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Daily Life

Serve, Act, Lead, Love

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This year I started a Drama and Serve Team within our church’s AWANA program. I had been wanting to find a way to transition kids from T&T (3rd – 5th grades) to becoming useful members of the church body. So often it seems that we expect very little from our children in Junior High and High School — I wanted to encourage the kids to be leaders, rather than spectators.

Each week, I taught the kids about servant leadership and encouraged them to actively encourage others in the church through acts of service and thankfulness. One night we simply wrote thank-you notes to people in the church who had served us. Another evening we made box lunches for all those who work in the AWANA program (about 36). We detailed people’s cars, made treats for the choir, created gift baskets for the pastors, and even cleaned and organized the church resource room.

When we weren’t working on service projects, we practiced and performed skits for the Sparks and T&T Council Time programs. I taught the kids about props, stage directions, acting, lighting and sound, and even script writing.

We had a great year. I really came to love my dozen Champions — I am excited to see how God will continue to use and grow them as they serve and love Him more and more.

Blend Commandos at work.

Blend Commandos at work.

As our finale, we served smoothies to all the kids (and their families) who came to the AWANA Award Ceremony. It was truly inspiring to see the kids working as a team — some measuring out the ingredients for the blends, others dispensing the smoothies, still others adding whipped cream and straws. We made a mess, had a lot of fun, and satisfied the whole crowd.

I can hardly wait until next year!

Project 365, Day 140
Tim

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I’m Home by Rachel

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Thank you for writing today’s blog, Rachel!!

Hello. I haven’t been a guest blogger since I was 11, so please don’t expect greatness. (I think my last blog was about cats, so it was probably better than this will be.)

Last August I traveled to the rarely spoken of, far off land in the south called Tennessee. What an adventure it was. Since I had ventured overseas more than once, I did not expect large differences in culture. I was quite unprepared for the south, with its sweet tea, hot temperatures, flat terrain, and popular Christian influence. Not to mention all of its environmental differences.

In the first few weeks of my college journey, I was so desperate to see water that I often found myself drawn to the fountain in the middle of campus. I would perch on the side, close my eyes, and pretend to hear the waves crashing against the gravely shores of Washington. I was also inconveniently battered by the wind and often thought: where are the mountains to protect me from these gusts?

Horror of all horrors, because of the intense rains of the Tennessean summer, I had to beg the use of an umbrella. I know, I know, it was mortifying. I lived in fear that someone from Seattle would see me with this forbidden contraption. Although I soon realized that it was socially acceptable to use an umbrella, how convenient!

Socially, my manners were also somehow off. My friends giggled at my “strange” behavior (straws in my drinks, eagerness to discuss feelings, coffee anytime all the time, loudness, blunt honesty, etc,) and patted my shoulder sweetly as they explained to others, “She’s a northerner.” I laughed with them, but I must admit I stubbornly refused to change.

Love this view!

Love this view!

Flying home this past weekend, (first class, I’m not kidding, – thanks dad) the plane dipped beneath the clouds, and suddenly I was confronted with water. Wonderfully, beautifully clear, blue water. Next my eyes rested on the deep green of the tall trees and the snow dusted mountains. I nearly cried with the beauty of it. (I also may or may not have been running on a semester of very little sleep, but no matter.)

Today is my fourth day back. This evening, driving past Sunnyside park, I was struck breathless by the beauty of the ocean. As the car journeyed along the quiet road, the pinks of the sky danced with the silhouetted evergreen trees on the hills, and I truly felt home. The hills rolled like the waves of my beloved ocean as the sun set in brilliant colors. Although I will miss Tennessee, (well mostly Union and my friends, sorry south) I am beyond thrilled to be back in my darling Washington.

Glad to be home in Washington!

Glad to be home in Washington!

P.S. I don’t think I can ever live in a place where I cannot see the ocean.

Project 365 – Day 139
Rachel

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Memorial Reflections

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Funerals and memorial services always make me thoughtful and introspective.

