Edgewood Music Academy

After several months of preparation, we are ready to launch a brand new ministry...the Edgewood Music Academy.  Megan and I have both taught private music lessons for several years.  We have found this to be a great way to use the gifts God has given us to connect with and encourage others.

To be able to teach lessons through the church is a huge blessing.  Megan and I will teach voice, piano, guitar and drums and we are joining with Cathy who will teach clarinet and Sarah who will teach violin and piano.  We pray that the Academy can serve our church and our community through these lessons.

Over time, I believe this will greatly enhance our worship ministry.  When students of all ages are encouraged to develop their gifts, we hope they will want to use those gifts through the church as well.

We also pray that this will be a great opportunity to connect with people who don't currently attend Edgewood.  Our teachers are committed to offering top-quality teaching regardless of whether the students are from Edgewood or not.  We believe any students could benefit from these lessons and so we hope to meet new people outside the church as well.

Please help us spread the word about the new Academy.  We are hoping to see 30 students for this fall semester.  More information and instructions on how to sign up are all on the Edgewood website...www.ebc-edmonds.org/musicacademy.

Theo's First Emergency Room Visit

This last weekend was quite eventful.  To be honest, it was a little more eventful than we prefer.

Thursday night, we noticed Theo was having a difficult time breathing.  First thing Friday morning, we took him to our doctor's office.  They took an oxygen level test and thought their testing device was messed up because his level was so low.  They tried another device and got the same results.  Very shortly after that, the doctor entered and said, "the ambulance is on the way to take you to Children's Hospital."  A few minutes later, several EMT guys came into our room and got us onto the ambulance.

This was an overwhelming moment when all of a sudden nothing else in the world mattered...nothing except for making sure Theo was okay. 

We got to the Emergency Department at Children's and he had to do two hours of albuteral treatments (the first hour didn't make enough impact, so they did another).  But, easy-going Theo just sat on the bed and watched some movies with daddy.  He even got a little bored of the movies and started practicing his "beatbox."  I have no idea where he could have gotten this from, but he likes to make this little drumbeat with his mouth.  This was a proud daddy moment, so I had to grab the camera =).

The treatment was starting to show positive signs of effectiveness for his breathing, but he still had a long way to go.  So, they admitted him to the hospital for the evening to continue treatment/monitoring. 

Theo started improving while he was awake and that gave us a chance to even talk on facetime with his big sister...he loved that!  However, when he tried to take a nap, his oxygen levels went down again. He had to sleep with oxygen tubes to get through the night.

As we talked more with the nurses and doctors, we came to the realization that Theo has asthma.  Asthma combined with some type of cold virus is what really hit him hard this weekend.  We are grateful to now have a better understanding of this condition so that we can be more equipped to handle it if/when it happens again.

Megan and I discussed how blessed we are (in America, and especially in Seattle) to be this close to great medical care.  Many kids around the world don't have access to any medical care and they suffer with simple to severe issues with no relief. 

We are very blessed.

On Saturday, they kept trying to ween him off the medicines little by little.  By late afternoon, the doctors decided it would be fine for him to head home.  We were excited for his progress and the chance for all of us to get home.  Before we put him down to sleep in his own bed, I just sat there and held him for awhile.  Tears came to my eyes (as they had several times through this experience), but this time they were tears of joy.

I was so blessed to know that he was okay.

On Monday, we had a follow-up appointment to see how he was progressing.  The doctor said Theo looked fantastic!  That was such a relief to hear!  We decided to get some ice cream to celebrate =).

We praise God for His protection of little Theo...I believe God has great things in store for this strong little boy.

Love you Buddy!

Joseph and God's Faithfulness

As we continue through the Old Testament, I'm amazed once again by the story of Joseph.

Here's how we got to Joseph.....
Abraham's son was Isaac
Isaac's son was Jacob
Jacob's son was Joseph

God is already fulfilling His promise to Abraham through his descendants!

Many of you are familiar with the story, but it's quite a different perspective if you picture yourself in Joseph's shoes.

Joseph was one of many brothers and his brothers despised him (Genesis 37:5).  They eventually faked Joseph's death and sold him into slavery.  This makes no sense that Joseph would have to go through this...but...

You never know what God is going to do next.

39:2 shares that "the Lord was with Joseph."  As Joseph served as a slave, he became very successful.  Because the Lord was with him and he worked so hard, he was eventually placed as an overseer of the house. 

Things look great now and now Joseph can really make a difference!

Until...the master's wife lied about Joseph and he was sent to jail (39:20).  Joseph did nothing wrong and again, this makes no sense that Joseph would have to go throug this...but...

You never know what God is going to do next.

Joseph continued to seek God's face even now that he was imprisoned.  As God continued to bless Joseph, about 2 years later his name was mentioned before the Pharoah (41:1).  Imagine waiting in prison for 2 years wondering if God gave up on you!  Joseph never lost his faith.

I believe that sometimes God has to put us through uncomfortable circumstances to get us exactly where He wants us.  That's precisely what happened to Joseph.

Pharoah (the RULER of the land!) called for Joseph (from prison!) to come assist in interpreting his dream.  Joseph did, and Pharaoh then placed him as second in command in Pharaoh's house.  Joseph continues what he has always done, trusting in God and following His plan.  God uses him to bless hundreds and hundreds of people as well as his own family who deserted him years ago.

There were so many opportunities for Joseph to give up in this story and he never did.  He continued to trust in God and God proved faithful!  If you are going through a time that just doesn't make sense, I challenge you to keep your trust in God and don't give up!  Because.....

You never know what God is going to do next.

Abraham and God's Plan

As we read through the Bible this year, I plan to share a few stories that really stand out to me.  The first one is in Genesis and it's the story of Abraham.

In Gen 12:1-3, we see that God has chosen to further His glory around the world through Abraham and his descendants.  God said that Abraham's descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth (13:16) and the stars in the heavens (15:5).

Sounds exciting!  Except for one minor problem...Abraham didn't even have one child...and he was 100 years old (17:17).

But God works His plan regardless of our understanding of it.

Abraham and Sarah had a baby boy and they named him Isaac (21:3).  Now, through this miracle of birth, it seemed like God could fulfill His promise and make Abraham's descendants numerous through Isaac.

Now the plan makes sense!  Until Genesis 22.  Here it says that God tested Abraham and He asked him to offer Issac as a sacrifice to God.  This would make absolutely no sense to Abraham who believed Issac was the plan for the many descendants.

But, Abraham followed God's request and prepared Isaac as a sacrifice.  When God saw that Abraham was going to follow through, God stopped him and said "for now I know that you fear God" (22:12).

God works His plan regardless of our understanding of it.

I love this story.  So many times in life things happen that we just can't explain.  But, we need to continue seeking God's will and God's direction for our lives.  He is working His plan through us whether we fully understand it or not.