christian
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Suggestions for All Saints

A couple of years ago, my husband and I were watching The Chosen. We were tentatively optimistic to see so many people enjoying the story of Jesus in place of other entertainment options. But then we watched our final episode: Season 2, Episode 6: “Unlawful.” In this episode, Mary Magdalene succumbs to temptation and returns Continue reading
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Marvelous (A Song Based on Psalm 139)

On Saturday, I helped a friend lead musical worship for a women’s event. The morning was centered around testimonies, with at least one woman quoting Psalm 139. As I picked out the songs for the morning, I remembered that somewhere in the depths of my old laptop was a song I wrote based on this Continue reading
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A Few Lessons from Pruning My Grape Vines

When we first moved to Iowa, we were met with tremendous fruitfulness—and not just spiritually! Upon moving into our home, we found a young apple tree, a mature cherry tree, and two lush grapevines. I was enchanted. Having grown up in Phoenix, I was used to planting ill-fated gardens each year only to watch my Continue reading
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Social Media and Sabbaths

It’s Saturday evening, and I am filled with relief. Tomorrow, at last, is a Sabbath. Sundays are not restful for me. I rise earlier than other mornings and practice for an hour or so before my first church service, where I play the organ and direct the choir. After this, I snatch a few donut Continue reading
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Should we be Concerned that Using Music by Bethel and Hillsong is Contributing to our Culture of Immediate Gratification? On Patience and Using CCM Music in Worship

One of my favorite hobbies is discovering lesser-known Christian artists and listening to their entire output on repeat. I’ve come across some wonderful artists who have established careers and impressive catalogs of songs…so why aren’t we using their work in worship? Aside from overt issues of heresy and immorality, perhaps my biggest concern when it Continue reading
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Doing Death Together

Maybe it’s because it’s Lent or maybe because I played for a funeral on Saturday, but I’ve been thinking a lot about death. Okay, actually, I think that’s just my personality. I’m a joyfully melancholic person with a bent toward the Medieval. Memento mori (“remember that you must die”) has always been more appealing to Continue reading
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Why I Moved to Iowa

I was asked today how I knew moving to Iowa was the right choice. This picture is the closest I can come to an answer. In June 2021, two weeks before our wedding, Billy and I visited Iowa for him to interview at Prairie Bible Church and it was one of the worst weekends of Continue reading
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Love

Foremost and fertile, it images the TrueVine in Whom all things are made and made anew.It is at once the soil and root:Love, agapé, the Spirit’s firstborn fruit. I’ll likely add more to this poem in the future, but it seemed thematic for Valentine’s Day. Did you know that love isn’t merely the first fruit Continue reading
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