I downloaded this for my children. I know how much they love the songs at Vacation Bible School - long after the week is over, my oldest (aged four) can be heard singing the songs, even if she does get some of the words wrong (but insists that she has it correct, and I'm just deluded). For this year's VBS, she's convinced that the chorus to the VBS anthem goes "Oh, oh, oh, let the past voyage begin". Upon trying to correct her "It's VAST voyage", she will have NONE of it... She's right and I'm wrong. 

Nevertheless, I digress...my point was to say that these songs write themselves on the children's hearts. I'm 30 years old and still catch myself singing songs I sang when I was in Sunday School...songs I've not sung for 20+ years! One that springs to mind (just so you know I'm not making this up) is:

In the stars His handiwork I see
On the wind He speaks with majesty
Though He ruleth over land and sea
What is that to me?

Then by faith I met Him face to face
And I felt the wonder of His grace
|And I knew that He was more than just a 
God who didn't care
Who lived away up there

And now He walks beside me day by day
Ever watching over me lest I stray
Helping me to find that narrow way
He's everything to me

Songs that we learn as children can mark us indelibly. As Shashank Nakate writes, regarding memorization: "The process of singing helps in binding given words in a rhythm. The word then fits permanently into our memory. Singing is one of the earliest tips and techniques being used".During the dark times as we grow older, it's often these songs that can spring up unbidden (or Holy Spirit bidden) to minister to us when we do not have the words, when we do not have an answer. These are the sources of encouragement. This is why God commands us over and over and over again to sing songs! (see Psalm 104:33, 1 Cor 14:15, Ephesians 5:19-20, Colossians 3:16, James 5:13). Did you know that God even sings over us? (Zeph 3:17)

So what better thing to do than to find some Christian kids music that's based on scripture (or rather ripped, virtually word for word, from scripture? I mean, can you imagine your children / grandchildren as they grow up finding themselves caught in a period of doubt: "Does God really love me?", especially when circumstances seem to indicate otherwise? Or they've sinned and they loaded down to the ground with a profound sense of guilt. Well imagine if the following lyrics float to the surface of their consciousness at that moment?

Even his own son he did not spare
Even his own son he gave for us
How will he not also give all things to us?

So what then shall we say?
What then shall we say?

If God is for us, who can be against us?
If God is for us, who can be against us?

They would be drawn out of that pit of despair by the lifeline of scripture, embedded in a song. It's happened to me over and over again. I'm sure many of you have held tight onto a favourite hymn or worship song that just serves to reconnect you with your heavenly Father. 

Click on the play button below to listen to the first song on the album "If God is for us" (based on Romans 8:31-32)

A few things about Tallowood Kid's "The Doorpost Songs (Next Generation)" that I like:

• The kids don't overwhelm the songs - they sing them very well
• The adults singers (Dave and Jess Ray) do a great job of complementing the children. I actually enjoyed listening to Dave and Jess's voices.
• The songs are very well written, and steer well clear of the trite or cheesy. The melodies are fun, easy to sing but surprisingly complex (which keeps the songs interesting for a music snob like me) 
• The orchestration / instrumentation is fairly rocky with a heavy dose of pop. "Jesus love me", this ain't!
• The songs are based on scripture and can aid in bible memorization

But the best, BEST thing is that you can get it free and legal. All you need to provide is your name and email address. If you're worried that, by supplying this basic info, you're opening yourself up to a floodgate of spam, don't worry. I downloaded the album quite a while ago, and I have yet to receive a single email from Tallowood Kids. 

• Get the album HERE (for free or a donation / tip)
• Visit the Tallowood Website HERE
• For more scripture-based songs (female singer with guitar) click HERE

The first I listened to Jen Bluhm's music,  there was something intimately soothing, natural and powerful about her voice and easy-as-you-like guitar style. Her voice reminds me of Lori Chaffer (Waterdeep) - a nice, clear alto. It all seems to come so easy to Jen - her guitar style, her intonation, but mostly her ability to set scripture to music in a way that defies triteness - it all seems so natural. She's not out to showcare...just to use her God-given incredible talent to bless the Church.

I've listened a lot to her Old Testament tracks and have been pleasantly surprised in the way that she has focused in on some of the more obscure texts in the Pentateuch. She employs the minor key for many of her songs and this somehow serves to undergird, in my mind, the Jewishness of the scriptures she's wrapping in music. I could quite easily imagine an ancient Jewish family singing some of these songs around the Passover table.

Jen's guitar playing leaves a lot of space...that is, she does not overplay and for that I am thankful. After all, the purpose for Jen's music is scripture memorization. However, considerable effort is put into the production of a number of these songs - you just have to be quiet to listen for the nuances of the djembe / bongos, the harmony voices or the second guitar.
This to me is the worship equivalent of mainlining - taking the truth of God and sticking it straight into your veins. I don't have to 'get into' this music - I just dive right in. There's no interpretation of lyrics needed, no wondering what the writer meant by that...just the knowledge that these songs are the sonic version of the Shema:

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
(Deuteronomy 6)

Listening to this music, I find scripture beginning to write itself on my heart, to bind itself to my forehead, to become part of the fabric of my day to day existence. Which I think it what God intended all along!

Jen keeps adding new scriptures to her "Anti-Emporium" and has recently started a New Testament section to her website. Every song is free. Jen's gift is an incredible resource and, indeed, gift to the Church.

Tip: Listen to this music on your MP3 player while doing household chores and transform the mundane into the sacred.

Some of my favourites:

• The Lord goes before you
• Deuteronomy 6:4-5

To access Jen's free music, just click on the pictures of Jen at the top of the post!