Recently some truly sad news hit my wife and I. Our reactions to this news were absolutely opposite – my wife cried and I got mad. I wanted someone to pay. I wanted answers. I wanted reasons. I wanted someone to be held accountable. She just dropped her head and wept. My anger that was originally aimed at the failures of men, quickly became questions aimed at God. “Why God? Why are you allowing us to go through this? We were so ready… You know our hearts, we trusted you with our hearts… And yet here we are, broken again.”

Once my blood pressure came back down to a reasonable level and her tears had dried, the questions remained – but there came over us a strange clarity in the midst of dense fog. It was in those moments of prayer and reflection and wounding that God impressed a simple verse upon our bruised hearts – “Be still and know that I am God.” It was in this simple yet world changing truth that our hearts began to find rest. A strange supernatural peace embraced us in the middle of our pain. The cup of suffering wasn’t taken from us, but a feeling of God’s grace in the midst of enduring as He works out His will in us.

As I sought camaraderie in the Scripture with those who have gone before us, God reminded me of those who thought they were ready for God’s promise, but as it turned out, God wasn’t ready to give them their heart’s desire. The drama of their story wasn’t heightened enough yet, for man could still be credited with the gift. God loves to move in ways that confound our “wisdom”, He loves to intervene when all is nearly lost, when the army is bearing down, when prosperity has been reduced to poverty, when menopause and old age have settled in, when the fire is seven times hotter than usual, when true love is dead and buried. In those moments there is nothing the ocean, well intentioned friends, biology, physics, or common sense can do to stand in the way of what God is going to do. “Be still, and know that I am God.”

The idea of “Be still” has to do with being silent, speechless, finding rest. To me it evokes the picture of a child asking lots of breathless questions in between tears after being hurt by a sibling. “But… why… did… he… hit… me…?” What is the parent’s response? “Shhhhhh… There there… Shhhhh… It’s gonna be alright…” The child runs to its parent to find safety, comfort, and love in those protective arms. The child knows that it will find healing and peace in that embrace.

As we age, the cause of our pain is different, but our response is much the same. “Why… did… this… happen…?” Who do we run to now? Do we keep God at arm’s reach, directing our anger at him? I know I have. Can we return to the loving arms of our heavenly father, to find safety, comfort, and love? If we know that He is God, if we know His character and how He loves us, can we then find peace and stillness in the midst of profound pain? Our love and trust in the character of God, truly knowing Him and what He has done, allows us to lay our heartbreak at His feet and embrace the peace He offers. The pain isn’t always taken away, but the anger and fear are replaced with His love.

So many of us are quiet Christians that get nervous about telling our friends about Jesus because it may make them mad or get on their nerves. I can understand because I do the same thing. This week I want to ask you to consider something that is going to look very strange to the average non-believer. I would ask you carry on your personal relationship in front of them. Make Jesus very real. Live Him, talk to Him, pray to Him in public. Let it be known that the Spirit of God is alive and all around. Wouldn’t it be great if someone asked you what you were doing and you replied something like this. “Oh, Just checking in with God. Do you want to join me? It’s easy; just close your eyes and talk to Him!” OK, so maybe you won’t say those exact words but you get the point. Let everyone know that God is closer than you think. He is large, in charge and cares what you think.

I believe that most people think that God is sitting somewhere far away not concerned with the happenings in their lives. On the contrary, He is very concerned and your behavior will help people to understand. Especially if they join or even ask for that matter. This will also greatly improve your prayer life and make you either a bold or crazy for Christ Christian. Think of this as a call to arms: we are at war with the enemy. As little as we are, we can make a difference in a big way. We do the praying and God will do the influencing. I look at it this way: if Jesus can die on the cross publicly for me, I can at least publicly raise His name up.

“Holy, Holy, Holy, The whole Earth is full of His Glory!”

I have been trying to act out this blog so if you see me talking to myself just come on over and join the conversation.

I attend the College Bible study on Sunday mornings at Woodside. Jim and his wife Sarah lead, and it’s an awesome group. This past Sunday we were talking about tithing. If you weren’t there you might think that this was another boring lecture about how young people don’t give money to the church and blah blah blah blah blah. But actually, it wasn’t.

