Jars of Clay: The Long Fall Back to Earth

Ever since Jars of Clay's eponymous double-platinum debut in 1995, the pioneering alt-rock band has been a Christian music staple. And each subsequent release has tweaked Jars' constantly evolving sound a bit further. While the group's previous album, Good Monsters, forayed into straight-up rock 'n' roll, what The Long Fall Back to Earth offers is slick, synthesized retro pop. Regarding the album's title, frontman Dan Haseline says, "The Long Fall Back to Earth describes that sobering moment in a relationship when you move from the euphoria of being in love to the reality of what it means to live in a relationship on a day-to-day basis."

As Haseltine notes, Jars' 10th album often addresses the difficulties of relating to an invisible God and to imperfect people. Accordingly, "Two Hands" reflects a Christian understanding of the paradoxical war between our sin nature and our redeemed identity as believers in Christ. "I have a broken disposition," Haseltine sings. "I'm a liar who thirsts for truth." The song insists that if we could get our "two hands" to work together, there's no telling the good we might do. Likewise, "Heaven" calls us to notice "what's growing on the inside," meaning evidence of God's work in our lives. "Lyrically, I love [this song]," says guitarist Steve Mason, "because we always seem to be looking for heaven outside and around us, when eternity has been written on our hearts" (a reference to Ecclesiastes 3:11).

"Closer" pleads poetically for reconciliation. "Headphones" rails against modern distractions that alienate us from our problems and from each other. "Safe to Land" tackles the struggle of getting reacquainted with family after a long tour. "A lot of bands write road songs," Haseltine says, "about what it feels like to miss one's family when you're on the road—but nobody writes songs about what it feels like to come home from the road and try to reconnect with your family." The result of that lyrical focus is one of the album's most poignant, determined tracks. "I'm gonna stay 'til we make it work," he sings. "We're not going down even if it gets worse/We'll work it out." Elsewhere, "Hero" sends up a broken plea for a savior, while "Scenic Route" deals with someone trying to mend a rocky relationship. "Heart," the album's final track, sounds like a love song from God: "No walls to defend, wars to align/Give me your heart, you already have mine."

None really. But because the band isn't afraid to voice deep doubts, a handful of isolated lyrics could be misinterpreted if taken out of context. On "Hero," for example, Haseltine apparently vents frustration over unanswered prayer. "We hide on our knees in silence," he sings. "Maybe God doesn't hear at all."

Jars of Clay has never fit neatly into the stereotypical CCM box. Optimism, faith and hope infuse many of the band's songs, to be sure. But Dan Haseltine and Co. never focus on these things at the expense of an honest assessment of how hard and confusing life can be as well. The Long Fall Back to Earth continues in that lyrical vein, even as it showcases the band's ever-evolving sound. All in all, Fall Back is sonic cotton candy with bite—tuneful cries from the souls of four guys willing to look at life unflinchingly, in all its grit and glory.

Paid in Full

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautifully wrapped gift box.

Curious, and somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's name embossed in gold. Angry, he rose his voice to his father and said "with all your money, you give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.

When he arrived at his father's house, a sudden feeling of sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father's important papers and saw the still gift-wrapped Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. His father had carefully underlined a verse, Matt.7:11, "And if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,how much more shall your Heavenly Father which is in Heaven, give to those who ask Him?"

As he read those words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss God's blessings because we can't see past our own desires?



Story Source: http://www.inspirationalarchive.com/texts/topics/forgiveness/paidfull.shtml

Ten Inches Deep

A boy was sitting on a park bench with one hand resting on an open Bible. He was loudly exclaiming his praise to God. "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! God is great!" he yelled without worrying whether anyone heard him or not.

Shortly after, along came a man who had recently completed some studies at a local university. Feeling himself very enlightened in the ways of truth and very eager to show this enlightenment, he asked the boy about the source of his joy.

"Hey" asked the boy in return with a bright laugh, "Don't you have any idea what God is able to do? I just read that God opened up the waves of the Red Sea and led the whole nation of Israel right through the middle."

The enlightened man laughed lightly, sat down next to the boy and began to try to open his eyes to the "realities" of the miracles of the Bible. "That can all be very easily explained. Modern scholarship has shown that the Red Sea in that area was only 10-inches deep at that time. It was no problem for the Israelites to wade across."

The boy was stumped. His eyes wandered from the man back to the Bible laying open in his lap. The man, content that he had enlightened a poor, naive young person to the finer points of scientific insight, turned to go. Scarcely had he taken two steps when the boy began to rejoice and praise louder than before. The man turned to ask the reason for this resumed jubilation.

"Wow!" exclaimed the boy happily, "God is greater than I thought! Not only did He lead the whole nation of Israel through the Red Sea, He topped it off by drowning the whole Egyptian army in 10 inches of water!"

SPC

the only way to be victorious is to have CHRIST reigning within...!

TO GOD BE THE GLORY..

