Latest / Takin’ A Walk Nashville / Exploring Love and Faith: Jenn Johnson and her Journey in Nashville’s Music Scene and Songwriting Insights

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Exploring Love and Faith: Jenn Johnson and her Journey in Nashville’s Music Scene and Songwriting Insights · Takin’ A Walk Nashville

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Speaker 1: Taking a Walk Nashville.
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Speaker 2: Hi everyone, it's Sarah Harrelson, your host of Taking a
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Speaker 2: Walk Nashville. Thank you everyone who has been tuning in
0:10
Speaker 2: this year. If you like what you're hearing, please give
0:13
Speaker 2: us a review and rating on Apple, Spotify, wherever you
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Speaker 2: get your podcast. Here with me today is Jen Johnson.
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Speaker 2: Jen Johnson is a Grammy nominated Christian singer, songwriter, and
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Speaker 2: worship pastor. She is the co founder of Bethel Music
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Speaker 2: and a senior worship pastor at Bethel Church in Reading, California.
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Speaker 2: She has co written Grammy nominated hits such as Goodness
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Speaker 2: of God, Holy Forever featuring C. C. Winans, and has
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Speaker 2: contributed as a writer and vocalist to eighteen Bethel Music albums.
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Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
0:58
Speaker 1: Walk Nashville podcast. Welcome to Taking a Walk Nashville with
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Speaker 1: your hosts singer songwriter Sarah Harrelson.
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Speaker 2: Jen, Thank you so much for joining me today on
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Speaker 2: Taking a Walk Nashville.
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Speaker 3: So you have written Christian hits for other artists, but
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Speaker 3: you also perform and write with your husband, Brian Johnson,
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Speaker 3: and you recently released a new single together in February
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Speaker 3: titled Here in your arms.
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Speaker 2: It's a beautiful song. I love the song. And what
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Speaker 2: is it like writing and recording with your husband And
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Speaker 2: where did the inspiration for the song come from?
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Speaker 4: You know, we've been married for twenty five years, together
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Speaker 4: for twenty six and I'm auction working on twenty seven
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Speaker 4: right now in April, and he is my favorite. I
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Speaker 4: love him so much and the heart for this. You know,
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Speaker 4: my project that I'm putting out called Happy Is, it's
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Speaker 4: a mosaic. It's a very unique album. I don't know
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Speaker 4: if I've ever seen one like this before. I didn't
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Speaker 4: try to do it like this. I just, you know,
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Speaker 4: after being an artist for so long and just being
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Speaker 4: married for so long, and we have five kids and
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Speaker 4: a son in law and as soon to be daughter
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Speaker 4: in law, and you know, I just am so in
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Speaker 4: love with my life and my husband and my children,
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Speaker 4: and my daughter's even talking about having a grand baby
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Speaker 4: one day soon. So I just really love love, and
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Speaker 4: I am so thankful for the love of my family
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Speaker 4: and my church and my community. And so I wanted
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Speaker 4: to write a song about love, but I also wanted
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Speaker 4: it to be and honestly, it came from when I
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Speaker 4: was originally writing a song here in your Arms. I
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Speaker 4: sat down at my piano and I was writing it
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Speaker 4: to Jesus. Hearing your momsies, we're avon shelz, I was
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Speaker 4: writing it to Jesus, And so really, in some moments
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Speaker 4: and in some days, it really can be your song
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Speaker 4: to the Lord. You know. There's a lyric in it
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Speaker 4: that a lot of people are like, why are you saying? Oh,
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Speaker 4: you know, and I'm like, because we can be honest
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Speaker 4: with Jesus and sometimes some days feel like a glimpse
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Speaker 4: of hell, you know, emotionally, and so I just think
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Speaker 4: it's an honest love song to the Lord that says,
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Speaker 4: here in your arms. You know, there's so many verses
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Speaker 4: about being held by the Father, and here in your arms,
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Speaker 4: I'm safe and I can talk to you about anything,
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Speaker 4: or we don't need to talk because you know me.
