We're Alive!

Yes, we're alive and we're well! Only our blog is not! :) In these past few months, the Lord has taught us much, and drawn us closer to Himself. He does all things well. We pray that He has been real to each of you, and that you have known His goodness in your life.

One of the highlights of these past few months has been taking my (Kate's) piano students to play for residents of a nursing home. Music is a gift, and what better place to share it than with the lonely and often forgotten? It brought joy to my heart to see the paradox of nervous thrill in each of my students, as they discovered the joy of doing a difficult yet worthwhile thing. From the six-year-old playing the great all time classic "Old MacDonald," :) to the nineteen-year-old playing "Be Thou My Vision," we all found much joy in sharing our music with the elderly.

The residents were incredibly warm and welcoming! They sang along to the tunes they knew, and clapped their hands or tapped their feet to the ones they didn't. :)

The duets are always a fun part of every recital...

This time, it was so fun to have a couple of the moms play with their children. This is Landrey, whose repertoire included "Oh I Love Snack Time" and "Old MacDonald." Need I say that he was the hit of the program? :)



Most of the piano students - relieved and relaxed at last


Sweet Annabelle

We met this woman after the program, and her sweet spirit shone just through her radiant smile. She loves the Lord and encouraged Christa and me to stay faithful to Him and keep a regular journal of the things He is showing us.

Stay tuned for more updates...
Until then! :)

Fireworks in Heaven :)

We have had many fun 4th of July weekends, but I think this past time will prove to be the most memorable for the Bridges family!

As a tradition, we always go to a certain fireworks display on the 4th of July in Addison TX. People line the street for miles to see the fireworks. But everyone gets there around 5:00 or 6:00, because an an airshow complete with World War II airplanes always happens first.


This year, for the first time, we put 2 and 2 together: lots of people together in one place...sitting around with little else to do for several hours...probably lots of non Christians present...are you catching our drift?? A perfect place to go witnessing!

The idea kept growing bigger. Why not give a class on evangelism one Sunday before the 4th of July, mobilize our whole church to come with us, then have these families join us in this outreach? We would ask the people there at the park to take surveys with us, leading into the Gospel, and then share Christ with the crowds at Addison Park.


We expected a couple families to show up to join us. But when the evening came, there were more than 40 people there! We were thrilled. Witnessing is not an easy thing to do. Were we nervous? Is the pope Catholic?? :) Was it easy? Definitely not! But worth it? Absolutely!



What a joy to see young children and experienced adults alike engaging in conversations to share the Gospel! We were so encouraged by the conversations we were able to have. We know that whether every person we talked to spit in our faces and told us to get lost (thankfully that never happened!! :)) or whether we led 10 people to Christ, we laid up treasure in heaven, planted seeds, and pleased our Lord. All we can do is to be faithful to plant the seed, and leave the results entirely up to Him!

After an hour and a half of witnessing, we joined back together at a designated place and had a time of sharing and praising the Lord together for what He had done that night.


Thankful for friends who encourage us in the Lord!


May this night be the turning point for each of us to develop a lifestyle of sharing Christ with the lost! We are excited to see His work!

First Piano Recital

A time of memories...


A time of laughter...

A time of nervousness :)


And a time of victory!


Several weeks ago, Christa and I had our first piano recital for our students, and ended up making memories that I think will last for years! :) We are so thankful to our Father for bringing these students into our lives and blessing us with the opportunity to make music together that honors Him!

All our students and their families gathered in our living room to hear the songs that the children have been working so hard on. Doubtless, the parents have the songs memorized themselves and could have played them in their sleep, but no matter! :) They were all on the edges of their seats, eyes riveted to the piano bench. :) It was quite a fun evening, informal and laid back, with great presentations by the students, and complete with all the usual "bloopers" that we'll laugh about for a long time afterward! :)

This is the beautiful verse we put on the front of the program for the recital:

“I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will make music.”
~ Psalm 101:1

"Let's get started..."
Welcoming the students and families

Duets were in order...



Solos too...


Lots of beautiful music!

Preview

Preview

Do you see the look of relief on all our faces?? :) These are all our sweet students (minus one.) :)

Great job everybody!! Can't wait till next time! :)

Who Will Call Him King of Kings

Two zealous apostles...


An enraged slave master and an imperious magistrate...


A cynical prisoner...


A hardened jailer...


A broken-hearted slave girl...


And a passionate choir...


All joined together this past Sunday to tell a story and bring a message of God's incredible, never ending love towards a lost and dying world.

Our wonderful little homeschool Baptist church recently undertook the huge endeavor of putting on a musical called "Who Will Call Him King of Kings?" It followed the true Biblical story of Paul and Silas after they cast a demon out of a fortune telling slave girl in Philippi...being tried and thrown in prison, and eventually leading the jailer (along with the slave girl and 3 fellow prisoners) to Christ.

With Christa in the choir, and me participating in the drama, we certainly put in many hours of practicing along with everybody else involved!!

I definitely felt out of my league with all the acting :) and this whole experience certainly stretched me!... :) but Christa and I both were grateful to play a small part in presenting the Gospel so clearly. We were especially thrilled to hear that there were several non-Christians present during the actual presentation!!




Towards the end of the presentation, Marcus, a sarcastic, completely hardened prisoner (who later accepts Christ as his savior) sings a beautiful song called "How Can It Be?" Truly this song echoes the awe in my heart when I think about Christ's sacrifice, and it brought tears to my eyes almost every time I heard it sung! I would like to leave you all with the words to the song below. May we all be reminded of Christ's incredible love, even towards those who rejected and despised Him!

"He might have died for causes, for kingdoms or for thrones
For noble men, and women, or orphans all alone.
He might have died for heroes, who deserved His charity.
But how can I believe it: that Jesus died for me?

How can it be, for love of me, a Man would choose to die?
How can it be, for love of me, a Man was crucified?
How can I understand such love from One I've never seen?
How could I dare to hope one Man would choose to die for me?"

All photos courtesy of Haven Giglotti