~SPC_ACMYLDI~

Morning and Evening Devotionals

"And the evening and the morning were the first day."-Genesis 1:5

The evening was "darkness" and the morning was "light," and yet the two together are called by the name that is given to the light alone! This is somewhat remarkable, but it has an exact analogy in spiritual experience. In every believer there is darkness and light, and yet he is not to be named a sinner because there is sin in him, but he is to be named a saint because he possesses some degree of holiness. This will be a most comforting thought to those who are mourning their infirmities, and who ask, "Can I be a child of God while there is so much darkness in me?" Yes; for you, like the day, take not your name from the evening, but from the morning; and you are spoken of in the word of God as if you were even now perfectly holy as you will be soon. You are called the child of light, though there is darkness in you still. You are named after what is the predominating quality in the sight of God, which will one day be the only principle remaining. Observe that the evening comes first. Naturally we are darkness first in order of time, and the gloom is often first in our mournful apprehension, driving us to cry out in deep humiliation, "God be merciful to me, a sinner." The place of the morning is second, it dawns when grace overcomes nature. It is a blessed aphorism of John Bunyan, "That which is last, lasts for ever." That which is first, yields in due season to the last; but nothing comes after the last. So that though you are naturally darkness, when once you become light in the Lord, there is no evening to follow; "thy sun shall no more go down." The first day in this life is an evening and a morning; but the second day, when we shall be with God, for ever, shall be a day with no evening, but one, sacred, high, eternal noon.

Kids Say The Funniest Things

A Sunday School teacher decided to have her young class memorize one of the most quoted passages in the Bible -- Psalm 23. She gave the youngsters a month to learn the verse. Little Bobby was excited about the task, but he just couldn't remember the Psalm. After much practice, he could barely get past the first line. On the day that the kids were scheduled to recite Psalm 23 in front of the congregation, Bobby was so nervous. When it was his turn, he stepped up to the microphone and said proudly, "The Lord is my shepherd . . . and that's all I need to know!"

When a mother saw a thunderstorm forming in mid-afternoon, she worried about her seven-year-old daughter who would be walking the three blocks from school to home. Deciding to meet her, the mother saw her daughter walking nonchalantly along, stopping to smile whenever lightning flashed. Seeing her mother, the little girl ran to her, explaining happily, "All the way home, God's been taking my picture!"

A mother took her three-year-old daughter to church for the first time. The church lights were lowered, and then the choir came down the aisle, carrying lighted candles. All was quiet until the little one started to sing in a loud voice, "Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you...."

A little boy walked down the beach, and as he did, he spied a matronly woman sitting under a beach umbrella on the sand. He walked up to her and asked, "Are you a Christian?" "Yes." "Do you read your Bible every day?" She nodded her head, "Yes." "Do you pray often?" the boy asked next, and again she answered, "Yes." With that he asked his final question. "Will you hold my quarter while I go swimming?"

One day a space shuttle crashed to the ground in the yard of a preschool. When he finally struggled out of the wreckage, the astronaut shouted, "I'm free! I'm free!!!" At this point, one of the little children standing there shouted back, "Big deal, I'm four!"

A Sunday School teacher asked her class, "Does anyone here know what we mean by sins of omission?" A small girl replied: "Aren't those the sins we should have committed, but didn't?"

A bright 8-year-old child was being tested by the Speech Teacher and was given analogies and asked to describe the following differences:
Speech Teacher: "What's the difference between an oak tree and a Christmas tree?"
Child: "One has leaves and the other has needles."
Teacher: "Very good! What's the difference between a saucer and a plate?"
Child: "One flies and the other doesn't."

A father was reading Bible stories to his young son. He read, "The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city, but his wife looked back and was turned to salt." His son asked, "What happened to the flea?"

Six-year-old Angie and her four-year-old brother Joel were sitting together in church. Joel giggled, sang, and talked out loud. Finally, his big sister had enough. "You're not supposed to talk out loud in church." "Why? Who's going to stop me?" Joel asked. Angie pointed to the back of the church and said, "See those two men standing by the door? They're hushers."

Attending a wedding for the first time, a little girl whispered to her mother, "Why is the bride dressed in white?" "Because white is the color of happiness and today is the happiest day of her life," her mother tried to explain, keeping it simple. The child thought about this for a moment, then said, "So, why's the groom wearing black?"

On the first day of school, the Kindergarten teacher said, "If anyone has to go to the bathroom, hold up two fingers." A little voice from the back of the room asked, "How will that help?"

A three-year-old put his shoes on by himself. His mother noticed the left was on the right foot. She said, "Son, your shoes are on the wrong feet." He looked up at her with a raised brow and said, "Don't kid me, Mom. I KNOW they're my feet."

A three-year-old boy went with his dad to see a litter of kittens. On returning home, he breathlessly informed his mother, "There were two boy kittens and two girl kittens." "How did you know?" his mother asked. "Daddy picked them up and looked underneath," he replied. "I think it's printed on the bottom."

No Time To Pray

I knelt to pray but not for long
I had too much to do
I had to hurry and get to work
For bills would soon be due.

So I knelt and said a hurried prayer
And jumped up off my knees
My Christian duty was now done
My soul could rest at ease.

All day long I had no time
To spread a word of cheer
No time to speak of Christ to friends
They'd laugh at me I'd fear.

No time, no time, too much to do
That was my constant cry
No time to give to souls in need
But at last the time to die.

I went before the Lord, I came
And stood with downcast eyes
For in His hands God held a book
It was the book of life.

God looked into his book and said,
"Your name I cannot find
I once was going to write it down
But never found the time."

Pray for the Unreached People of the Day

Movie of the Moment: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

When last we saw Megatron—the evil head honcho of a race of machines dubbed Decepticons—he was rusting away at the bottom of the ocean, tethered by high-tech chains, surrounded by guardian submarines and counting the days until his obsolescence.

Too bad the guy had some time left on his extended warranty.

