the fall

This is so relatable. One of my favorite things about BarlowGirl is how accurately they capture both the joys and the hardships of life in their songs.

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 17

Feeling: Sick and exhausted, yet also relaxed, satisfied, and thankful.

Doing: Spending a LOT of time in bed, messaging friends, laundry, blogging.

Listened to: Scott Blackwell (90's techno hiphop...?), Relient K (rock/pop), Hillsong Young & Free (worship/electronic)

Lyric that stood out the most to me:

I'm sorry for the person I became.
I'm sorry that it took so long for me to change.
I'm ready to try and never become that way again
'Cause who I am hates who I've been.
Who I am hates who I've been.

- "Who I am Hates Who I've Been", Relient K.

This is the story of the Christian life. Our reborn, Holy Spirit-influenced spirits hate who our lusting sinful flesh has been. It is a constant process.

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 16

Feeling: Happy, relaxed

Doing: Gathering with church people, visiting a friend, painting rocks

Listened to: Hymns at church... otherwise, I was too busy chatting with people to play any music on my own.

Lyric that stood out the most to me:

I have to tell you the truth, I don't remember any lyrics really hitting me today. Which I guess goes to show that just because someone is singing at church does not mean they necessarily comprehend what they are saying in the song. It's a sad thing to have to admit. I'd like to think that when I am attending the church assembly that I am worshipping God, but if I'm being brutally honest, I'm not always 100% there. Seriously focusing on God, both on my own and amongst the church is a continual struggle that takes a lot of prayer.

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 15

Feeling: Happy, relaxed, excited.

Doing: Nursing home work, hanging out with friends on my "Friday" night.

Listened to: Random stuff on the Christian radio station, Everyday Sunday (pop-punk), Officer Negative (Didn't know what they were...turns out its growly screamo. Great if it's your thing, but it's not really mine), Philmont (pop/rock), Wavorly (rock).

Lyric that stood out the most to me:

"I've walked among the shadows
You wiped my tears away
And I've felt the pain of heartbreak
And I've seen the brighter days

And I've prayed prayers to Heaven
From my lowest place
And I have held Your blessings
God, You give and take away"

- Tauren Wells

This song is a nice reminder of the truth that while yes, God is the great provider of all things, He also can and does take things from us too. Life won't always be perfect, but the fact is that He is working all things to end in us glorifying Him at our fullest potential. Though the choruses of this song are somewhat cliche and repetitive, the verses scattered throughout are really great.

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 14

Feeling: Happy, creatively energized (but not physically energized).

Doing: Nursing home housekeeping work, library shelving, a call with a Praxis advisor, 

Listened to: The Afters

Lyric that stood out the most to me:

And all the things we think of as eternal would come undone
So all I have to say is when I'm praying
Is "Thank God I'm not the one"

- "Thank God I'm Not The One" by The Afters.

This is a song of gratitude to God, that while we face our own struggles, it could be so much worse.

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 13

Feeling: Motivated, energetic, happy.

Doing: Nursing home housekeeping work, journaling, career research, chatting with friends, audio editing.

Listened to: ... Well... I heard like two songs on the radio while driving to and from work. It wasn't a very music filled day!

Lyric that stood out the most to me:

Since I didn't hear any outstanding lyrics, I will leave you with a Bible verse that I read this morning instead. It gave me some good food for thought (if you'll pardon the pun!)

"The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite, but the belly of the wicked suffers want" - Proverbs 13:25.

Why do you suppose this is? I'll have more thoughts on this passage coming up in one of my Friday devotional posts in the next several weeks.

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 12

Feeling: Happy, motivated.

Doing: Nursing home housekeeping work, library shelving, journaling, learning to use Audacity, talking to friends.

Listened to: Wintergatan (Swedish acoustic machine band), The Phil Vischer Podcast.

Lyric that stood out the most to me:

Since Wintergatan is an instrumental group, the most outstanding things I heard were spoken on the podcast and also a tidbit I heard from a radio preacher as I drove home from work:

"Christianity doesn't end when you're converted; you're always growing and learning." - The Phil Vischer Podcast, episode 247.

"Do you really believe God? Or do you just talk about belief in God when you are around Christians?" - radio preacher on Moody this afternoon.

What is the CCM Experiment?

The CCM Experiment: April 11

Feeling: A little sick, relaxed, happy, slow.

Doing: Blogging, dancing to piano covers, reading an old journal, messaging friends.

Listened to: Twenty One Pilots (hip hop/indie pop/electronic), Peter Bence (piano), Cooper Holzman (piano, video below)

Lyric that stood out the most to me:

And I will say that we should take a day to break away
From all the pain our brain has made, the game is not played alone
And I will say that we should take a moment and hold it
And keep it frozen and know that life has a hopeful undertone

- Migraine, by Twenty One Pilots

It's easy to get caught up in all sorts of thoughts that aren't glorifying to God or good for us. Our thoughts can cause us pain. We have to realize that we aren't alone, and that though life can drag us down, there is hope beneath it all. The struggles we face in life are to draw us nearer to God, causing us to rely upon Him more fully and prepare us for a life of worship in His presence.

Also, on the non-lyrical front, I feel obligated to share this gorgeous piano cover of "The Judge" with you. I am absolutely loving it.

What is the CCM Experiment?