SCRIBBLING IN THE SAND
A Review of Michael Card's Latest CD

In this issue of CD.com we are reviewing Michael Card's newest release, Scribbling In The Sand. A few months ago Card came to our church, Covenant Presbyterian in Palm Bay, Florida, as part of his promotional tour for this new CD.

CREATIVITY AND COMMUNITY
For Michael Card, Scribbling In The Sand reflects community and he says, "creativity comes out of community." For this album he called together many personal friends and Christian musicians, such as Steve Green, Phil Keaggy, Sara Groves and others, who accompanied him in the making of it. This CD is a compilation of his greatest hits with two newly released songs, Underneath the Door and Scribbling In The Sand.

THE LYRICS
Card's first love is Christ and studying His word and it shows in the final product. About the material he produces he says, ''The purpose of my music, books and concerts is to focus in on and worship Christ. The songs and writings are just vehicles to accomplish this purpose.''

Card's music has ministered to me deeply over the years and his concert back in March was no exception. Card is a gift of God to Christian music. In centuries past there were great hymn writers like Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts and Fanny Crosby. In this age, we have Michael Card. His songs bring the scriptures to life and delve deeply into spiritual truth. They are rich in content because Card, who holds a Master's degree in Biblical studies, pours over the word of God, studying the original Greek and Hebrew as he compiles each song. It is important to him that his lyrics be theologically sound. The result is songs that pierce your heart and transform your mind with God's truth.

Songs like Things We Leave Behind artfully express the truth of the bondage of materialism and pride and the freedom in letting it all go.

There sits Simon so foolishly wise
Proudly he's tending his nets
Then Jesus calls and the boats drift away
And all that he owns he forgets
But more than the nets he abandoned that day
He found that his pride was soon drifting away
And it's hard to imagine the freedom we find
From the things we leave behind.

And songs like God's Own Fool skillfully describe the paradoxical nature of leaving the world to become a follower of Christ.

We in our foolishness thought we were wise
He played the fool and He opened our eyes.
We in our weakness believed we were strong
He became helpless and showed we were wrong
So we follow God's own fool, only the foolish can tell
Believe the unbelievable and come be a fool as well.

THE STYLE
Although most of the songs on this CD are oldies but goodies, with the edition of his friends and guests accompanying him on many of the selections, the songs take on a new flavor. Being a live recording the atmosphere of the CD is intimate and the next best thing to being in the studio with his friends and family during the actual recording.

The songs selected for this CD have a diversity of style that adds to its richness. There are Sara Groves' strong, mellow tones as she accompanies Card on Why to soul sounds of Soul Anchor to the Celtic and Irish rhythms of Starkindler and The Poem of Your Life with Phil Keaggy.

Scribbling In The Sand is like a gourmet sampler of Card's best recipes for music: from his award winning El Shaddai, which magnifies the character of our God to Underneath The Door, which gives us an intimate glimpse into the character of Card himself. I recommend that you order it up, taste and enjoy this musical treat for yourself!

Copyright © 2002 Jean and Alan LeStourgeon