Turns out, Megatron and the Decepticons, despite having had their dastardly plans foiled in the first Transformers film, aren't destined for the scrap heap. In fact, they're following an even more dastardly plan ("Let's extinguish the sun!") dreamt up by an even more dastardly leader (we know he's evil because even his best friends call him "The Fallen"), which—once it reaches its climax—will leave the Decepticons free to gloat over the frozen wasteland they've created.

Cue guttural, WD-40-drenched laughter.

But humanity isn't ready to choke on the Decepticons' exhaust just yet. After all, we've got the valiant, GM-branded Autobots in our corner—backed by a crack team of soldiers who boast more boom sticks than the 1927 Yankees. We've got truth, justice and fair play on our side. And we've got Sam Witwicky, a goofy kid with an outrageously attractive girlfriend (Mikaela), an outlandishly cool car and Autobot leader Optimus Prime on speed dial.

But wait, what's this? Sam's leaving his car at home (an Autobot disguised as a Chevy Camaro) because it can't come to college with him? He's telling Optimus Prime to leave him alone? Didn't Sam watch the first movie? Doesn't he remember how handy Autobots are in a pinch?

Those ill-fated choices set the stage for an avalanche of foreboding plot points. Sam touches a metallic shard that fills his brain with a mind-scrambling code! Home appliances come to life with malignant intent! A new American leader shuts down the Autobots' support team! A short-sighted bureaucrat threatens to kick the nice robots off the planet! Sam gets attacked by a sultry mechanical undergrad with a six-foot-long tongue! GM goes into bankruptcy! Decepticons start taking out huge, subprime loans!

Things look bleak. It's all up to Sam now. Too bad he's decided to go to college instead.

[Note: The following sections include spoilers.]

Transformers 2 is predicated on the philosophy that "more" is "better." More explosions. More sex. Obviously, more of those things isn't a good thing. Surprisingly, however, this attitude also extends to positive elements. The film's creators weren't content to feature just one character who's willing to offer his life for others. In Revenge of the Fallen, nearly everyone gets into act.

Optimus Prime is the main example of the movie's emphasis on sacrifice. He fends off Decepticons to save Sam, eventually succumbing to their attacks. Before he meets his end, Optimus tells Sam, "Fate rarely calls on us at a moment of our choosing." Sam eventually reboots the big guy after going through a near-death experience himself. Likewise, many Autobots put their "lives" on the line for humanity. And human soldiers in turn put their lives on the line for the Autobots. One reformed Decepticon even sacrifices his own existence so Optimus can make use of his spare parts.

Sam's parents, for all their faults, want the best for their son (they send him to a nice college) and for the world (they're willing to sacrifice themselves so Sam can save Optimus). Sam loves his folks, too, and by the end of the movie, the family is squabbling over who's going to save whom and at what risk.

While gazing at Optimus, a soldier wonders, "If God made us in His image, who made him?" When Sam apparently dies, he's whisked up to a pleasant, cloudy place where he talks with some supernatural Transformers who tell him he must go back and recharge Optimus. "It is, and always has been, your destiny," they say.

Sam feels this destiny himself. At one point, he grabs a handful of mysterious dust left over from an ancient Transformer, dust he knows will somehow save Optimus.

"How do you know it's going to work?" Mikaela asks.

"Because I believe it," Sam answers, proffering a kind of faith in faith itself.

Elsewhere, a huge plane is called "Big Buddha." A college professor labels himself the "alpha and the omega" of his classroom. Mikaela paints a shapely devil on a motorcycle. One character shrieks an apparent prayer as he's chased by evil robots.

Finally, the whole "Fallen" narrative takes on a mythological quality, what with Decepticons talking about how "The Fallen shall rise again" and such.

The first time the Transformers motored into theaters, Plugged In was dismayed by the film's sexual content. This time around, we're appalled.

Let's start with Alice, an apparently beautiful college student with an eye on Sam. Alice tries every way possible to seduce the lad. She dresses in the sultriest of outfits and makes sure Sam gets the best possible look at her attributes. She coos and pouts and makes suggestive comments.

When that doesn't work, she straddles him on his bed—obviously intent upon having sex—starts kissing him and "reveals" more of herself, so to speak. But Alice's big reveal isn't what Sam has been led to believe. A metallic appendage snakes out of the bottom of her dress (we see Alice's underwear) and later out of her mouth (her tongue is still attached to the end). She's a Decepticon with rather freakish sexual intentions, it seems.

Indeed, the Decepticons as a whole have grown more sexualized since the last movie. One huge robot displays two dangling orbs that are meant to resemble testicles. Another smaller critter wraps itself around Mikaela's leg quite suggestively.

Speaking of Mikaela (played by Megan Fox, widely trumpeted these days as the most sensual new star in Hollywood), she sports short shorts and cleavage-bearing tops throughout the film. Frankly, she'd seem more at home in a skimpy swimsuit magazine than in a shoot-'em-up actioner. One particularly gratuitous camera shot zooms in on her backside as she works on a motorcycle. When Sam goes off to college, he and Mikaela talk about having Internet dates—complete with candles, music, special outfits and the suggestion of X-rated hanky-panky. In person, Sam and Mikaela kiss and cuddle.

Scads of other sexual distractions surround Sam at college as well. Walls are papered with posters and pictures of beautiful women (including one whose hair just covers her bare chest), and the university's halls are brimming with attractive co-eds (and leering, ogling guys). A college party features some scantily clad girls dancing seductively.

