Album Review :
Tim Timmons - Cast My Cares
By Jonathan Andre in Reviews | Comments closed
Artist: Tim Timmons
Title: Cast My Cares
Label: Reunion Records
Release Date: 6/4/13
Reviewer: Jonathan Andre
Tracklisting:
- It’s Your Revolution
- Starts With Me
- Cast My Cares
- You Remain
- Christ In Me
- Let’s Be Beautiful
- For Your Glory
- I Will Follow Love
- Great Reward
- Holy Unafraid
- Only One Standing
‘…following Jesus versus being a believer in Him is revolutionary…I actually believe it will revolutionize the power of the Kingdom. What if the people who fill our weekend church services actually saw themselves as the church in the name, the power and the authority of Jesus as we walked out of that building? I get really excited just thinking about it…’ Tim Timmons first label debut album Cast My Cares releasing June 4th is a real personal one. Signed to Reunion Records (home of artists like Michael W. Smith, Royal Tailor, Lindsay McCaul and Moriah Peters), Tim’s life with cancer throughout the last decade or so is something sobering to all who hear his heartfelt journey with an incurable disease. While Tim lives as though he will be healed someday, he sometimes sees the cancer as bringing a gift along with it- perspective. As we gain perspective on our own lives (understanding our own frailty as we see the lives of others), we can continuously live with a heavenly mindset; one of the major themes in Cast My Cares. Produced by Paul Mabury, Tim calls us all towards the invitation set out to each one of us by God. While not trying to make the ‘coolest’ music currently, or even try to copy the latest worshipful phase, Tim expresses his heart for the album and worship ministry as a whole, reminding worshippers, listeners and everyday Christians that ‘…most times when we stand and sing worship songs to God, we honestly don’t connect with the emotion of words. But, if we stop and think of three things we are grateful for, or make a mental list of our worries and then cast it all on Jesus as we worship Him, we can own our response to Him…’ From the heartfelt first single ‘Starts With Me’ to the ever-worshipful ‘Cast My Cares’ that reminds us to cast everything that is of worry to us at Jesus’ feet; Tim’s first label fronted album is hopefully one of many as he continues to battle one of the most devastatingly known diseases with Christ by His side.
‘Starts With Me’ is the first radio single from Tim, and right from first guitar strum and heartfelt lyric sung to pose a question to listeners of ‘…what can I do to leave a legacy? How can I speak with authority when I can’t see You, I can’t see You…’, we are reminded of the times we can sometimes have where we ourselves can question whether God’s really there with us as we journey on our lives trying to witness and share the gospel through trials and tribulations being thrown our way. Its human nature to often wonder whether God has our best interests at heart, and Tim hits the nail on the hammer as he discusses our own issues of trying to work and perform tasks by our own strength. God has created us to perform His work, but not on our own. It starts with us, but it doesn’t have to be just only us as we carry out the work of Christ. As the song delves into light acoustics and Tim’s powerful gruff voice declaring out the words that He starts when we’re on our knees surrendering everything to Him, we are invited to listen to a song that shows us what it means to be inwardly transformed as we pursue Christ with everything we have. One of the standouts on Cast My Cares, this song brings to the fore a running theme through the whole album about us being dependent on Christ for everything that we have and are, unashamed as we call upon Him in our moment of weakness and need. Well done Tim for one of my favourite songs of the year so far!
‘It’s Your Revolution’ and ‘Cast My Cares’, alongside ‘Starts With Me’, are all part of the 3-song EP released by Tim in March 2013 to promote the album releasing next week. As we are introduced to Tim’s honest singing and a heart to see listeners join in a revolution of the heart as we collectively cry out as a nation and as the world hungry for God’s presence, ‘It’s Your Revolution’ starts off with some great backing vocals from little children to bring in the attention of the listener. With light percussion and a chorus of children, Tim sings out the confronting words of how ‘…You are the air held in our lungs, it’s not enough if we’re not breathing…’ As we understand the metaphor of Christ being the air that we breathe, we are placed with the question of how we’re living our lives, knowing that Christ is the answer for the world and the revolution that needs to occur on every continent of the world. With a theme reminiscent of Steven Curtis Chapman’s ‘Live Out Loud’, Tim urges us to move out of our comfortableness and step out in faith, even if stepping out is the most revolutionary decision we can ever make up to that point. Stepping out in faith, surrendering to God, and trusting Him with the outcomes is a revolutionary thing to do; and Tim calls us to join the revolution, because it’s ours already if we are in Christ! ‘Cast My Cares’ continues this theme of surrendering everything to God as I am reminded of Philippians 4:6-7, about us casting every care and concern at Jesus’s feet and replacing our worries with prayer and peace. The poignant chorus of us casting our cares on the Almighty is something we ought to follow through with, rather than just listening, agreeing, and then not following through. God is big enough to handle all our issues and hangups, and our preconceptions and misconceptions we may have about Christ and prayers is something that’s ought to be set aside and replaced by the knowledge that ‘…I will cast my cares on You cause You love me…’ A revelation that requires us to lay down the deepest parts of us and expose our vulnerabilities, all these three songs provide us with a great start to Cast our Cares, an album with a continuous reminder of what we should do when confronted with something we know we can’t face on our own. Well done Tim for such hopeful melodic promises we can remember and cling to whenever we need.
