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Reviews
CD Review
The Way I Am
Jennifer Knapp
Gotee Records 2001
Review by Jo van Leerdam
Jennifer Knapp has proved herself as a folk inspired rock artist from Kansas whose masterful talent paints introspective portraits of life’s bumpy roads.
“I’ve seen people around me loose their passion for God, even though they are in church. It is important to me to communicate and have that honesty with God.”
Song after song she empties her soul through catchy poetic lyrics that utter the precise words I myself have found it hard to find. Knapp’s powerful vocals are a perfect match for the crisp, guitar-laden melodies.
‘By And By’ is about how we fail time and time again to be upright Christians and Jenn pleads for God to come quickly to end this frustration of falling short.
“Mercy me, O who do you say I am? Do I not love you? But did I not nail your hand?”
‘The Way I am’ is the feature song and it talks about the wretchedness of man. This song seems to paint a dismal light of what man really is but I feel it paints the truth; we are wretched without God even though it often does not seem so.
“It’s better to be deaf, dumb and lame than to be the way I am. It’s better off to be this way than be groping for the flame.”
‘Say Won’t You Say’ demonstrates God’s amazing love. Knapp talks about her struggle to give her life all over to God, this is something we can all identify with.
“The reckless letting go is hard to bear… still I cling to what I see and what have I there…to be fanned to flame”
‘Around Me’ struggles with the issue of approaching creation versus evolution debate in a post-modern world.
“One big bang, an atom? How’d I come to be? Whittled from a bone is harder to believe…treat me with an alibi so all my friends may wonder why I have immortal favour”
‘Come To Me’ is based on Matthew 11:28-30 to comfort the weary. What a great comfort that is in today’s society!
‘Fall Down’ is my personal favourite. Jenn is so honest in this song about her own feelings. She sings about the torment that past sins can bring even though we know we are forgiven.
“Past regrets and long laments they find me somehow, o, what am I supposed to do about it now? What can I do but fall down”
In ‘Two (The Lament)’ is a song where Jenn sings about how easy it is to break herself away from fellow believers with her tongue. God warns about the use of our tongue in the book of James, especially in chapter three.
“O by the tidings of my tongue I lie and sing what
can’t be unsung”
The album ends with a powerful song called ‘No Regrets’. Knapp sings
about her desire to be free from her past regrets.
“With no regrets should I be, lost in forgetfulness, with no regrets in my head”
Knapp speaks of her own experiences and how God
strengthened her. She sings about the struggle of a regretful past
finding it’s way back to her constantly. This song speaks volumes as we
often dwell on the past.
At present Jennifer is involved with Overseas Mission. For the past
three years she has been ministering in Eastern Europe and now she is
off to the Doˆminican Republic to repair broken villages.
“It’s important to me to remember that my first priority as a Christian is to serve, not to be served. Missions makes that really obvious, because I’m serving next to people who care more about my ability to use a hammer than my ability to use a guitar.”
I have not yet come across any musician who is this
honest in their lyrics about the bumpy roads of the Christian life. This
is an amazing CD, as are all of her albums, I recommend them all!
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