Elsewhere, the Witwicky family dogs are twice shown having sex ("You'll see a lot of that in college, too," Sam's dad guffaws). His mother talks about how she heard her son lose his virginity. She also fantasizes about skinny-dipping, assumes a garbled call is an obscene prankster and refers to her husband as both a "dirty old man" and a "college professor" ("I'll do anything to get an A," she coos). For his part, Sam's father slaps Mom on the rump.

Characters also make crass references involving testicles, pubic hair and other intimate body parts. A guy crudely propositions a college girl by comparing his anatomy to the meat pizza he's carrying. Two pairs of people end up unconscious in compromising positions (including two guys in one instance). A professor flirts suggestively. Leo, Sam's roommate, asks if he can watch Sam and Alice have sex. A store sports a neon "Porn" sign in the window. And we see a character's nearly bare backside while he's wearing a thong.

Revenge of the Fallen's filmmakers likely spent more money on explosives than many third world nations spend on food. The film is loaded with guns, grenades, pyrotechnics and mayhem, and it's a rare moment indeed when audiences aren't subjected to something being bashed, smashed or blown up.

Much of the action involves machine-on-machine violence, and we see Transformers skewered, squashed, decapitated, ripped apart or nearly chewed up, all accompanied by copious amounts of gushing oil.

When Sam is captured by Megatron, he's held down on a table and told he'll die painfully. One tiny, slimy robot slithers into Sam's mouth, and we see tendrils wiggle in his nose. Another robot brandishes a wee rotary saw, preparing to cut open Sam's skull. And when Sam, Mikaela and others run through a battle zone, Sam nearly gets killed by an explosion.

About half-a-dozen combat scenes apparently kill soldiers, usually via explosions that hurl their bodies through the air (though one poor victim gets stomped on by a Decepticon). After a ship sinks, we see bodies in the water. Cars—and their passengers—get destroyed in a city battle. Several helicopters also go down during firefights. In the worldwide havoc unleashed by the evil robots, we're told that the death toll for one day of carnage hits 7,000.

Other violent moments include several people getting tased. Sam's mom is attacked by a kitchen appliance and hits her head hard on a hanging plant as she flees from the robot.

We hear a bunch of barely disguised f-word variants, including "freaking," "frigging," "frick" and "eff" as well as one interrupted exclamation of "mother—." "Pork" is also used as a suggestive stand-in for the f-word. Other profanity includes about 10 s-words and 15 or so misuses of God's name. We hear about 25 uses combined of "d--n," "a--hole," "b--ch," "h---" and the British profanity "b-llocks." "P---y" and "d--k" are also said once each.

Sam's dad has a beer, and his mom has a glass of wine. She also eats marijuana-laced brownies—despite her husband's warning—and subsequently acts silly while stoned.

A man walks out of a bathroom with his pants down (but boxers on) and asks a security guard for toilet paper (a ruse to lure him from his post). Some Transformers apparently have issues with flatulence: One discharges some fire, another ejects a parachute. Some military personnel seem to disobey orders.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen comes with no pretensions of greatness. It's not written to make you think, not crafted to make you cry. Its sole intent is to get moviegoers to fork over their 10 bucks and sit still for two-and-a-half hours.

That said, I was surprised at how cold this movie left me.

The film's emotional moments felt forced, and its themes of sacrifice insincere. While some films use CGI to set up a story, Transformers reverses the process: It uses a halfhearted story as an excuse to string together some cool special effects.

But a much bigger issue than the film's cinematic failure, for our purposes, is its level of crassness and sexual content. This is a movie based on children's' playthings, for Pete's sake. I can't imagine that many in the audience really came to see robot testicles or small-dog erotica. And then there's Megan Fox's ongoing parade in her barely there outfits, not to mention a sexed-up co-ed who turns out to be, bizarrely, something else entirely.

One of the folks with whom I saw this movie left the theater feeling insulted. "This is what they think I want to see?!" he said. "This is what they think I'm interested in?"

Film critic Marshall Fine put it this way: "This is what we've come to: movies based on cartoons that were marketing tools for toys." He also noted, "It's hard to exaggerate what a depressing mess of a film this misbegotten monstrosity is. More depressing still, it will attract lemming-like multitudes to multiplexes this weekend, further convincing [director Michael] Bay of his own genius."

Yeah, that feels about right.

The Son

A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art.

When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.

About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands. He said, "Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart, and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art." The young man held out his package. "I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this."

The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. "Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It's a gift."

The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home, he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.

The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection. On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. "We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?" There was silence. Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, "We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one." But the auctioneer persisted. "Will someone bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?" Another voice shouted angrily, "We didn't come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Goghs, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!" But still the auctioneer continued, "The son! The son! Who'll take the son?"

Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. "I'll give $10 for the painting." Being a poor man, it was all he could afford. "We have $10, who will bid $20?" "Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters." "$10 is the bid, won't someone bid $20?" The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son. They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections. The auctioneer pounded the gavel. "Going once, twice, SOLD FOR $10!"

A man sitting on the second row shouted, "Now, let's get on with the collection!" The auctioneer laid down his gavel. "I'm sorry, the auction is over." "What about the paintings?" "I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings. The man who took the son gets everything!"

God gave his Son 2000 years ago to die on a cruel cross. Much like the auctioneer, His message today is, "The Son, the Son, who'll take the Son?" Because you see, whoever takes the Son gets everything.