‘You Remain’ is possibly one of Tim’s most subdued, yet equally honest and profound songs on the album, as he opens up his own heart and bears the confronting and powerful words of how ‘…I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tired of trying, and now I’m down to my last excuse, so here I am waiting for You…’ As he reveals to us something we’ve all struggled with (weariness and tiredness), Tim offers up a remedy for our exhausted souls through all the light acoustic guitars and rousing percussion full of symphonic orchestral sounds as he reminds us that through every situation we could often face, God remains, never departing, never condemning, never judging His children. A song of humility as we witness a moment of grace and a timely reminder of God’s steadfast love and constant nature; Tim continues to present the theme of God’s firm trust within us in the album closer, ‘Only One Standing’. A song similar in theme to MercyMe’s ‘Only You Remain’; Tim places on his ‘Charlie Hall’ hat as he brings everything to God with abandon to say ‘…I surrender all, would You tear down all these walls that rise between us, blinding freedom…would You let my kingdom fall, for Yours alone will be the only one standing…’ A piano driven song, we are given something to wrestle with as we look at our own lives and see which aspects of it we need to lay down and surrender to Jesus as we give up the things taking the most of our time and replace them with delving deeper in relationship with Christ; Tim urges us to live our lives with a change in our hearts and a conviction worthy to be told to anyone who wants to know and understand more of the change we profess to incur within us.
As Tim also delves into themes of understanding and fully grasping the truth that the same power that Christ had that raised Him from death is living within us in the feet-stomping hand-clapping ‘Christ in Me’, while also reminding us of how God has made us holy and blameless before Him and that our fear is vanquished when we proclaim that ‘…we are more than conquerors, Jesus, victory is Yours…’ (‘Holy Unafraid’); Tim’s powerful and passionate vocals and heartfelt melodies are enough to give listeners a stirring reminder of God’s goodness in every song he sings on the 11 track album. ‘Great Reward’ was written in response to his cancer diagnosis as we witness his emotion poured out through this piano only track, reminding listeners that ‘…You are God, I am not, remind my soul You’re in control…’; while ‘Let’s Be Beautiful’ is a realisation that as Christians, it is our responsibility to reflect Christ wherever we go. It is when our fellow man looks at us that he can see if we love Jesus or not by the way that we act, and as Tim gives us some hauntingly confronting words, ‘…everybody’s watching, what are we all about? When we open up the doors, is religion all that walks out? Are we lovely, are we shining, are we looking at the one we love? Or is His glory divided, cos we’re looking at ourselves too much?…’, we ought to be compelled to radically change our lives and place our beliefs into the action as we tangibly respond to the love poured out for us by Christ. One of the most confronting songs on the album personally, ‘Let’s Be Beautiful’ is a song that will hopefully allow Christians to wake up to the routine we can sometimes be caught up with. As we stop and think about our daily grind and ask God to come and rid ourselves of the things that could let us forget about our communion with Him, our lives become much more exciting and purposeful. Well done Tim for such a wonderful song and hopefully the second radio single from Cast My Cares!
Overall: Tim Timmons’ label debut album Cast My Cares is a breath of fresh air (or more specifically, fresh sounds of electric guitars, acoustic guitar strums and passionate vocals) in the CCM genre as we are given 11 songs written out of a place of heartfelt brokenness and needing to rely solely on Christ alone. From ‘Cast My Cares’ to the ever-poignant ‘Let’s Be Beautiful’, the album’s theme can be summed up in a hopeful and inspiring lyric from ‘For Your Glory’, that Christ takes ‘…joy in suffering and make it an offering for glory, for Your glory…’ No matter what we face, our hope can come from the understanding that all our circumstances, whether good or bad, can be used by Christ to elevate Himself and continue to shape us into godly men and women able to solely trust on Christ for everything that we are and do. Fans of alternative-worship artists like All Sons and Daughters and David Crowder*Band will certainly love this album as we witness one of the most honest and lyrically emotional albums ever since Steven Curtis Chapman’s Beauty Will Rise. While Tim may not know how much time he has left, his album will definitely be one to savour and soak into personally. Well done Tim for giving listeners a great album, and one that’s one of my favourites of June 2013 so far, alongside Building 429’s We Won’t Be Shaken!
RIYL: All Sons and Daughters, David Crowder*Band, Warren Barfield, MercyMe
Buy the Album: iTunes/Amazon mp3