top of page
Jan Shrader
Writer
More actions
Oct 2, 2025
About
Jan Shrader is a preacher’s kid who attended six schools in six years because, as she jokingly points out, her father believed in the myth of greener pastures. Her senior year of college she met the love of her life, Gary Shrader. They married and together they served at Casas Church in Tucson, AZ where Gary pastored for forty years. Jan has an undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona and a graduate degree from Gateway Baptist Theological Seminary. She is a sought-after Bible teacher and author. As a native of Southern Arizona Jan’s roots run deep in the desert southwest. She loves hiking and camping in the mountains of Arizona and finds the challenges of gardening with little water and cactus exciting.
Posts (88)
Jan 27, 2026 ∙ 6 min
Chasing Glimpses of His Glory
Chasing glimpses of his glory – Matthew 17:1-13 I love that Matthew and the other gospel writers include the Apostle Peter’s imperfections in their writings. Peter’s life, and the scriptural references to his spiritual growth, personality and character give us great hope that God can use us because we find Peter is far from perfect. In the two consecutive passages before today’s verses we read conflicting stories about Peter. In the first one he is praised because he received a divine...
32
0
1
Dec 8, 2025 ∙ 6 min
Jesus' Favorite Name
When my children were growing up one of their favorite meals was steak. I would buy steaks when they went on sale and then freeze them until we needed them for a special occasion. When they were real small I had to cut up their steaks for them to eat, but as they aged I learned I could trust them with a steak knife to cut their own steak without hurting themselves, or their neighbor. Finally, after they were much older they wanted me to teach them what was in my overnight marinade and how to...
11
0
1
Nov 20, 2025 ∙ 6 min
A Desperate Mom, Some Puppies and Crumbs
Refusing to be offended – Matthew 15:21-28 Once I went on a mission trip to Pakistan, and when we arrived our missionary host sat us down for a quick cultural orientation. Ironically, most of his instructions were aimed at me, the woman in the group. I was asked to dress in the traditional Pakistani clothes which was fine with me. The kameez is a long tunic top and the shalwar is the draw-string baggy trousers worn underneath the kameez. At least I didn’t have to wear a burka. The next...
4
0
1
Aug 18, 2025 ∙ 9 min
The Angels and the Weeds
Matthew 13:24-30 , 36-43 . Once I was driving children home after church and as I was asking them about their morning, they volunteered this insightful information. “Did you know that not every kid at church knows how to worship?” That day my car full of little kids couldn’t wait to tattle on the children that don’t stand for worship or even try to sing the songs in Sunday School. They thought their revelation would shock me, but their words actually made me very sad. Listening to them, made...
8
0
1
Jul 13, 2025 ∙ 7 min
Find Your Backstory
Matthew 13:1-17 Finding our backstory Have you ever heard the term “backstory” in a writing class or in literature? Do you know what it means? A backstory answers the question, what is a character taking from their past into their present or even future lives? Backstories are an important literary tool used in storytelling to explain and give insight to the current behavior of the protagonist in a story, woven through the present day is a past event that is influencing the ongoing story. One...
4
0
May 29, 2025 ∙ 5 min
Avoiding the Bait of Offense
Matthew 11:26 Have you ever known anyone who was offended by God? Many people carry an offense toward God because God doesn’t always behave the way we think he should. How dangerous is it to resent a Holy God? I think it is very dangerous not because God wants to zap us, but because anger toward God will blind us to all the good he is doing. Is it possible he is seeing things we miss or has a greater plan we can’t imagine? Recently, I was praying for what I thought was a simple yes or no...
5
0
Feb 17, 2025 ∙ 7 min
When Faith Becomes Dangerous
Matthew 10:16-31 Why Does God Allow Persecution? New and obscure ideas started spreading more quickly in the world when the printing press was created in 1439. Before this invention books were hand copied, usually by monks in a monastery, which meant a church was fortunate if they had one copy of the Bible per congregation and it was chained to the altar so no one would steal it. At this time, the majority of Europe was considered illiterate. The Bible was first printed in 1455 and the...
3
0
Dec 12, 2024 ∙ 11 min
Naming the Christ Child
Isaiah 9:6-7 Have you ever had a song get stuck in your head like an ear worm? A song you can’t stop singing or hearing even if no sound is being made. When I was praying and asking God what Christmas passage he would like me to teach on. I started hearing a song in my head from Handel’s Messiah. This was kind of weird because I don’t usually listen to classical music, but there is one song from Handel’s Messiah that I love. I started hearing this song the first thing in the morning and the...
0
0
1
Sep 17, 2024 ∙ 10 min
Surviving the Waiting Room of Life
Surviving the Waiting Room of Life– part 1- Jeremiah 29:4-14 Nine months before Covid hit our big world, my husband Gary was diagnosed with a brain tumor. While he never got Covid, the protocols that were put in place made it especially difficult for us to navigate his diagnoses. Let me give you one example: After Covid started spreading, we arrived at the oncology center for his regular cancer treatment, and they would not let me go in with Gary because of Covid fears. I said to them, “You...
1
0
bottom of page