We started talking about how tithing is an act of faith. And even though we think that our money isn’t going to matter in the grand scheme, it’s God’s and we are supposed to be giving the first fruits.

Jim talked about figuring out what you make in a a month and then taking 10% of that amount. So if you make $1000 a month give $100 of your first paycheck. And that’s when I finally understood the faith part of tithing. Because, to be honest, I don’t make $1000 a month, and 10% of what I make in a month seems like a big chunk of my first paycheck! But that’s when we rely on God. That’s when we trust Him to bring in the funds to pay the bills and put food on the table.

Cliff prays for the offering sometimes at the services at Woodside on Sunday mornings and he says, “Let us worship God with our tithes and offerings.” As a group yesterday we came to a new conclusion:

Living by faith is worship.

I think that sometimes I get so confused by what the word worship means. I’ve decided that when I sing to God I am praising God. I think sometimes we get ourselves guilty and think, “Man my heart wasn’t in “worship” tonight. I just wasn’t all there. My mind wandered and I was thinking about work…” But if you think of what we call worship as praise, you realize that guilt doesn’t need to be there. If you want to praise the Lord for what He is doing in your life you will! If your mind is wandering around, maybe you need to pray and to have Him clear your head. And once it’s cleared, you praise Him for clearing your mind! If I sing a song about my girlfriend, I’m not worshiping her- I’m praising her. I’m either singing about her or to her but I’m not worshiping. Worship is an act. I think that’s why I get so confused. Praise is only one direction. It can be cool to feel God’s presence when we praise but praise is different from worship.

Maybe you’ve noticed that even though your heart was in the right place, you didn’t feel “moved” by your own worship and that makes you feel guilty. I just want to say again, you are praising God. Sometimes I tell my sister, Caroline, “Nice job at your cheer competition on Saturday!”. But I don’t get warm fuzzies.

Worship is living by faith.

If your doing everything to the best of your ability, you are worshiping. If you are giving what you are supposed to in tithes, you are worshiping. If you are the hands and feet of Christ, you are worshiping. If you are singing a song to the Lord, you are praising.

It may sound like I’m trying to diminish praise, but I’m not at all!! I love to praise the Lord. But I needed to be reminded that in order to have true intimacy with God then I must let Him speak to me as well. We cannot only praise people or else it feels fake. God loves you and wants to talk to you too. And the cool thing is, when you worship (aka live by faith) more, you realize there are more things to praise God about anyway. So in the end your doing more of both!

Just think about it. Maybe we should call our worship, “praise” and our faith, “worship.”

I’m more than half way through the 16 day separation from my wife. No, we’re not on bad terms or anything: She took a trip to South Africa to help distribute medical supplies to people who are in need. She left 10 and half days ago, and she’s scheduled to be back in a little less than 6 days from right now. So what has my life been like since she left?? All in all, it’s been pretty good. For some reason, I feel like I’m receiving a large amount of prayer right now. I’m not sure why I feel this way, but I feel a great sense of peace that has been lacking at times in the past. My gut instinct is that my wife, and others from the church, are praying for me while we are apart from one another, probably even more so than usual. And let me say, it certainly helps.

I know I’m praying for her more often now that she’s gone. It’s kind of opened my eyes to what my prayer life should be like. Why is it that it takes a trip to the other side of the world for me to think more regularly about my wife?? I guess it makes sense, but it’s no excuse. It’s a perfect example of how I take things for granted in my everyday life. Think about everything we do on a daily basis: We’ll pray fervently for God to put us in a job that we can enjoy, but do we give prayers of thanksgiving regularly once we have that dream job?? We’ll pray unceasingly for God to set us up with the spouse of our dreams, but then once we’re married for a time, the amount of our prayers for our spouse dips off quite a bit. We’ll pray for God to protect us on our 5-hour drive to Chicago, but what about the 5-minute drive to the grocery store?? Shouldn’t we be praying for that as well??

