Music Friday: Cut Like Precious Diamonds, TobyMac Reflects the Sun in 'Lights Shine Bright'

Welcome to Music Friday when we often bring you inspirational songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, Christian hip-hop recording artist TobyMac collaborates with American Idol contestant Hollyn on "Lights Shine Bright," an uplifting tune about making the world a better place.

In "Lights Shine Bright," TobyMac wants to "make this third rock glow" by magnifying God's light with the brilliance and intensity that only a perfectly cut diamond could achieve.

He sings, "I wanna magnify Your light / I wanna reflect the sun / Cut like precious diamonds / With the colors by the millions."

Written by David Garcia, Truett McKeehan and Solomon Olds, "Lights Shine Bright" was the fourth track from TobyMac's 2015 release, ***THIS IS NOT A TEST***. The album zoomed to #4 on the Billboard 200 and scored a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album in 2016.

TobyMac's official website explains that the songs on the album provide an essential reminder that "we only have one shot at life."

“What hits me now more than ever is that you really don’t get a practice run at life,” he explained. “This is it. In my friendships, raising my children, loving my wife, loving people, performing with my band and stepping on stage at arenas, I want to make every moment count.”

"Lights Shine Bright" features the vocal stylings of music-industry newcomer Hollyn, who is best known for her successful run on American Idol during Season 12. A native of Waverly, Ohio, the 20-year-old, whose birth name is Holly Marie Miller, released an album this year called One-Way Conversations.

Born Kevin Michael McKeehan in Fairfax, Va., in 1964, TobyMac has sold more than 11 million records and has earned seven Grammy Awards. He first came on the Christian music scene in 1987 as a member of the vocal trio DC Talk. In 2000, the group announced a hiatus and TobyMac embarked on what has been a successful solo career.

Please check out the official video of "Lights Shine Bright." The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along...

"Lights Shine Bright"
Written by David Garcia, McKeehan, Truett McKeehan and Solomon Olds. Performed by TobyMac, featuring Hollyn.

Lights shine bright everywhere we go
Music for the people to illuminate the soul
Lights shine bright everywhere we go
Music for the people, makin’ music for the people

I wanna magnify Your light
I wanna reflect the sun
Cut like precious diamonds
With the colors by the millions
This is the only world we know
And for now this rental’s our home
If we gonna be a reflection
Gotta make this third rock glow
(Just so you know…)

Lights shine bright everywhere we go
Music for the people to illuminate the soul
Lights shine bright everywhere we go
Music for the people, makin’ music for the people

Lights shine bright everywhere we go
Music for the people to illuminate the soul
Lights shine bright everywhere we go
Music for the people
Jesus music for the people

Everywhere we go
Lights shine bright, lights shine bright
Everywhere we go
Lights shine bright, lights shine bright

Lights in the city might be more than pretty, pretty
That freaky shine might be more than meets the eye
Anytime you see that sparkle in the dark you might look deeper, deeper
It might be more than simply theatre

Yo, that smile might be joy that’s connected to the spirit
The spirit might be contagious if you dare, you dare come near it
I remember, can’t forget, peace that you can’t second guess
Sparkle as the light reflects we writin’ pay it forward checks

Lights shine bright everywhere we go
Music for the people to illuminate the soul
Lights shine bright everywhere we go
Music for the people, makin’ music for the people

Lights shine bright everywhere we go
Music for the people to illuminate the soul
Lights shine bright everywhere we go
Music for the people
Jesus music for the people

Everywhere we go
Lights shine bright, lights shine bright
Everywhere we go
Lights shine bright, lights shine bright

The lights in the city shine bright
The lights in the city shine bright
So let your heart light shine tonight

Lights shine bright everywhere we go
Music for the people to illuminate the soul
Lights shine bright everywhere we go
Music for the people, makin’ music for the people

Lights shine bright everywhere we go
Music for the people to illuminate the soul
Lights shine bright everywhere we go
Music for the people
Jesus music for the people

Everywhere we go
Lights shine bright, lights shine bright
Everywhere we go
Lights shine bright, lights shine bright...

Credit: Screen capture via YouTube.com.

Bounce, Bounce, Plop: Anxious Suitor Fumbles Engagement Ring on Picturesque Footbridge in KC

With his hands sweating and his heart thumping, Seth Dixon became an accidental media star early this week when he fumbled a diamond engagement ring through the planks of a wooden footbridge in Kansas City. The 26-second video of a marriage proposal gone horribly wrong has caught the attention of major media outlets from coast to coast and around the globe.