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Speaker 4: So there's an instant intimate. It can be a total
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Speaker 4: worship song because God holds us and loves us. And
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Speaker 4: then in the exact slip side, God gives us husbands
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Speaker 4: and wives, and there's this pure biblical love that I
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Speaker 4: love that God started the whole Bible with a man
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Speaker 4: marrying a woman, and that's how life comes and so
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Speaker 4: just to celebrate love and children. And it was an
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Speaker 4: easy song to write because it's something that I've known,
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Speaker 4: the blessing of my whole life. And so Brian I
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Speaker 4: wrote the song and then Brian came in and sang
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Speaker 4: with me on the second verse and it's super special.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's a beautiful song. And I love the
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Speaker 2: title of your new album, Mosaic that drops on May
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Speaker 2: twenty second. Did you work with Brian on all of
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Speaker 2: the songs on the album.
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Speaker 4: We worked on a couple together, but most of them
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Speaker 4: I wrote with I have one with Abbi Gamboa, one
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Speaker 4: with Brook Legetwood, one with Dable Price, Carrie job Karnes,
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Speaker 4: that's one with me, and so it has a lot
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Speaker 4: of fun features. I have a feature that's on a
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Speaker 4: song that's crazy that's an African choir and also a
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Speaker 4: Portuguese artist and the song is in only. It's like
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Speaker 4: thirty percent of the song is in English, which is
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Speaker 4: just crazy and so fun.
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Speaker 2: So love that. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to hearing
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Speaker 2: that and all the features on it. You know, we
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Speaker 2: talk about you performing with your husband a lot, and
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Speaker 2: you know, time after time in the music industry, it
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Speaker 2: can be very hard for performers to be away from
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Speaker 2: their significant other while on the road, but it's exciting
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Speaker 2: for you because you get to be on the road
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Speaker 2: and perform and do ministry with your husband. Where will
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Speaker 2: you be performing this year?
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Speaker 4: You know, we are church kids, and so we've been
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Speaker 4: attending a local church since we were born, and we
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Speaker 4: just love that. So honestly, our favorite travel ministry is
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Speaker 4: to go to other churches and to just help them
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Speaker 4: with their worship teams and lead with them and strengthen them.
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Speaker 4: So honestly that that's always kind of been fifty percent
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Speaker 4: of what we've done at Athel Music and just what
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Speaker 4: I've given my life to is to strengthen the local church.
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Speaker 4: So probably a fifty percent of where you'll ever see
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Speaker 4: me is going to be in a local church. We're
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Speaker 4: going to Gateway Church this year. We're going to Bethel,
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Speaker 4: New York. This year. I'm doing a Fearless Conference in
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Speaker 4: Georgia coming up here soon. It's a women's conference, all
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Speaker 4: you ladies in Georgia. And then I think he's in Atlanta,
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Speaker 4: and then we're going on vacation, which I'm most excited
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Speaker 4: about with all of our kids. Coming up, since that's
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Speaker 4: gonna be my favorite travel But we've also got our
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Speaker 4: worship school in the summer in July for five days
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Speaker 4: for worship and musicians, and I think it's almost sold out,
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Speaker 4: but there's a few tickets left for our worship school.
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Speaker 4: That's one of the most outstanding things we do every year.
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Speaker 4: So yeah, I'm gonna be all over the place.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I saw the Bethel Music Worship School on the
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Speaker 2: Bethel Music site. It's in California. Correct, It's in California. Yeah.
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Speaker 4: You also can take it online though. We have a
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Speaker 4: it's called Worship University, and so if you just go
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Speaker 4: online and look at worship You, anyone can take the
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Speaker 4: courses from anywhere. And the courses aren't just for if
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Speaker 4: you're a musician. Therefore, if you love Jesus and you're
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Speaker 4: a worshiper, there's a lot of heart classes from people
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Speaker 4: like Christine Kane has a servant called the Dark Room
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Speaker 4: and how God developed us in the dark like a photograph,
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Speaker 4: and so there's something for everybody in Worship University. But
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Speaker 4: you can find that on social media and online at
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Speaker 4: worship you dot com.