More than anything, this is what God is putting on my heart since Angela left. There are SO MANY things I can pray about daily. I should be praying for the things I take for granted. The Bible tells us to pray unceasingly. Part of me thought that it would be a little bit of an “overkill” if I did that because I’d run out of things to pray for. But in reality, the list of things to bring to God in prayer is almost endless. I remember Cliff Johnson telling a story about how they did a prayer room at his old church and that people would spend hours in there praying. At the end they’d say that they needed more time because there was so much more to bring to God. I thought that was impossible. Now I’m starting to see the truth of what those people were saying. It’s too bad it took a week and a half away from my wife to realize it.

On a side note, for those of you who are interested, my beard is only semi-ugly right now. Just give it a few more days!! Also, I spent a combined $39.00 on groceries these past 2 weeks. I’d need another 4 weeks to completely clear out all the food we have stored up at home. Lastly, God has put something on my heart. The very best gift I can give Angela when she gets home is NOT: me picking her up at the airport with a smile and a lousy beard. It IS: a thorough cleaning of the house on Saturday night similar to the way she cleans when people come over. I’ll quarantine the house from myself from midnight Saturday until she arrives home on Sunday so she can see “the palace” cleaned for her arrival. There’s a little free nugget of Godly wisdom for all the men out there, so take note and thank me later!!

In a recent conversation, I was presented with the question, “So, what happens when you are saved?”. To me the answer seemed obvious. It’s what I’ve always believed since I was a little girl: that when you are saved you are forgiven for your sins and able to be one with God. You have to accept and believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins and that you are not perfect, that you need a relationship with Him to get to Heaven. Right?In the big picture of things, yes, being saved is used in the context of Jesus dying to save us from our sins. But when I was asked that question, I immediately thought of the bigger picture of being saved, all the ways He continually saves us. I said, “To me, I see the way He saves me every day of my life.” Every day, I wake up and I need Him. I can’t live a day without walking and talking with Him, and every little thing that happens, I know that He has something to do with it.It’s easy to see the way that God saves you when you are going through a hard time especially. I feel like people tend to lean on God more when they are hurting than when they’re happy. I see how God has gotten me through the toughest times in my life, times when I had no idea what was going on or why things were happening the way they were. When something is going wrong or something bad is happening, I always think, “You know those times when things begin to come together and you begin to see why things happened the way they did? Yeah I wish that were happening right now…” But with all things, it seems that someday they always come together!! And I see God saving me then, because I know that He is working in my life, because I pray that everything that happens will happen in His will.But I also see Him saving me in other ways. With good things. Like on a beautiful sunny day, I feel that He’s just smiling down on me. In the little things, like the way a flower is created. And how it knows when to bloom and everything! If you think about it, it’s genius!! I see all these amazing things around me and I think how lucky I am to have a God that loves me so much. In Lighthouse last Sunday, it was mentioned that how the creator of the stars in the sky loves ME. That totally blows my mind. When I think of that I just smile!! God is the definition of true love, and everyday, even when I don’t notice it, He is saving me. I would never be able to get through this life without Him.

Daniel Doss Band’s “Greater Than Us All” is a worship album by a worship band in a long line of worship albums made by worship bands. The effort isn’t bad, per se, but they’re not necessarily anything new. Settling in to that Casting Crowns/Mercyme mold, they keep good company, but they didn’t manage to rise to the heights of a David Crowder. Still, there are some real gems to be found on Daniel Doss Band’s debut album on Sparrow Records. It will not be long before high school and college ministries add some of these songs to the rotation. Hopefully, it will be a little while longer before the old folks get a hold of things and start butchering the music. Come on. You know it’s true.

“Great God” starts things off and is a likable enough track, but it’s not amazingly evocative. “God in Me” is more of the same, though the piano line at the front end of the track and the vocals work well. “Hold On” is a powerful ballad that will likely give hope to anyone thinking of giving up. The problem is that songs of hope that are of this caliber are often too complex to make it into the Sunday worship line-up. But, it would make for a heck of a special selection. “Abba Father” sounds a bit like worship from the early 90’s, instrumentally-speaking. It’s reminiscent of groups like the short-lived Jason Ingram Band, which isn’t surprising given Ingram’s contribution to the writing process. I liked JIB way back then, but it doesn’t translate so well today given the caliber of the worship-saturated genre of Christian music. “Lord Reign” and “Light is Shining” are definite gems on this album. The lyrics and delivery are pretty strong. Doss seems most comfortable on mid-tempo pieces and reaches to the heights on songs like these. The violins “Love Like Rain” are pleasant.

