DEAR BOB: Please tell us your thoughts on Switchfoot’s newest CD, Oh! Gravity. Is it better spiritually than their last album?
—Cody, Cleveland, Tenn.
In an attempt to reach a broader audience, Jon Foreman and the guys were spiritually vague on Nothing Is Sound. “We’ve always been very open and honest about where the songs are coming from,” Jon explained. “But calling us ‘Christian rock’ tends to be a box that closes some people out and excludes them.” I understand the net Switchfoot is trying to cast. The band pulls it off better this time around. Lyrics still don’t talk explicitly about the Lord, but Oh! Gravity’s social messages are stronger and a bit easier to decode.
Songs tell us to enjoy simple pleasures (“4:12”) and to avoid addictive, unhealthy relationships (“Amateur Lovers”). A recurrent theme is the emptiness of worldly ambition. Materialistic pressures. Deadlines. You know, being a cog in the modern machine. A great line on “American Dream” says, “I want to live and die for bigger things/I’m tired of fighting just for me.” Knowing what these guys believe, I couldn’t help thinking of Bible verses such as Ephesians 2:10 and Matthew 5:16, which remind us why we’re here. Maybe Oh! Gravity will inspire you the same way. Or better yet, it might help you kick-start a dialogue with unsaved friends. 
