We've all heard the phrase, "Time flies." And if you've ever raised children, those two words never become more relevant as you literally watch the years zoom by while your little ones grow and change at an alarming, time-sucking rate, year over year.

So in an effort to make us all feel old on some level, we took a moment to examine ten albums that released in 2004--a decade ago! Life gets pretty real as soon as we begin measuring our music in decades. Let me know what else from 2004 you are still listening to today!

Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown
Arguably one of the best Christian albums ever released turned the big "one-zero" this year. The album was the first under a new label partnership with Columbia Records and took their low-fi rock sound of their earlier albums towards a much more rock-infused, layered and artistic sound that has propelled them to one of the top-acts in Christian music today. The album was the first to feature keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas. From consistent touring and huge mainstream radio hits "Meant to Live," "Dave Your to Move" and "This Is Your Life," all of which remain massive anthems even today, the album has gone on to sell more than 2.6 million copies to date. The guys celebrated five Dove Award nominations the following year and won four, including Artist of the Year.

Steven Curtis Chapman - All Things New
Up to this point in time, Steven had sold over 9 million records and racked up 41 career #1s at radio. The thirteenth studio album from Steven Curtis Chapman would add three more #1s to his name ("All Things New," "Much Of You" and "Believe Me Now") and would peek at #22 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. "Much Of You" remains one of my all-time favorite songs from Steven. Many of the songs of the album would later serve as reflection to the artist and he and his family would face with the tragic loss of his daughter just four years later. Steven took home the Grammy Award for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album. He's since won a GRAMMY four more times alongside 58 GMA Dove Awards, the most of any recording artist to date. 

Michael W. Smith - Healing Rain
Following up two massive praise worship albums (Worship and Worship Again) that found the artist's career resurged and repurposed, Michael W. Smith released his nineteenth studio album, Healing Rain. The album debuted at #11 on the Billboard Hot 200 Chart and the title track rose to No. 1 on radio. The album was nominated for a Dove Award for Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year as well as a GRAMMY Award for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album. The title song also received three nominations for Song of the Year, Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year, and Worship Song of the Year. Michael had a rare year with no award wins coming from this release 

Kutless - Sea Of Faces
This Portland, Oregon band is still going strong today, continuing to forge their own, unique sound that blurs worship and rock together. Sea Of Faces, the band's sophomore release, is arguably their most popular rock album to date. "Treason" became a #1 hit at Christian rock radio and the album would mark the first appearance for the band on the Billboard 200 chart landing at #97. It also debuted at #3 on the Billboard Top Christian Albums chart, another first top ten appearance for the band. Critical acclaim wouldn't come for the band for another two years with the release of worship infused, Strong Tower. 
 
Jeremy Camp - Carried Me: The Worship Project
Jeremy Camp's debut came out in 2002 and was a massive success, spawning two #1 singles and securing a Dove Award for New Artist of the Year. So it was a surprise to many when Jeremy decided to follow that up with an album full of worship covers. Of Jeremy's eight studio releases, four have gone gold (selling more than 500,000 copies), and this is one of them. It was the first full length worship project from the artist that also debuted a duet with wife, Adrienne Liesching, former frontwoman of The Benjamin Gate ("Wonderful Maker"). Jeremy's vocals just soar and fit the worship genre so well. I still return to his renditions of "Empty Me," "Enough" and "Beautiful One." The worship songs may be a bit dated now, but the passion remains. 

P.O.D. - Payable On Death
The band took more than two years to release the follow-up to their multi-platnium smash hit 2001 release, Satallite, that dominated MTV and mainstream airwaves with hits like "Alive," "Youth of the Nation" and the title track. Payable On Death, P.O.D.'s fifth studio album, found the band moving away from their rapcore sound to a darker, more melodic metal sound. It also followed the controversial departure of Marcos Curiel and was their first album to feature guitarist Jason Truby. Sales fell way short of expectations, not helped by an instant controversy over the album's "occult" cover that ultimately led to a ban in 85% of Christian retail stores. The album would go on to sell 520,000 copies however, certifying the album gold, but falling way short from Sattellite's triple-platnium sales. "Will You" and "Change the World" were the two major hits from the release. It is credited as the last commercially successful album released by P.O.D. and while the group continues to make music, they had a massive run around this time.

Newsboys - Devotion
Before Michael Tait took the reigns and returned Newsboys to their pop roots, lead singer Peter Furler was leading the band through a worship renaissance. Devotion, the band's eleventh studio album, followed the band's fastest selling album to date at that point, Adoration: The Worship Album. The album debuted at #5 on the Top Christian Albums chart and #56 on the Billboard 200 charts. Four radio singles were released from the album including "Presence (My Heart's Desire)," "Devotion," "Blessed Be Your Name" and "Strong Tower." While Newsboys continued to include worship songs on their releases, this would be their final full-length worship themed album.

Starfield - Starfield 
This is one of my all-time favorite major-label debuts. Sparrow Records introduced this Canadian trio helmed by brothers Jon and Tim Neufeld. The group's debut single, "Filled with Your Glory" is just as worshipful as it was a decade ago and remains one of the group's best songs. Other standouts include "Love Break Me," the rocking "One Man Revolution" and the beautiful ballad, "Alive In This Moment."
 
TobyMac - Welcome to Diverse City
Three years after his solo debut, Momentum, TobyMac released an album bursting with musical flavors and nuances. Selling 21,000 copies in its debut week, the album landed at number 54 on the Billboard 200, a chart that he would dominate 9 years later at #1 with his album Eye On It. Welcome to Diverse City's first single, "Gone," was one of the first to showcase the artist's rap/song style that would influence the majority of his later recordings. "The Slam" received a lot of media attention being featured in films, advertisments and multiple sporting broadcasts. The album also featured a remix of "Atmosphere" featuring former dc Talk mates, Kevin Max and Michael Tait. The album gave TobyMac won a Dove Award for Rap/Hip-Hop Album of the Year.

Chris Tomlin - Arriving
Tomlin's third studio record is his best-selling album to date and featured guitar-driven pop music that tipped the scale towards corporate worship songs for the artist. The album landed him his first #1 song at radio ("How Great Is Our God") and remains his only Platinum selling release to date. The first single from the album, "Indescribable" went to #2, as did the second single, "Holy Is the Lord." The album gave Tomlin his very first Dove Award for Praise & Worship Album of the Year. Tomlin has since racked up 20 other Dove Award wins since. What a decade it's been for this worship artist that has remained humble throughout while striving to stay out of the spotlight.