HiAgapeans

What Has Michael Jackson Meant to America?

Rarely does the news of the death of a celebrity cut through nearly every strata of culture. When it's about somebody teens know and love, senior citizens rarely care. When it's someone middle-aged moms resonate with, their kids usually don't even know the name. But Michael Jackson's sudden passing has been noteworthy to just about everyone, from the Gen Xers who were in high school and college when Thriller took the world by storm, to boomers who grew up with The Jackson 5, to kids these days who've heard much more about "Wacko Jacko" than they'd ever cared to.

In light of that, when the news broke late last week, Plugged In's writers put their first thoughts about it all down on paper. In this Up Front column, we'll share those thoughts.

Paul Asay: I went back to junior high Thursday. I didn't go physically, to wander the halls. I didn't go willingly, either. Who, after all, wants to go back to junior high?

But when I heard of Michael Jackson's death, my memories forced me back to a time when my face was thin and pimpled, my hair stuck out in odd directions and the inside of my lips rubbed against a mouth full of metal.

Jackson was at his prime when I was in junior high. Granted, my school was too tough to embrace the Jackson phenomenon openly: Judas Priest and AC/DC were all the rage for the ruling class, and singing "Billie Jean" was a sure path to a beatdown. Yet even there, I remember we all tried to moonwalk. Some of the kids started saving money for red zipper coats. And one afternoon, a guy waved me over to his locker so he could show me, in secret, a single, sequined white glove—the product of three months' allowance, he told me.

Jackson was a revolutionary back then—a guy who sang and danced and dressed so differently than anyone we'd seen. We already sensed he was a little odd: Greatness rarely stems from normalcy. But all of us in junior high were a little odd, too. We looked odd. We felt odd. And so, in our own odd way, we embraced him.

As time went on, Jackson faded in relevance. In high school, he was a peripheral figure. In college, an afterthought. By the time I felt like an adult, Jackson had become less a musical genius and more a sad tabloid storyline—strange and scary and impossible to relate to anymore.

And then, on Thursday, he was gone.

The day after he died, I ran across a story by Robert Hilburn, longtime music writer for the Los Angeles Times. In it, he tells of how, while he and Jackson were leafing through a pile of pictures in preparation for an autobiography they were working on, Jackson came across a picture of himself as an older teen—pimple-faced, gangly, awkward, odd. At that moment, Jackson admitted that this was the worst stage of his life: People would come up and ask him—to his face—where that cute little Michael went.

"It was," Hilburn wrote, "like the 'whole world was saying how dare you grow up on us.' After repeated rejection, Michael said, he started looking down at the floor when people approached or would just stay in his room when visitors came. ... Michael vowed after those wounds to do whatever it took to make people 'love me again.'"

Maybe Jackson spent most of his life in junior high—feeling awkward and different, always looking for ways to fit in, to excel, to make people love him.

No wonder we loved him back then. No wonder.

Bob Hoose: My first memory of Michael Jackson was of him as a smiling 9-year-old prodigy, belting out lead vocals and dancing up a storm with The Jackson 5. He was incredible.

Years later, but still before Thriller thrilled and the King of Pop officially crowned himself, I heard a story from a musician acquaintance who worked with Michael Jackson in the studio. This guy talked of Jackson's ethereal giftedness, but illustrated his plethora of strange ticks and an obvious need for some kind of help. And while his chuckling tale was meant to give us—the faceless throng on the outskirts of the California music scene—a glimpse of the wackiness inside, it actually made me worry for the young singer and frown over the industry itself.

And now, 30 years later, having seen the MJ saga unfold, and heard tales of battered childhood and accusations of twisted adulthood, I'm left with that same tug and pull. In what other industry could the bedazzled man/child/virtuoso have given flight to his creative genius and risen to such godlike status? But where else would his "ticks" have been so readily overlooked, amplified, and then enabled to the point of televised self-destruction?

In remembering his life, some will focus on the overall greatness and say it was all worth it for Michael Jackson. And they'll even claim that the fall from handsome prince to deformed buffoon (or worse) would have happened no matter what. But I can't lose the image of a cherubic-faced young boy singing with the voice of a seasoned R&B pro. And it makes me feel sad.

Adam Holz: Michael Jackson's story is one of layers—layers that reveal both tragedy and triumph. There are so many that in thinking about his life and death, it's hard to know where to begin. The self-anointed superstar. The biggest record of all time. The moonwalk. The burning hair incident. The bizarre behavior. Accusations of child abuse. The constantly evolving and increasingly haunting appearance. And the incredible reports that someone who may have sold north of 750 million albums worldwide somehow owed $400 million at his death.

Even now, in the wake of Michael Jackson's death, it seems there are new layers—layers that have a distinctly 21st century feel to them. Murmurings about prescription drug abuse. Leaked pictures of the final attempt to resuscitate him. Tapes of the 911 call playing on morning radio shows. A media frenzy the likes of which we haven't seen since O.J. Simpson's trial or Princess Diana's car accident—and the likes of which we may quite possibly never see again.

I'm not merely a passive reporter in all of this, mind you. I'm culpable of participating in the spectacle, too. On Thursday night, my wife and I watched a couple hours of the nonstop cable coverage. Madonna, we heard, couldn't stop crying. Dame Elizabeth Taylor was too upset to issue a formal message. Cher prattled on endlessly with Larry King. Britney. Justin Timberlake. And on it went. It seemed everyone who was or is (or ever might be) anyone felt compelled to issue a statement. At some level, I was disgusted by it all.

