Unafraid - by Paul Oakley

CD Review (Boris Kris)

Worship. That's the essence of us being alive, knowing God, and glorifying Him before all creation. That's what I hear in Paul Oakley's Unafraid. There is a willingness to be vulnerable before God, an abandoning to the presence of His love, the way a river does as it flows into the sea or the moth as it flies into the flame. The passionate and profound truths of God's grace and love set in song stirred me just as Paul hoped they would. Here, Paul pulls back from the full throttle of his other CDs and brings us into the intimate quiet places Jesus has prepared for us. I have been using this CD for soaking, spending time in God's presence. What I found arising from my heart as I listened were prayers of blessed intimacy. May we truly become those new wineskins able to bear the precious oil the Holy Spirit wants to pour into us. Worshipers may find this CD a help along that path.

A mixture of old and new songs, the CD includes Cover Me, Romance Me, The Overlap, Moth to a Flame, House of Gold, Like a Child, Feel Like I Could Fly, Fragrant, I Will Never Be the Same, Jerichos, I Need You Now, Trust in You, Adam's Race, I Love Your Love, Kiss the River, One Thing. I mention the titles as they are what attracted me when I first saw this CD at the Worship Together Conference in November 2002. I put on the headphones, chose the first track, and found myself immediately in God's presence; "Cover me like a river till I surrender to You as I would to a deep rushing river." Paul sings of His Lover as His truth, strength, light, warmth, shelter, and his All. That devotion expressed in love and purpose touched me.

Other tracks amplify the message of God's immense love amidst struggles with our weakness, which is resolved in the One that we seek. (Jerichos: "Am I blind or just a fool? Did I hear the words You said?" I Need You Now:: "My King, my love, I am more aware of this clay than all Your power within"). My prayer became that all I had thought of as gain I would indeed consider as loss in order to know Him. "To spend my days behind the veil where purity and light pour over me and I am changed..."

If you have heard Paul Oakley's other CDs, you will recognize some of the songs, such as Cover Me and Kiss the River. Here they are given a quieter and fresh rendition with voices, guitars, occasional percussion and bass, keyboard, and strings. The acoustic sound gives place for the heart to meditate in quietness and depth. In this CD, God's eyes search me and I find myself lifted into the palm of His hand, into the warmth of His acceptance and liquid love.