There are a handful of Christian artists in the world who really push the envelope. Guys and girls who are unsatisfied with staying in the molds they've been placed in and, consequently end up breaking those molds. Charlie Peacock shatters his.

This album, for me, garnered in a whole new attitude toward Christian music. It shook me up. When I picked this up back in 1995, I was just out of high school, heavily into the Christian rock sound of the day. I had heard of Charlie Peacock and liked some of his sound, thought the album cover on Everything was cool, so I decided to spring for it. What I got was a lesson in learning how to be a Christian AND an artist.

Asking questions like "what of the interval moment when you feel nothing, and I feel nothing?" is a question a teenager could find shelter in. Don't want to get old and crusty. But in that same song, "William and Maggie," CP also makes another statement that challenges the passion of belief: "Oh it always amazed me, how someone could come to edge of the world, drop a stone down the side, turn and return to the very same life." It's from the point of view of an older couple looking back on their life. A point I was not at, at that time... and I found myself asking that question of myself. But Charlie wasn't done.

"Monkeys at the Zoo" would seem to grab us by the shoulders, shake us pretty good, and say "Have you learned? Have you learned anything? When will God be enough for you by himself?" While "One Man Gets Around" celebrates, in Charlie's artistic way, how powerful the name of Jesus is and how much greater he is than we can fathom. "Aim a Little Higher" dares us to rise above mediocrity, while "Inside Out, Upside Down" reminds us that, beyond what God does though us, we truly are small and mediocre. Is this stuff getting caught in your throat too?

It should. Charlie has a lot more to say than that. For me, this album was the jumping off point for a whole new level of seeking God and finding Him in more than just trivialities. For anyone bogged down by traditional religion and its dogma, I think it can be as well.

I'll leave you with this final thought, another piece of "Monkeys at the Zoo": "If you were to dive deep inside my soul, would you find Jesus there, or a gaping hole?"

Visit Charlie's website

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