Merry Christmas

Here's a musical Christmas card from our family to yours. May this season be filled with the joy and peace that comes from knowing the Christ of Christmas!

The Day That Love Was Born

Video of an "unplugged" practice session ~ "The Day that Love Was Born"

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Here at the Campbell home, we've not only been busy decking the halls, we've also been hard at work rehearsing for several upcoming Christmas performances. Russ has added a new arrangement to our Christmas repertoire, a beautiful song titled "The Day that Love Was Born" by Christian artist Dara Maclean.

We had the privilege of seeing Dara perform live at World Pulse Festival this past summer, and the girls even got to meet her, get her autograph and have a photo taken with her. They were impressed with how friendly and personable she is!

The lyrics to this soulful song offer a poignant description of the day Jesus burst into the darkness of our world to offer us His light.

He took on our skin so he would forever know what it felt like to be dust.

"As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust." Psalm 103:13-14

He remembers us.

The day that love was born

It changed everything

And Jesus the Son, 

The Almighty One

Sent here to redeem.

He came to save, 

Not just to give his life away

You made a way, everything changed

On that glorious day...

The day that love was born.  

This Christmas, let's find joy in this simple fact: He remembers us. He has come to bring us love and light. He has made a way. Hallelujah!

He Changes Not

Jobs, relationships, circumstances, health, finances... In a world full of change, one thing remains constant: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." (Hebrews 13:8) What a comfort to know that His love NEVER changes!

Russ recently wrote this song (music and lyrics), inspired by a poem from 19th century preacher and poet Horatius Bonar. Hope you are blessed and comforted by the message of this brand new song!

Beautiful Things

He has made everything beautiful in his time. Ecclesiastes 3:11

Have you had one of those moments lately? You know the moment... the one where you stand back in awe at what God's done for you? Where you wonder how in the world He took your life and fashioned what looked like an awful mess into something beautiful? And whether or not we consider our past sins to be as bad as the next guys' or girls', let's face it: If it weren't for His grace, we would all still be a mess.

I think that's why this song, "Beautiful Things," seems to strike a chord with everyone who hears it. The lyrics remind us that God has transformed our broken pieces into beautiful things for His glory. Hope you enjoy Russ' arrangement of this popular song by the group Gungor!

Hurricane

This song by Jimmy Needham is one of our favorites to perform. It's about a person who is at the end of his rope and needs God desperately. The first verse (not included in this video) talks how much time we waste setting up walls of protection, when all we really need is for God to "tear down" the walls of our old hearts and make us new:

I have built a city here
Half with pride and half with fear
Just wanted a safer place to hide
I don’t want to be safe tonight

CHORUS
I need You like a hurricane
Thunder crashing, wind and rain
To tear my walls down
I’m only Yours now
I need you like a burning flame
A wild fire untamed
To burn these walls down
I’m only Yours now
I’m only Yours now

Got Skeletons in Your CD Collection? We Do!

We all have them in our collections - those CDs we hate to admit we own. We'd be absolutely mortified if our friends caught us listening to ("fill-in-the-blank with your CD of choice") Christmas CD, but we just can't help ourselves.

OK, we confess. We have Barry Manilow's Because It's Christmas, and we've listened to it... recently. But really, Russ says the arrangements are superior, even if it is...well...Barry Manilow. And I have to admit... I like Barry! His voice reminds me of sunny days when I was a kid, belting out "Can't Smile Without You" in the car with my friends. Dorky, yes. But, hey, it was cool back then.

So, what's the skeleton in your Christmas CD collection? Leave a comment on our blog, and we'll enter you in our contest. The prize? A free CD by a musical family we just happen to know very well. We're sure this CD won't be hidden in your closet next year (at least, we hope not)! :-) Don't forget to comment by December 15 to qualify for the giveaway!

He Knows If You've Been Bad or Good... ♪♫♪

Our dog, Coda, is on Santa's naughty list this year for chasing (and attempting to devour) harmless possums, chasing (and attempting to snack on) adorable kitty cats, chasing innocent joggers, cool motorcyclists, unsuspecting horses and their riders, and... well, basically anything that moves. Thankfully, he didn't attempt to devour the joggers, motorcyclists, and horses/riders, or he'd REALLY be in the dog house! Can't you tell by the look on his face that he's been a bad boy? His one redeeming quality is that he's very musical -- check out this video to see Coda's amazing talents! (Please excuse the poor video quality; I took the video on my cell phone in bright sunlight!) 

 

Merry Christmas to all the dog lovers out there! Don't forget to get your furry friend a treat (or a bag of coal) for Christmas!