Apparently this is the time of year when everyone is supposed to publish their ‘best album of the year’ lists. I won’t make any attempt to claim sufficient knowledge of the music scene to declare which recordings are the best of the year. But I thought it would be fun to publish a list of the music of what I enjoyed the most in 2008. Sound off in the comments if you want to add your own favorites from the year past.

So, here are my top 10 in no particular order.

• Dear Science – TV on the Radio
• The Stand Ins – Okkervil River
• The Juno soundtrack
• Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
• Jukebox – Cat Power
• For Emma, Forever Ago – Bon Iver
• Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
• We Started Nothing - The Ting Tings
• Narrow Stairs – Death Cab for Cutie
• Sleep through the Static – Jack Johnson

I have been noticing that a significant number of Christians are rather distraught about the untimeliness of our current weather conditions. Unquestionably, hazardous winter weather right before Christmas is unfortunate for store owners, family members, and anyone trying to get a little work done before taking a day or two off for the holiday.

At the same time, though, I wonder if our weather angst reflects something deeper. Inclement weather takes away the control that we think we have over our lives. Few things are more frustrating for Americans than to realize suddenly that they are not ‘free’ to do as they please.  Let us have life, liberty, and the pursuit of convenience; do not snow on my parade!

Okay, I’ve been missing in action for a few weeks now. Some of you may know that my project for this year has been another book that I am writing for T&T Clark. With my job change this year, the book took a bit of a back seat through the summer and fall, leading me to realize that I needed to get busy if I wanted to finish it on time. So, I have devoted most of my free writing time recently to working on that project. Fortunately, though, I have made some good progress over the last few weeks and will hopefully not have any problems meeting my deadline. That should also free up a little more time for posting on this blog. So, you will hopefully be hearing a little more from me in the future. We’ll see.