MY DEAR WANDERERS: we’ve reached the end. As 2013 concludes, so do I wrap this end-of-2013 countdown of my top 6 posts of the year.
As a quick summary, my #6 post of 2013 was “As Tom Daley Comes Out.”
My #5 post was “Tenth Avenue North Songs: TMZ’s Top-11 Favorites.”
My #4 post was “INTELLECTION: My #1 ‘Strengths Finder’ Strength.”
My #3 post was “Brandon Heath Songs: TMZ’s Top-11 Favorites.”
And finally, my #2 post of the year went to “Quarter-Life Confessions of a Gay Christian.”
Now, it’s time to unveil the most popular post of them all. IT WAS A RUNAWAY.
“Hillsong United Songs: TMZ’s Top-11 Favorites, Part 2” has accumulated more views than any other page on my blog stretching back 2+ years, let alone for just 2013. That innocent little countdown has been seen all over the world, and I guess that’s a testament more to Hillsong United than to me. These guys are good. SO good. The Hillsong team always produces my most favorite worship songs, and so they fittingly sit atop my end-of-the-year top-posts countdown for 2013.
Here’s an excerpt, and enjoy the complete collection over here! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
#11 – “Search My Heart”
Okay. So. I just adore the tenderness of Matt Crocker’s voice — and that may or may not be foreshadowing for the rest of this list. “Search My Heart” inspires me like David’s poetic plea of Psalm 139: an earnest yearning for God to search my heart and soul above all else.
Favorite lyric: Without You I am nothing…
#10 – “The First and the Last”
These opening guitar strums always give me chills. And the lights/editing of this particular video is just phenomenal. Coincidentally, I start/end many of my days with this song.
Favorite lyric: Show us the way of Your love / Lead us toward the truth / Stir up a fire in us / To live out this life for You
#9 – “Salvation is Here”
For the longest time I taped an index card on the ceiling above my bed that read, “It’s gonna be all right.” Nothing better to wake up to each morning.
Favorite lyric: I don’t care what the world throws at me now / It’s gonna be all right
#8 – “Desert Song”
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. Whenever I’m in a worship service and I hear those four opening isolated drum beats, I tend to lose it. The female pairing of Brooke Fraser and Jill McCloghry is beyond perfect. Brooke Fraser is basically my female Matt Crocker; I hope y’all understand that metaphor. Bonus video: check out the touching behind-the-song story.
Favorite lyric: This is my prayer in the harvest / When favor and providence flow / I know I’m filled to be emptied again / The seed I’ve received I will sow
#7 – “Healer”
I first heard “Healer” at a Hillsong London service while studying abroad at Oxford University. It instantly became my theme song for the summer, trusting God to help and heal me through every academic/emotional woe. “Healer” has since taken on renewed meaning in the aftermath of singer/songwriter Mike Guglielmucci’s cancer fraud and long-term pornography cover-up. “I’m addicted to this stuff,” he tearfully confesses in the only interview I’ve ever seen of him. Such a sobering “fall from grace,” and yet do we ever truly fall from Grace? God indeed remains Healer — both of the physical, and more vitally, the sinful.
Favorite lyric: You hold my every moment / You calm my raging seas / You walk with me through fire / And heal all my disease
Finish the countdown and discover my current favorite Hillsong United song here …
