Have You Heard of the band MercyMe?

wil has the first 2 CDs, and the songs are good. i jus bought the latest one called "Coming Up to Breathe". havent really got the chance to listen to it, but i can already say that i like them more than before...

"I remember going swimming with my brother when I was a kid. We would always get into a major wrestling match in the water to see which one could take the other under. Even to this day, if we get into a pool together... LOOK OUT! Being five years younger, it seemed like I was always the one forced to see how long I could hold my breath underwater because he was so much stronger than me. Sometimes we would get carried away and my broher would hold me underwater for a little too long, and I would start to panic. I'll never forget that feeling of needing air, desperately reaching out for something to pull myself with. I may have only been under it for a few seconds, but when I surfaced, I gasped for air like it was the first time I had ever breathed. Looking back, all I can say is, nothing has changed. Even to this day, I still struggle with keeping my head above water. The circumstance may be a little different, but the urgency to breathe is very much the same.

These days the things that hold us down look different than my big brother in a swimming pool. For most of us, we carry the weight of wanting to live up to other people's expectations, and this can be a hard burden to bear. Sometimes we succeed and other times we fail, but the weight of expectations can hold any of us down and overwhelm us. This is just as true for people who make music and want to share it with the world.

For us in MercyMe, some days we feel the expectations of our families. Some days it is the expectations of our ministry or the music industry. Other days we wonder if a song we've written will be embraced by our listeners, or if people will want to come see one of our concerts. It is days like these when we sometimes forget God's expectations of us.

Thankfully, God's expectations are quite different than people's. God doesn't expect us to always please others. God doesn't expect us to write a hit song. God doesn't expect us to change hearts or save the world- that is His job. God simply asks us to be faithful and do the best with what He has given us. He desires us to simply reflect His goodness, His glory and His grace to the watching world. When we are able to stop and realize what God requires of us, all the weight of others' expectations seems to melt away.

What you hold in your hands is the result of MercyMe surfacing... surfacing from our concern for what others might think of us, and allowing ourselves to come up for air, catch our breath and breathe deep the grace and freedom of God.

The music and message of this album is all over the place and we love it! There are songs that go deeper than we have ever gone before, and there are songs that are as shallow as some of the swimming pools my brother and I wrestled in. And the good news is... it is OK! This is who we are, blemishes and all. Our prayer is that this project will somehow draw you closer to Christ, whether through an intimate time of worship, or through the joy of knowing it is OK to have fun. The bottom line is, it would do us all some good to find ourselves... Coming up to Breathe."

- Bart Millard, from MercyMe, on "Coming Up to Breathe".