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Speaker 2: Very cool and we talk about how you're all over
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Speaker 2: the road this year doing shows and churches and doing
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Speaker 2: worship schools. Do you split your time a lot between
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Speaker 2: Nashville and California.
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Speaker 4: Yeah. Our oldest daughter and her husband live here in Nashville.
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Speaker 4: Where in Nashville right now, they live here, So we're
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Speaker 4: back and forth about once a month, once every six
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Speaker 4: weeks something like that, or they come to us. So
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Speaker 4: it's a really good flow. But we have so many
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Speaker 4: of our friends and family obviously now that live here
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Speaker 4: that it definitely feels like a home away from home.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. And you do a lot of work with other
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Speaker 2: Christian artists here in Nashville. Has writing music about your
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Speaker 2: faith and Christianity? Do you think that has brought you
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Speaker 2: closer to your faith?
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Speaker 4: Absolutely? You know. I think we see that very clearly
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Speaker 4: in the Psalms with you know, just David processing with
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Speaker 4: the Lord of the highs and lows through life. You know,
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Speaker 4: but yet God is victory. But yet you God, But
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Speaker 4: yet you God. And God loves when we're honest, I think,
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Speaker 4: you know. And so songs are a great way to
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Speaker 4: communicate with the Lord. I kind of see songs too differently.
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Speaker 4: I think I think there's some songs that when you're
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Speaker 4: driving in your car. They connect with your heart in
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Speaker 4: a special way that isn't in a place where I
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Speaker 4: would sing it on a stage in worship. But you know,
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Speaker 4: I think the Christian music industry CCM world, if you will,
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Speaker 4: it's really beautiful for that space. Just fun songs or
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Speaker 4: songs about life or love or pain or anything that
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Speaker 4: we go through in this life. But I think worship
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Speaker 4: song and I love to write those songs. By the way,
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Speaker 4: I love to write the CCM Christian music songs, but
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Speaker 4: I also really love the worship songs, and those are
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Speaker 4: the ones we sing corporately because when we're corporate in church,
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Speaker 4: we sing about who God is, what He's done, and
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Speaker 4: what He's doing through us, and we magnify the Lord,
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Speaker 4: you know. And so that's a different, unique place that
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Speaker 4: I think some songs fit there. There's a few crossover songs,
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Speaker 4: and then there's a CCM world, and you know, gospel
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Speaker 4: and all the other genres of music. You know. But
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Speaker 4: it's it's been beautiful and it's been a gift for
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Speaker 4: me to be a songwriter. Since I was a little girl,
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Speaker 4: I've i've I learned to play piano when I was
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Speaker 4: five and started leading worship in kids church at twelve
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Speaker 4: and writing my first song, and it's been a great
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Speaker 4: way not only for me to process with the Lord,
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Speaker 4: but also thankfully now to get other people to be
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Speaker 4: able to process the Lord and most importantly, magnify the Lord.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. I think music is just such a great outlet
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Speaker 2: in general when you have questions about the world, to
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Speaker 2: be able to be open and honest about what you're
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Speaker 2: feeling and your situation. It's really being honest about your
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Speaker 2: faith and connecting with it. That's right.
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Speaker 4: Absolutely.
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Speaker 2: So you're also an author of a book. It was
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Speaker 2: published in twenty twenty one, All Things Lively and Spiral
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Speaker 2: to health and wholeness in your home, heart and community.
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Speaker 2: This book is about leading a life with intention. So
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Speaker 2: what does that mean for you?