But there I was, watching, listening, wanting in some way not to miss this tragic, macabre cultural "event." We watched more on Saturday, as VH1 Classic looped a three-hour retrospective of MJ's career over and over again. So, in the end, we weren't so different than everyone else also watching with a messed-up mixture of reverie, sadness ... and disdain.

Amid all those layers, all the voices, it's easy to lose perspective on the fact that Michael was, at the end of his day, like you and me, a human being. And perhaps the biggest tragedy is that Michael's simple humanity is something he seems to have struggled his whole life to come to terms with—a struggle made all the more difficult by a world of fans who needed him to be something bigger than life.

Meredith Whitmore: My first memory of Michael Jackson is permanently etched into my brain—along with the popcorn, junior high jokes, Coca-Cola and chocolate cupcakes that came with him that evening.

We'd been sitting around the basement talking and laughing—mostly about boys—when two or three girls suddenly got very quiet. Then others sat up and looked at the TV, too. I was slow on the uptake and kept talking (not so unlike today) and hadn't realized that a skinny, moonwalking American idol had suddenly become the absolute center of the universe. I got a stern "SHHHHHH!"—even though I'd been chattering about the 8th grader of all our dreams.

I don't remember liking the song or video as we watched the premiere of "Thriller" on Friday Night Videos. It seemed hyped-up to me. But I do remember my slumber party girlfriends coming completely unhinged when it was over. That was the first time I realized a human can become a god.

As an adult, when I look back on Jackson's career, I see that regardless of any quirks or moral failings he had, as we all have, he was truly a gifted musician. I gasped when a colleague told me the news—and somehow I was a junior higher again.

Bob Smithouser: "I have something I want to tell you: I'm not like other guys." Immediately after delivering that line to a cute bobby-soxer in the long-form music video "Thriller," Michael Jackson's mannerly character morphs into a horrifying werewolf. That scene was creepy-cool in 1983. Little did we know it would foreshadow the artist's own looming metamorphosis.

From the time Jackson was 11 he wasn't like other guys. Even at half-wattage, he would outshine his brothers on TV variety shows while singing with The Jackson 5. A decade later, my friends and I frequented a local roller rink where his 1979 hit "Rock With You" always emptied the benches for an enthusiastic all-skate. And when Thriller became the album of 1982 (and most of '83), it was hard to tell whether upstart cable network MTV was drawing attention to Jackson or the other way around.

Not like other guys, indeed.

But in the mid-to-late '80s, Jackson's artistry seemed to take a backseat to his eccentricities. From the sequined glove and choreographed crotch-grabs to Bubbles the chimp, ugly tabloid rumors and cosmetic surgeries with androgynous results, the talented little boy I used to watch on Saturday morning cartoons had become a cartoon. And before long, a punch line. That's a shame, because this is the same caring soul whose sincerity helped "Man in the Mirror," "Heal the World" and "We Are the World" feel like heartfelt calls to action rather than sonic photo-ops intended to enhance one's Q rating.

So, who was Michael Jackson? I guess that depends on how old you are and which Michael you remember. Sadly, young people may only recall the caricature. I was watching a tribute to Jackson the other night with my preteen children, who could only grimace at how his appearance changed radically from one clip to the next. "He looks like a puppet," said my 8-year-old son, shocked by the artist's chalky skin and grotesquely chiseled features. As for me, I couldn't see past the images of him with his children, who now have lost their father and need our prayers.

We may never get a clear, fair picture of who Michael Jackson really was. But no matter how we might feel about his legacy, he was not like other guys.

Steven Isaac: When news of Michael Jackson's passing filtered through to my family—and it did relatively quickly, too, even though we were intentionally trying to avoid all news sources (TV, Internet, etc.) while on our summer vacation—I asked my 8-year-old daughter if she knew who he was. "Yeah, I guess," she said. "He's some kind of singer, isn't he?"

"Yep," I replied, "he was a super big deal when your mother and I were in junior high—that's the same as middle school now, honey."

She looked over my shoulder as I read a couple of obituaries online, and she actually gasped when she saw a picture of Michael from when he was 21. "That's the same guy?" she asked. "That's the same guy," I repeated. "Wow! What did he do to his face?!" she wanted to know. "How did he get to be so white?" And then she asked, "Why did he do that?"

I didn't know the precise medical answer to her second question, so I mumbled something about plastic surgery and bleaching techniques (I forgot about his 1993 announcement that he had the skin disease vitiligo) while thinking about how to tackle her third question—the why one. And while I did so I realized that even though I didn't know exactly why the man who came to be called "Wacko Jacko" decided to utterly alter his face, I did know that it had to stem from how he saw himself.

My daughter thought his 21-year-old face was handsome, and she thought his 10-year-old face was cute. But Michael could not and would not have seen things that way. He had to have seen himself as ugly and nearly worthless—never mind that he was already well on his way to becoming the King of Pop. His heart just couldn't accept what his body was.

I knew then that I was being given the perfect opportunity to talk to my precious and beautiful daughter about what she thinks of herself. I took it. And I'll take it again from time to time as 8 turns into 10 which turns into 16.

Movie of the Moment : Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

As we hit the ice for the third time, mammoths Manny and Ellie are expecting their very own bundle of fur-covered joy. And this highly anticipated arrival has Manny on pins and needles as he tries to baby-proof nature—do you know how many pointy things there are in an ice-covered forest?