So won’t You reign/Reign in my life/I’ve tried to hold on but I’ve fallen/So won’t you reign/Reign in my heart/Fill all the spaces I’ve not given/Here on this day/I surrender my will/Here as I pray/If only you will/Lord reign

Unfortunately, the tail end of the album tends to sound too much like the front half. It’s like we’ve heard it before. So, as I liked a great deal of the songs on the front end of the record, the songs aren’t bad. I just felt like we were treading old territory. I wish Doss and Co. had taken a few more risks with their sound, but that is not to be found. The thing that makes someone like David Crowder so well loved by the masses is their willingness to experiment with various types of music. The power of music does not lay merely in lyrics. It also lies in the variety of musical types that exist. Upbeat bluegrass evokes a different feel than a somber ballad. Rock & Roll evokes a different feel than classical. And you hear much of the same with Daniel Doss Band, which is sad as when you listen to the album and take in Doss’ amazing vocal range you become instantly aware of the potential for more. Hopefully, more risks will be taken with their second studio effort.

Overall, I’d say “Greater Than Us All” is a fair album. You’ll likely be singing some of these songs in church and enjoy them. But, while it is certainly worth adding to your collection, the Daniel Doss Band could have done so much more than they have given.

You can read more reviews by C.E. Moore at www.thechristianmanifesto.com.

Production: 7
Lyrics: 7
Message: 10
Overall Quality: 6

Track Listing
1. Great God
2. God In Me
3. Hold On
4. Abba Father
5. Blessed Is The One
6. Lord Reign
7. Light Is Shining
8. Love Like Rain
9. Sing Your Name
10. Great Dreamer
11. I Need You

Two weeks ago a few of us returned home from a wonderful leadership conference in Pasadena, California. The conference was filled with speakers who provided us with fruitful ways to expand our imaginations and develop more prominent leadership skills for our churches back home. Outside, there were tables filled with books, t-shirts and information to pick up on upcoming conferences. But as I browsed from tent to tent the words “To write Love on her arms” written in black on a white t-shirt captured my attention. I had never heard anything about this saying; it was creative, indeed, but what did it mean? Not too long after this discovery we had the joy of hearing the founder of this movement, Jamie Tworkowski speak to us on this heart changing story that he had the privilege of experiencing. If you haven’t read the story already, you must read it. I will give you a brief description for now.

This story tells of a women struggling with depression, addiction, hopelessness and many attempts at suicide. Her childhood tells terrifying details to stories that no child should ever experience. Many people probably looked at her as a child herself, but at the age of 19, Renee had experienced a lifetime of heartache that had aged her in years. If people saw her walking on the street many may have mumbled under their breath that she was a no good druggy: noticeable were her frail body and darkly circled eyes which hadn’t closed to sleep because of the results of cocaine and alcohol in her system. Others may have looked at the sleeves pulled tightly over her wrists, sleeves that covered up the many carvings she made that day. Her brain may seem scattered when you talk to her because the demons in her head speak so loudly that it is hard to hear anything else.

People shake their heads in shame as they see this poor innocent girl, but no one stops to help. Jamie was able to spend a few days with Renee before she agreed to go into rehab. This man sat in awe as this young girl humbly sat down and shared her story. For five days Jamie surrounded Renee with lots of fun people that genuinely showed compassion and love for her. As you read the story you will see that Jamie, in those five days, was able to open his life to a young girl that was viewed as a disgrace to the world and minister to her just by listening and loving her as a friend.

I don’t think many realize how many people may be going through a lot of the same struggles that Renee did. Yes, at the end of the story you will see that this girl was able to overcome her addictions through agonizing nights in rehab, but there are many people that never do. Masks cover the faces of many of our young people today. People are hurting! What a blessing it is to me to hear stories of people who have struggled with depression and addiction and have successfully found the hand of God in the middle of it. But I have also heard stories of young people that are bleeding so badly from the inside and never find relief. Unfortunately many of these people have never felt a hug. They have never heard the words ‘I Love You’ spoken to them or had an encouraging piece of advice given to them. What darkness they must feel from a life filled with lies, a life in which they’re begging for hope but can’t find any in the fog of darkness that they are stuck in.