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Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I've wanted to I had wanted to
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Speaker 4: write a book for a long time before this and
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Speaker 4: just didn't know how I'm in a zoo of my
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Speaker 4: life that I'd ever have time to do it. And
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Speaker 4: I thought, as the Lord told me to sign a
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Speaker 4: book deal, and so I was like, Okay, how am
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Speaker 4: I going to do this? And then the world shut
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Speaker 4: down with COVID, So I was like oh well great,
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Speaker 4: not great, but opportunity. So I wrote the book during COVID,
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Speaker 4: locked away in my home with my closest friends who's
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Speaker 4: a photographer, and we kind of did the whole book,
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Speaker 4: and at the end of the book, we just felt
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Speaker 4: so happy because we've really lived our lives by best
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Speaker 4: friends and I to emotionally, physically and spiritually be healthy
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Speaker 4: and whole and also even practically in our in our
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Speaker 4: family physically with natural ingredients and products and healthy food
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Speaker 4: and so health is a really important topic and I
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Speaker 4: wanted it to come from an eternal place as a
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Speaker 4: mom that shows family and life and worship and again
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Speaker 4: the mosaic of our lives that is not just one
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Speaker 4: aspect of it, but really truly spirit, soul and body.
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Speaker 4: To really help people with encouraging them to get healthy
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Speaker 4: emotionally but spiritually and physically. Yeah, I love that because
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Speaker 4: I think in order to be able to lift your
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Speaker 4: spirits and have a lot life and faith, you do
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Speaker 4: need to take care of your own mental and physical
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Speaker 4: health absolutely, And that's why this album is called Happy,
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Speaker 4: because it's from that place of true happiness comes from
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Speaker 4: a mosaic of things in life, not just one or two.
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Speaker 4: But true happiness, true joy is not just because you
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Speaker 4: have everything you want in the world or what you
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Speaker 4: know x y Z. True happiness is because you live
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Speaker 4: according to the Bible and you are happy and healthy emotionally,
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Speaker 4: spiritually and physically, and you're in your Word of God,
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Speaker 4: you're reading your Bible, you know your Bible, you're in community,
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Speaker 4: so so many different aspects of being happy that make
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Speaker 4: it that mosaic.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know, with factors going on in the world,
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Speaker 2: with chaos and devastation, it can be hard to find happiness.
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Speaker 2: So when listeners hear your music, do you just hope
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Speaker 2: them hope for them to take faith and ministry from
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Speaker 2: your music or happiness? What do you hope for them
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Speaker 2: to take?
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Speaker 4: Absolutely? You know, I think people are going to get
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Speaker 4: a really unique experience with this album because it is,
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Speaker 4: you know, such a selection of songs. I start the
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Speaker 4: song out with a song that was my favorite him
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Speaker 4: when I was a kid, Great as I Faithfulness singing
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Speaker 4: that as a little girl, that was my anchor in
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Speaker 4: my life. And I have my son who's he was
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Speaker 4: four at the time. He sings a little song that
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Speaker 4: I used to sing when I was little, and one
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Speaker 4: of the tracks is just his cute little voice at
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Speaker 4: four years old, singing I've got the joy, Joy, Joy,
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Speaker 4: Joy down in my heart. So there's pieces of my
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Speaker 4: childhood in there, and I think people are going to
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Speaker 4: connect with pieces of our childhood they're going to There's
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Speaker 4: a song called I've Got to Know You for Myself,
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Speaker 4: just really a cry for every young person out there
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Speaker 4: that believes in God but just really is encounter longing
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Speaker 4: for an encounter with God as we all are, just
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Speaker 4: to know Him for ourselves. That song is called know
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Speaker 4: You for my Self and it's actually a song I
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Speaker 4: wrote for my brother like twenty years ago. But there's
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Speaker 4: obviously the country love song of you know, getting married
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Speaker 4: and following in love on this journey of life like
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Speaker 4: I did. And there's a song called Walk with Me
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Speaker 4: that is just how God walks with us through everything
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Speaker 4: in life, highs and lows. And then there's that fun
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Speaker 4: crazy African choir Portugueze artists and it's called Look what
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Speaker 4: the Lord has done. He's turned my morning to dancing,
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Speaker 4: sorrows to joy. So there's scripture throughout this. There's creative
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Speaker 4: scripture throughout this because my life has been lived in
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Speaker 4: and drenched in the word of God, as I've been
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Speaker 4: faithful to the voice of God, and so you're just
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Speaker 4: gonna take It's gonna be a different ride for everybody.