While he's focusing all his energy on those preparations and caring for his oh-so-pregnant mate, buddies Sid the sloth and Diego the saber-toothed tiger are having some troubles of their own. Diego is going through a midlife crisis of sorts and fears he should leave the herd if he doesn't want to lose his edge. And the rambunctiously goofy Sid is actually yearning for the responsibility of a family of his own.

Instead of finding a pretty little sloth to woo, though, Sid stumbles upon a trio of dinosaur eggs in a hidden cavern and becomes an instant "mommy" when they hatch. But Sid's maternal bliss is short-lived. The real mother dino discovers that the eggs are missing and stomps her way up from an underground lair to retrieve them. And wouldn't you know it, when Mommy T. rex snatches up the little ones, Sid gets mixed up in the mouthful, too.

So Manny and his crew have to put everything else aside and look for their pal in a subterranean prehistoric world. But who can help them make their way through this strange and dangerous land of the lost? There's only one creature up to that task: an eye-patch-wearing, swashbuckling, slightly bonkers weasel named—dum-da-dum—Buck!

Ice Age 3 reinforces the idea that a family is a thing of great value. Manny and Ellie are beside themselves with joy over the baby mammoth who will soon join their herd. Manny loves Ellie dearly and is willing to put everything on the line to protect her. Because of that, when Sid is first taken by the mother T. rex, Manny is hesitant to follow and put his beloved Ellie in danger. But she reminds him that their commitment to their friend is every bit as important as their commitment to each other.

In fact, it's that feeling of belonging and the desire for family bonds that drive Sid on his dinosaur-raising quest to begin with. When he finds the three eggs—which appear defenseless and vulnerable—he readily accepts the job of protecting and caring for them. And even after the eggs hatch and the massive mama comes to claim her brood, Sid is willing to face her gnashing jaws to protect the young ones.

The rough and tumble T. rex eventually recognizes Sid's devotion to her children and comes to a reluctant truce with him (which to Sid's relief includes taking him off her dinner menu). Likewise, when the sloth realizes that the baby dinos belong with their true mom, he sadly lets them go. And Manny tells him, "You were a good parent, Sid."

Diego is the only one who feels he's on the outside of all these warm and fuzzy family bonds. He worries that he's becoming domesticated and thinks he should leave the group to reclaim a sense of adventure. But by the end of Sid's rescue, and with the birth of the baby mammoth, Diego looks at his family group and says, "Life of adventure? It's right here."

In the midst of all his acorn-chasing travails, Scrat the prehistoric squirrel runs into a female flying squirrel named Scratte. He is quickly wowed by her batting eyes and swaying hips. After fighting over the acorn, the two eventually become a couple, tangoing, embracing and kissing in several short segments.

Manny tells his "preggers" mate that "round is foxy." When trapped together in the gut of a man-eating plant, Diego tells Manny, "I feel tingly." Manny replies, "Don't say that when you're pressed up against me!"

Seeing a giant butterfly, Buck exclaims, "I knew that guy when he was a caterpillar, you know, before he came out." When being told that someone "had his back," Buck counters that he'd rather they had his front because, "That's where all the good stuff is."

Comic pratfalling and tumbling are the norm. Several large dinosaurs chase and bat our heroes around, but without any real physical damage. Diego and Manny smash and pummel a pack of sharp-clawed raptors who are trying to attack a defenseless Ellie.

During Scrat and Scratte's struggle for ownership of the acorn, Scrat ends up getting repeatedly clunked and bonked. He's kicked in the crotch and crunched by a falling tree. His chest fur is ripped off, and he falls to a distant canyon floor in a dust cloud thump (à la Wile E. Coyote).

Next to the put-upon squirrel, Sid takes the most slapstick abuse as he's picked up and tossed around—thumping into trees and rocks—by dino Mom. In other scenes he's whacked over the head and even nipped at by his own dino kids. (But when Mom looks like she's about to gobble Sid up, the youngsters step forward to protect him.)

In one wham-bam segment, Buck and two possum brothers try to steer a flying dinosaur down to rescue Sid who is floating on a crumbling rock in a lava river. As they do so, a group of vicious pterodactyls swoop in like fighter planes to snap at and batter them.

Buck remembers an intense battle with a gigantic dinosaur foe that roars, chomps and swallows him whole. The weasel manages a daring escape by breaking through the creature's teeth.

Sid scolds his young dinosaur charges for swallowing their animal friends and forces one to spit up two bleary-eyed-but-still-alive victims. There's a line that references castrating a T. rex.

One use each of "jeesh" and "crap." Name-calling includes "idiot."

None.

These aren't mammoth missteps, but Ice Age 3 does fall on its trunk a few times with light toilet humor gags. Trying to feed his babies, Sid sneaks up to "milk" a water buffalo, only to find that it's a male. When seeing Ellie's newborn daughter for the first time, Sid exclaims, "It's a boy!" Diego points out, "That's its tail." While tracking Sid, Buck reports that he's found a scent that "smells like a buzzard's butt fell off and got sprayed by a bunch of skunks." Diego insists, "That's Sid."

Today's animated feature films can take a number of different forms—from sweet to sappy, stirring to obnoxious. And even though they're generally aimed at family audiences, you can never be sure that inappropriate nonsense won't be tossed into the mix for the sake of a few more giggles. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs has a bit of that flotsam floating in its stream of banter, and some fur gets matted with a touch of sap by the time we reach the conclusion. But as Manny might put it, there's plenty here to trumpet.

