About Us

What brings an Alaskan guy and a Midwest girl together?  A nerd club.  A mutual friend.  Music.  Christ (even though we didn't recognize Him in it at first).  We know we are better and closer together when we serve together.  

Certainly, we are two very imperfect people who desire to serve as we have been served, to live in and through God's grace, and to become who He has called us to be.  We have been married almost 25 years and have the most wonderful children and grandchildren - each is a unique and tremendous gift.  

Just in case you're wondering, the picture above was taken on the highway just south of Denali (Mt. McKinley) in Alaska.  The flowers in the foreground are fireweed, one of our favorite flowers, and the mountains are part of the (creatively named) Alaska Range.  (In our dating years, Justin wrote me a song about how I was more beautiful than all this....quite the romantic.  To behold this created beauty was quite humbling.)  

Why "Be Thy Name"?

As a little girl, I would hear the Lord's prayer flowing from my dad at Mass.  He had learned the prayer in an era where the word "hallowed" was not pronounced like today.  In our time we hear more often /ˈhalōd/ but he spoke the word with a more "old timey" ˈha-lə-wəd.  Being small and learning a language, I wasn't familiar with it, so like most little kids, I ignorantly assumed it was words I did know.  So, for me the part of the prayer was not "Hallowed be Thy Name" but instead "How will it be Thy Name?"  

It is laughable at some level, like other words or phrases I misunderstood.  But, on some deeper level, this question persisted long after my understanding and correction of the proper words of the prayer.  

How will it be Thy Name?  It was not a statement about the glory of God's name, but a question from a child of God.  My persistent question.  

How will it be Thy Name?  It's as if a little one is asking God to retell salvation history.  Tell me again about the victory of Your Son.  

How will it be Thy Name?  It is also a personal question. How can everything I do and say have Your Name on it?  How can I live so as to glorify Your Most Holy Name? 

As a sinner, I fail at this every day.  I have fallen and continue to fall and those falls had my name on them until Jesus, in His Love, took them upon Himself and put His name over them.  He picks me up... He picks ALL of us up and gives us the grace to love Him and His people better and more perfectly each day. He gives us the grace to live out the gifts and the call He has put on our hearts, and to allow everything we are and do all to be for His Hallowed Name for the Glory of God. 

This is the purpose and intent of Be Thy Name Studios... That, by His Grace, our lives might be an answer to the question and declare Hallowed Be Thy Name.