God has called us to be the hands and feet of Christ. Some may understand these cries for help from past experiences in their own lives and some may not. But intimidation never stopped Jesus. He loved the unlovely and so should we. I encourage you to open your eyes to those that Jesus would want you to see. Listen to their stories and lead them to the truth that there is a loving father that forgives and heals and can make our minds and bodies pure again. If this is you that is struggling with some of these same thoughts, feelings, actions and addictions that Renee once was, then I want to tell you from a heart that understands that Jesus loves you and can heal every scar, whether it be on the inside or on the outside. Freedom and peace can be found in the Lord; nothing else will lead you there. You are special and God has created you for an amazing purpose.

God didn’t put us on this earth to go through things alone. God will take your hand if you allow Him. However, I know from struggles in my own life that I would have failed if it weren’t for special people that reached out to me in my time of need. Be the person that seeks out those that are hurting and listen to their story: they may just need a hand to guide them into the healing arms of the Lord.

Again, I encourage you again to read this story if you haven’t already. It can be found either on Myspace or Google under the title ‘To Write Love On Her Arms’. Open your heart and let the words cut deeply into your own heart.

Remember.

Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Esau, Rachel, Leah, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Joshua, Caleb, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Micah, Ruth, Boaz, Samuel…

The ones in bold I remembered off the top of my head; the others I skimmed through to find and fill in the gaps.

This is the first time in my entire life that I have made it past Genesis and Exodus when trying to read the entire Bible. It has been the most rewarding thing I can remember doing spiritually. (I’m in the 8th chapter of 1 Samuel!)

I am starting to get it. I’m starting to see God’s heart. I’m starting to enjoy intimacy with Him. I’m identifying with the people of old. I’m reading the stories so that I can remember.

Over and over Moses reminds His people to remember what God did for them. Over and over God reminds the Israelites about the covenant He made with them, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” He doesn’t want them to forget. And the closer I get to Him the more I wonder how could I? And yet when I look back on my day(s) I have to confess to Him that I did.

If I hadn’t started this journey, I wouldn’t even know to, or what to, remember.

Let me encourage you! Try it! If you have a good knowledge of the New Testament read the first five books of the Bible. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. They’re called The Five Books of Moses, or The Law. Don’t kill yourself about it. Take your time. Get to know the characters. Read it like you would a book but remember that it’s true.

In Luke 24:27 Jesus is resurrected and appears to some men who thought he hadn’t redeemed with his death and doubted His resurrection. But Jesus took the time to show them…

“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”

When you read it, ask God to reveal Himself to you.

I make videos. I love short sentences. Sorry, I just found that funny. That, and the fact that each sentence is one word longer then the next. Anyway, back to the first sentence- I make videos. And no, these are not your Michael Scott & Jan type videos (if you don’t get the reference then ask someone who is a fan of The Office). I make fun little short skits. Sometimes they are for high school or middle school promo material or sometimes they’re created for sheer frivolity. I once made a video in which myself and the other creator, Chris Gagnon, a fellow film connoisseur, heavily poked fun at those who commercialize Christianity (and no, the video has not yet been put up on YouTube).

Anyway, I had a few people come up to me and tell me that they thought the video was borderline sacrilegious. I laughed a little to myself as to not undermine what I truly thought of their opinion and then went on to explain to them the humor in the video, the humor that they had clearly missed. I am sorry if that last sentence comes off sounding a little harsh but I am sick and tired of water-downed, commercialized Christianity. I wish I could have taken that person to the Family Christian Bookstore or heck, even Meijer which sells this “temple” merchandise, and asked them if they thought the t-shirts, with the fun, cheeky theological statements were sacrilegious. This Christian cultural phenomenon blows my mind: what is it that makes one want to waste their money on such ridiculous things?