Alongside the franchise's list of well-knowns, this film crams in the swashbuckling, scene-stealing Buck, a trio of hyperactive T. rex babies, and their mother of all mothers. Amazingly, in spite of this over-packed cast, it somehow keeps us interested in the whole menagerie, makes all of their side stories involving and keeps the adventure rolling along.

Now, this sequel will never be called deep or thought-provoking. Dinosaur chases, lava eruptions and character-driven one-liners are the order of the day. But the rambunctious journey sometimes slows long enough to remind young minds of the importance and rewards of family, selflessness and teamwork.

Christian Song of the Moment: We Fall Down by Kutless

We fall down
We lay our crowns
At the feet of Jesus
The greatness of mercy and love
At the feet of Jesus
We cry holy, holy, holy
We cry holy, holy, holy
We cry holy, holy, holy
Is the lamb
We fall down
We lay our crowns
At the feet of Jesus
The greatness of
Mercy and love
At the feet of Jesus
We cry holy, holy, holy
We cry holy, holy, holy
We cry holy, holy, holy
Is the lamb
We cry holy, holy, holy
We cry holy, holy, holy
We cry holy, holy, holy
Is the lamb

My Jesus, I love you
I know thou are mine
To thee all the follies of sin I resent
My gracious redeemer
My savior, art thou
If ever I'll love you
My Jesus tis now

I guess the song says it all. We being humans worshiping God and Him being worshiped by His creation.

Christian Band of the Moment : Kutless

Kutless is a Christian Hard Rock/Alternative metal band formed in 2000. To date they have a total of five studio albums including their latest, To Know That You're Alive. The band has also released a live album, Live From Portland. Currently, they have over 1.4 million albums sold.

Formed in Portland, Oregon as a Worship band named Call Box in 2000. They changed their name to "Kutless" before releasing their first three track EP followed up by their full-length album in 2002 on BEC Recordings. Kutless chose their name because of a specific Bible verse. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (NRSV). Because of this, the band says, "He took our cuts for us... leaving us 'Kutless'." Their first single was called "Your Touch". Their second single from their debut album, "Run", would go on to hold the record for the longest charting song in the history of the R&R Top 40 charts.

In 2004, after releasing their second full-length album, Sea of Faces, Kutless would go on their first headlining tour, X 2004. That same year, Kutless was slated to perform at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece, but could not make it due to the airline canceling their flight. In 2005, Kutless released their first worship album, Strong Tower. After recording Strong Tower, but before it was released, bassist Kyle Zeigler and drummer Kyle Mitchell left the band to form VERBATIM Records, a nationally distributed record label based in the Portland, Oregon area. They were replaced with bassist Dave Luetkenhoelter and drummer Jeffrey Gilbert, who both came from the recently broken-up Christian rock band Seven Places. Kutless also went on the Strong Tower tour that year. Later in 2005, Kutless began recording their fourth full-length album. The album, Hearts of the Innocent, was released on March 21, 2006. The band followed up with a tour, also featuring Stellar Kart, Disciple, and Falling Up.

On the March 28, 2006, episode of NBC's Scrubs, titled "My Bright Idea", a significant portion of the song "All Of The Words" from Sea of Faces was featured during the final scene. The episode hit an eleven week ratings high, and was among the first Scrubs episodes that can be downloaded on iTunes. Laura Hutfless from the William Morris Agency said, "Placing the Kutless song, 'All the Words', on Scrubs was truly a team effort. We at William Morris were all very pleased with the way the song was incorporated into the television show and are thrilled that millions of Americans have now been exposed to this incredible band. I'm confident that this is only the beginning for Kutless as they continue to give their audience captivating and inspirational music and win new fans everyday." Kutless’s video "Shut Me Out" has been placed on an exclusive Microsoft/Wal-Mart DVD give-a-way. Consumers who purchase the new Xbox game The Apprentice, featuring Donald Trump, will receive a copy of Kutless's new video. This is estimated to be in the hands of 350,000 gamers. Plus, Target Stores announced that the "Shut Me Out" video will play nationwide in all stores on Target TV (Red Channel) beginning in May (from Big Machine Media). Suzuki Motor Corporation announced that it will be the sole sponsor of the band's Hearts of the Innocent tour.

In May 2007, longtime Kutless guitarist Ryan Shrout decided to leave Kutless, after his daughter was diagnosed with a rare eye disease. Shrout chose to support his family during this time, and left Kutless to do so. Another guitarist named Nick De Partee has since taken the spot of Ryan, and has recently been a tech for the band before playing guitar for them.[citation needed]

Kutless has left William Morris Agency as their booking company and now book through the DCB Agency which is owned and operated by their management company, Platform Artist Management.

The band's songs "Hearts of the Innocent" and "Beyond the Surface" are playable songs on the Christian Guitar Hero game called "Guitar Praise." [3]The Kutless song "The Feeling" appears on the video game Rock Band 2 as an extra downloadable song.

The band are due to make a headline appearance at the "Ultimate Event" Christian concert at Alton Towers in the United Kingdom in May. It will be their debut UK appearance.

Lead singer Jon Micah Sumrall announced that the band is working on a new worship album, It Is Well, and that it will be co-produced by Dave Lubben.