Today I attended a service honoring a good and godly man who died about a week ago. I didn’t know him very well, but we went to the memorial service to honor his family and to give God glory for his life. It was very inspiring to hear and see how many lives he touched, and what God had done through him.

A pastor I know often says: “I hate performing weddings. Nobody listens to your homily, and it doesn’t seem to make any difference. Funerals, now, there’s where you have a chance to get people’s attention.”

I was very reflective on the drive home. The man who died was about 12 years older than me, and I thought about how easily it could have been me, especially considering my bout with kidney cancer about 18 months ago. I think it is very good for a man to be reminded of his mortality.

Our church was founded in the early 1920s, but one portion of it was added-on in 1965. Apparently someone thought that was worth remembering, because they stamped the date in concrete. You can find it at the foot of the stairs, at one of the corners of the building. Since then, thousands of souls have worshiped in that building and have benefited from the use of it, in body, heart, mind and soul.

A good year

A good year for a church building.

Coincidentally, I was born in 1965, and I wonder what difference I have made to the world or to God’s kingdom in those years? Have I been a useful building in the Church, or am I more like a shed that stores obsolete lawn equipment and forgotten tools? There are a handful of souls that I helped to cross from death into life, but I admit I am greedy for more. How can I be more faithful to God? How can I get out of the way for His faithfulness to shine through my life?

One theme that I noticed in the memorial service is that the man who died was one who deeply sought to know God. Interestingly enough, that was a major part of our discussion in Sunday School today — do I seek God for His blessings, or do I seek a deeper knowledge of Him, and how to please Him? It can get tangled, because as we seek God and know more of Him, we start to act in ways that are more pleasing to Him, and then He blesses us (since many of His blessings are conditional). But which is first in my heart, the love for God’s blessings, or my love for Him?

Being reminded of death makes me thoughtful, but not necessarily any wiser.

Project 365, Day 137
Tim

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A New Generation

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Two summers ago, we had the opportunity to attend my nephew Timothy’s wedding in Siloam Springs, AR. At that time we had the chance to meet his lovely bride, Sunny, and to wish them both well as they embarked on the journey of becoming one in marriage.

My newphew, the OTHER Timothy Edgren. Probably the New and Improved Version.

My newphew, the OTHER Timothy Edgren. Probably the New and Improved Version.

Now they have moved to Washington, and we get the chance to see them in action, growing in grace and becoming more like Christ as they encourage each other. Not only that, but now they have little John with them. It was so delightful to have them here for dinner, and to see them launch a new generation of our family in the person of little John Mark.

Sunny is a great Mom -- so glad to have her in the family! And John Mark entertained us all with his chortling and falsetto singing.

Sunny is a great Mom — so glad to have her in the family! And John Mark entertained us all with his chortling and falsetto singing.

Tonight is also Rachel’s homecoming — but I’ll leave those pictures for Kathy, tomorrow. I’m not sure Rachel will want to be photographed after a long day of airline lines and travel.

Project 365, Day 135
Tim

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A Few of My Favorite People

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I was chatting through instant messenger with my oldest son, today. He provided me an update on his exam and project schedule, and we bantered as is our wont, vying for the most obscure movie quote or cleverest non-sequitur. Along the way, he mentioned that he would be seeing my brother later today.

“Shall I say anything in particular to your brother, when I see him,” Joshua asked casually?

“What? My brother is coming to Jackson?” Immediately, I felt a sharp pang of jealousy.

“Yes, you see, he loves his children, so he visits them.” My oldest boy doesn’t pull any punches, when he lays on the guilt.

A gathering of Edgrens and a Leaf.

A smattering of Edgrens and a Leaf.

And so, I wasn’t there for this photo. Glad as I am to have been born a citizen of this country, I am sometimes irritated by the sheer size of the United States. My brother lives in Williamsburg, VA, while I live in Western Washington. It’s just not right, how far apart you can be and still live in the same country.

Time for a road trip?

Project 365, Day 133
Tim

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