Does one really feel the Holy Spirit move a little more when sucking down Testa-Mints? Now yes, there are some cute little t-shirts for kids or girls and even some sweet ones overall that actually don’t make the wearer look like a complete fool. And to make myself clear, I am not trying to make this into some sort of fashion statement, that all Christians must abandon any clothes that reference Christianity in order to look cool and fit in with our culture. I am merely sharing my thoughts and I am not one to give out fashion advice seeing as my fashion consists of jeans, t-shirts, and sandals. I’m just saying that T-shirt theology gives off this false, cheesy portrayal of Christianity, even if the statement is true. To quote a wise man “If you can fit your theology on a T-shirt it’s probably not very accurate, very deep, or very good.” See for yourself, go to Google, type in Christian t-shirts and explore away. Again, you will find good ones along with some that are so ridiculously cheesy they will cause your eyes to roll back like the rock blocking Jesus’ tomb (that was my attempt at cheesy Christian humor, maybe I should put it on a t-shirt).

Oh, and for those of you who are interested, my favorite “Christian” t-shirt simply says on the front “GET STONED! Like Paul!”. The “O” in “STONED” is cleverly portrayed as a rock; quite ingenious! Like I said earlier, sadly the video we created to poke fun at these commercializations of Christianity has not been posted on YouTube but for your own video enjoyment here is a link to a similar video a few of my students and I created poking fun at those who portray Christianity as “happy-go-lucky”. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

“Where to begin?” The question only seems natural for a band that’s released 7 full length CD’s, toured the world, and caused enough controversy in the Christian music scene to write a book on. It’s nearly impossible to fully inform the uninformed on P.O.D.’s status/history in the music industry, as there’s literally so much substance to it. However, in order to fully appreciate “When Angels and Serpents Dance”, it is necessary to at least cover the basic framework upon which it is built. With that said, we’ll start with the basics.

The quintet began in 1989, with the original lineup consisting of: Sonny Sandoval (vocals), Wuv Bernardo (drums), Marcos Curiel (guitar), and Gabe Portillo (bass). Shortly after recording a brief demo and playing a handful of local shows, Gabe was replaced by current bassist Traa Daniels. With the introduction of Traa, the freshly united four-some went on to record two independent releases: “Snuff the Punk” and “Brown”. Relentless touring, along with the promotion by a dedicated street team eventually brought about the signing with Atlantic Records. Finding themselves signed to Atlantic, resources for album production were plentiful, and at the turn of the century they signed on famed producer Howard Benson to work on their mainstream debut “The Fundamental Elements of Southtown”. The album saw the success of two singles, scoring top spots on MTV’s TRL. The CD was hailed as the band’s “best material” to date by many fans, and was their first record to go platinum. Landing tours alongside acts including Linkin Park, Korn, Slipknot, and Ozzy Osborn the future couldn’t have looked brighter for the young band.

On September 11^th, 2001 “Satellite” was released to the public. It quickly became P.O.D.’s highest selling and rated CD of all time. Selling over 3 times the amount of “The Fundamental Elements of Southtown” and scoring over 4 hit radio singles (remember: “Alive”, “Boom”, “Youth of the Nation”, and “Satellite”) P.O.D. was at the top of their game. Following the release included world tours, rave reviews, and numerous media appearances including Jay Leno’s Tonight Show, MTV’s TRL, David Letterman, among others. Unfortunately in 2003, right before recording the title track for the highly anticipated “The Matrix Reloaded”, a fall out occurred between guitarist Marcos Curiel and the rest of the band. The fall out left the growing band, seemingly stuck in a stage of their evolutionary process, with a missing link, that being a guitarist. Desperate for a replacement, the band recruited Jason Truby of Christian metal glory.

With the new line up, the band went on to record a self titled album namely “Payable on Death”. While fans generally found the album praiseworthy, critics were slightly tougher, and devoted fans saw Truby bringing a large change to the band’s sound. Sales of the record partly reflected this perception, selling roughly 1/3 of their previous venture. Still the band continued relatively strong, joining forces with Linkin Park in 2004 on their “Meteora World Tour.” Following “Payable on Death” came the band’s sixth release “Testify”. “Testify” reaffirmed the band’s “new sound” that saw a slight emphasis placed on the band’s signature Reggae tracks (see “Strength of My Life”,” Roots in Stereo”, and “Why Wait”)

Long story short, supposedly Jason Truby dropped out of the band, right as Marcos and drummer Wuv were contemplating his re-entry. Which brings us to their latest release “When Angels and Serpents Dance?”