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Speaker 4: And I think even as people listen to the album
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Speaker 4: multiple times, they're going to take a different point of
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Speaker 4: view or get something different from it as they keep
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Speaker 4: listening to it.
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Speaker 2: I love that, and I love the beautiful messages you
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Speaker 2: are incorporating into everything. And you know, even though it's
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Speaker 2: a Christian album, like you said, there's a little bit
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Speaker 2: of crossover like country, and you have an affter choir
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Speaker 2: in it, a little bit of everything. But I think
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Speaker 2: that's what's great about Christian music. It can be so
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Speaker 2: crossover with other genres of music totally.
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Speaker 4: You know what's funny is I've always been like people
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Speaker 4: are like, oh, that's secular, this is sacred.
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Speaker 1: No way.
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Speaker 4: If it's good, it's good. Whatever, it's good, whatever it's lovely,
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Speaker 4: whatever's pure. That's what the Bible says. So we can't
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Speaker 4: put labels on anything unless we say what it is.
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Speaker 4: And so if it's coming from a kingdom place and
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Speaker 4: it's pure and it's lovely and it matters to God,
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Speaker 4: then it is spiritual.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah. I think people can take what they want,
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Speaker 2: what messages they want from this new album. I hope
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Speaker 2: they will go and stream it check it out. Jen,
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Speaker 2: This is a question I love to ask my guest
14:48
Speaker 2: since we're on Taking a Walk Nashville. Do you have
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Speaker 2: a favorite place you like to take a walk in Nashville.
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Speaker 4: Oh, that is an excellent question and actually exactly what
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Speaker 4: I'm doing when I get off of this call.
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Speaker 2: I love Radner Lake.
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Speaker 4: It's so beautiful there. I actually love to take my
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Speaker 4: kids to the park and just kind of walk around
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Speaker 4: the little area that they're in while they're playing at
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Speaker 4: the park. So I am a big walker. I put
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Speaker 4: in some miles girl. Every day, I try to do
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Speaker 4: like three to six miles. So I'm headed out to
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Speaker 4: do that right after this call with my little boys.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I know they're still doing some clean up
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Speaker 2: over there after the power outage, doing some tree yeah
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Speaker 2: by Radner Lake. But I think walking in general is
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Speaker 2: such a great way to connect with yourself and connect
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Speaker 2: with your faith.
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Speaker 4: Absolutely, walking with me again. I have a song called
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Speaker 4: walk with Me for just that, because we do need
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Speaker 4: to just be alone with the Lord and ask him questions.
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Speaker 4: And ask him to speak to us. We see the
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Speaker 4: Lord speaking to people all through the Bible. He hasn't stopped,
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Speaker 4: so as we just are honest with him with our questions, Lord,
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Speaker 4: speak to me, Here's what I'm going through. The Lord knows,
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Speaker 4: but as we wait on him to answer is a
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Speaker 4: really beautiful moment. And going for a walk is a
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Speaker 4: great way to connect with God. And it's also super
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Speaker 4: important physical activity. Not only eating healthy, but super important
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Speaker 4: is that we stay healthy and stay active physically because
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Speaker 4: even for our door and door friends and our emotions.
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Speaker 4: So get out there, eat healthy, and go for a
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Speaker 4: walk while you listen to my new album.
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Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely take a walk while listening to Jen Johnson's
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Speaker 2: new album. You can purchase her book All Things Lovely
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Speaker 2: and listen to her latest single Here in Your Arms. Jin.
16:33
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for being on Taking a Walk
16:35
Speaker 2: Nashville today.
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Speaker 4: You're so welcome. I hope you have an amazing day
16:38
Speaker 4: and that you go for a walk.
16:40
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Taking a Walk Nashville with Sarah Harrelson.
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