The Kansas City resident had planned to surprise his girlfriend, Ruth Marie Salas, by popping the question on Saturday at picturesque Loose Park.

"I knew I wanted to propose [at Loose Park] just because it's kind of our spot," Dixon told local television station KSHB. "We just kind of fell in love with the park and the beauty of it."

With a friend documenting the momentous event on her cell phone, Dixon went down on one knee at the crest of the bridge. The anxious suitor popped open the black ring box, but couldn't keep a grip on the engagement ring. Dixon and Salas looked on in disbelief as the $4,000 diamond ring bounced twice on the bridge, disappeared through a gap between the boards and splashed into the pond below. Circled in the photo, above, is the ring just before it falls through the bridge.

"It ping-ponged through the crack and I hear it plop in the water," Salas told KSHB. "I didn't know what else to think but, 'Oh my goodness.'"

Dixon, Salas and the friend made an attempt to rescue the ring, but the poor visibility and deep silt made the search very difficult.

They returned Sunday morning with a metal detector enthusiast, who came up empty because the water was too deep.

At 11 a.m. the couple attended a church service and told the congregants from Lifegate Church in Independence about their plight. By 3 p.m., more than 25 friends from the church had donned goggles and swimming gear to join in the search. Fellow parishioner and professional wedding photographer Staci Dabney captured the water-bound excitement on Sunday.

Despite the outpouring of love and support from the community, the ring could not be found.

On Monday, a GoFundMe page was established on behalf of the couple. The funds were earmarked for a replacement ring, but by Tuesday afternoon, the campaign was marked completed after only $261 had been raised. It looks as if the viral video will be generating enough cash for the couple to purchase a new ring. Major media outlets will be paying a fee to use the video. As of today, the video was still available to view on the Facebook page of Staci Dabney's Photography. Click this link.

The internet stars, who had been dating for four years, plan to wed October 21.

Credits: Screen captures via Facebook.com/Staci Dabney's Photography. Photos courtesy of Staci Dabney Photography.

Category 4 Hurricane Irma Fails to Thwart Tulsa Man's Key West Surprise Marriage Proposal

Months ago, Tulsa native Russ Dugger scheduled a romantic vacation to scenic Key West, Fla., where he planned to surprise his girlfriend, Nadia Kyrylova, with a marriage proposal on the world famous beach. Little did he know that they'd be crossing paths with a Category 4 hurricane.

The couple checked into their Key West hotel last Sunday, and Dugger was all set to pop the question on Wednesday with the assistance of the hotel staff.

But, with Hurricane Irma predicted to make a hard, northward turn from Cuba toward the Florida Keys, hotel officials instructed the couple on Tuesday morning that they had to evacuate before Wednesday at noon.

By Tuesday afternoon, Key West looked like a boarded-up ghost town, but Dugger wasn't going to let a hurricane stand in the way of his proposal. The couple had already survived a tornado together in Tulsa.

Most of the hotel staff had already evacuated, so he would have to go it alone.

In a scene that could only be described as surreal, Dugger proposed to Kyrylova Tuesday afternoon on an impossibly deserted Key West beach.

"Everybody was gone," Dugger told Tulsa's Fox affiliate Fox23.

Kyrylova accepted Dugger's marriage proposal and a diamond engagement ring with a resounding "Yes." But, now the couple had to outrun one of the biggest and most powerful hurricanes to ever make landfall in the U.S.

On Wednesday, they hopped into their rented car and made the four-hour journey to Ft. Lauderdale airport. There, they waited for hours, hoping that their Fort Lauderdale-to-Dallas-to-Tulsa flight would be allowed to take off. By Thursday, they had finally arrived in Dallas, where they spent the night. On early Friday morning, the exhausted, but relieved, couple was greeted by a Fox news crew at the baggage carousel at Tulsa International Airport.

Dugger and Kyrylova will be able to tell future generations that their love was able to overcome two natural disasters — an Oklahoma tornado and a Florida hurricane.

The couple plans to marry in Colorado in 2018.

Credits: Beach photo via Facebook.com/russ.dugger.16; map via NASA/NOAA/UWM-CIMSS, William Straka; Airport screen capture via FOX23.com.