It is safe to say “When Angels and Serpents Dance” is one of, if not P.O.D.’s most anticipated releases. Several reasons account for this hype, inarguably the primary reason being the return of Marcos Curiel on lead guitar. The hope: with the return of Marcos would be a simultaneous revisit to the band’s signature sound featured in “Satellite” and “Southtown”, a sound that not only put them in the Christian hard rock market, but gave them a name amongst mainstream acts. With such a colorful past and glorious history, it could be asked, “Does the album meet expectations?” Simply put, “When Angels and Serpents Dance” is far from a return to the “Satellite” era that fans have been waiting for; instead, it is simply a “progression” into yet another musical realm, one that has continuities and discontinuities with their previous two releases.

Opening is the lead single “Addicted”, a somewhat explosive rocker, featuring heavy riffs, and infuriated vocals. While nothing too special, off the bat, the song offers a glimpse of hope that the “old P.O.D.” is back; however, further listening only confirms otherwise. Following the opener is “Shine with Me”, a song laced with pop melodies with a slight a few traces of musical intensity. Likewise, “Condescending” is a pseudo-progressive track which takes off slow, comes to a climactic jam, and then returns to a relatively dull chorus. These tracks come somewhat as a surprise as they seem awkwardly calm. Continuing on, “It Can’t Rain Everyday” is next, baring qualities similar to those of their smash hit “Youth of the Nation”, the verses telling the stories of individuals struggling for meaning in a broken world.

Immediately it’s apparent that P.O.D. has taken a step back toward an even mellower sound. “This Ain’t No Ordinary Love Song”, the title track “When Angels and Serpents Dance”, “Shine with Me”, and “It Can’t Rain Everyday” remain slow and generally quiet. What makes this peculiar is that the signature hard rock that created the “P.O.D. brand” remains almost unheard throughout the entire CD. The songs are not inherently bad; however, they remain relatively predictable, and when compared alongside of previous material, relatively uninspiring.

There are some highlights to the album, one being the sheer number of guest appearances, which adds diversity to a CD that might otherwise be monotone. “Kalifor-eye-a” features Mike Muir of Suicidal Tendencies, who breaks into a rampage near the end of the track. The reggae jam “I’ll Be Ready” features the daughters of the genre’s legend Bob Marley, and finally “God Forbid” features Page Hamilton of the thrash metal group Helmet. The instrumental “Roman Empire” features the beautiful work Curiel, and is refreshingly original, and the reggae jam “I’ll Be Ready” will is bound to be a fan favorite. “Set Your Eyes to Zion”, and the pummeling “God Forbid” switches things up, mixing grunge and hard rock, with a splash of thrash metal, which may very well conjure up memories from P.O.D.’s former days.

It would be an error to simply critique “When Angels and Serpents Dance” solely in comparison to their previous material. With that said, the CD could hold its own in today’s market, but it won’t stand out. There are few songs that would cause one to think “this would be great for radio.” “When Angels and Serpents Dance” could be summed as this: relatively quiet, relatively uninspiring, and relatively average. While attempting to stray from overwhelming negativity, it is safe to say that fan’s hoping for a return to the band’s previous sound may be overwhelming disappointed, this band’s glory days may be up.

2.5 out of 5
Release Date: April 8th, 2008
INO Records

Tracklisting:
1.) Addicted
2.) Shine with Me
3.) Condescending
4.) It Can’t Rain Every Day
5.) Kalifor-eye-a (feat. Mike Muir)
6.) I’ll Be Ready (feat. The Marley Sisters)
7.) The End of the World
8.) This Ain’t No Ordinary Love Song
9.) God Forbid (feat. Page Hamilton)
10.) Roman Empire
11.) When Angels and Serpents Dance
12.) Tell Me Why
13.) Rise Against