Mark Beuving's Resonate is an in-depth look at music and what the bible has to say about it. It looks at how we hear, how music is a gift from God, why music has the power it does, and about the debate Christians have been having since before DC Talk was around: Is it okay to listen to secular music? What styles of Christian music are acceptable? Lastly, this book looks at the importance of creating.

This book both made and broke my experience with music. It made it by giving me a newness to the music I listen to. It opened doors and windows in my thoughts that gave me new perspectives on it. I see everything as more beautiful, even mundane sounds like lawnmowers or cars. It really changed how I see sound (figuratively). Everything is brighter, darker, bolder, deeper. I feel the music more. It's like someone gave me HD hearing. It also gave me a deeper understanding of how my choices of music--which range from Skillet, to Lecrae, to 21 Pilots, to Hank Green--affect me. This book does not condemn any style or type of music except that which is poor quality. We should reflect the gifts of our creator with our creations. With everyone's musical tastes being different, I highly congratulate the author on his ability to write this without saying "[blank] is bad, simply because it's [blank]." We do this so often that we don't even realize it. I've certainly bashed secular music because it's not Christian music, but Beuving references it frequently. Just because someone likes something different than you does not mean it's bad, and the author is very cautious not to make any generalized statements about things.

It broke music for me by making me overanalyze it. I normally set my iPod on shuffle to do my homework, but now I can't even get myself to do that. I find myself examining what I listen to (and it's been driving me nuts). I don't know if it's just me, but this book made it harder to casually listen to music.

Resonate is enlightening, informative, and just a cool study of music and the Bible through literature. You WILL want to read this in an area where it's acceptable to go on Grooveshark, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, whatever music service you like and listen to the referenced song. It will help you understand it better. Overall, it's very cool. I recommend this to anyone in a church setting that works with music. However, I also recommend it to music lovers (like myself), as well as those not as interested in it.

After all, even the growl of a lawnmower sounds more pleasant when you know your ability to hear it is a gift from God.