A little of Adele’s perspective…..

OK - enough of the hard timing about “Pastor doing the blogging.”  Remember?  We’re the weird couple with some role reversal issues?  REMEMBER?  HE was the one crying when we dropped our kids off for their first day of Kindergarten and I was the one patting him telling him they’ll be fine?  I drive, he rides.  I like action adventure movies, he likes romance comedies.  He cooks, I clean up after him.  It appears some of you have forgotten these things so quickly……

I would say that most of the stuff my honey has blogged has been pretty acurate except that they sound a little….”pastorly”.  I, however, am not as determined to stay in that mold, so although I agree with the basic facts of the situation, and I wholeheartedly agree that God is in full control, I’ll have to also say that transition can really, well……..duck.  With an “s”.  Especially if you let yourself launch into some bouts of worrying.  It has been an absolute battle for me to DAILY give my thoughts to the Lord and discipline myself NOT to worry!  I know it doesn’t help anything or anyone.  It makes my bloodpressure go up, it makes me eat lots of chocolate, snap at my family and not take care of the house like I should.  It takes away my ability to see that others are hurting and need help.  It robs my sense of right and wrong.  It steals my dreams for the future.  It makes God seem small.  It makes the very Word of God seem like just a book.  These are all incredible reasons why worry is so damaging to the person doing it, and to everyone around them.  I can’t help my family be the best they can be and impact the Kingdom if I’m depressed because of worry.  Now, granted - I have truly been born into a family that has a long generational line of worriers.  So - I guess the buck stops here.  I either truly believe God is in control, or I don’t. 

I think I’ll stick with………drumroll……………….I DO!!!  That feels so much better than me running the universe.  And to think there were days I really thought it was me doing it!    :-)     I think one of the things I was personally created to do was to make God have a good laugh here and there.  And maybe a couple of you out there as well.  

Have a great, worry-free day. 

Letting Jesus drive,          Adele

Waiting for Direction

As most of our friends know, the Aguilars have been out of the “full-time” ministry for over two years now.  It’s hard to believe that so much time has gone by so quickly, but it has.

 When we resigned our pastorate in Orting (spring ‘05 I think), we had no idea what would take place or how God would meet us like He has.  We left Orting and returned to the place where we started in marriage and ministry back in 1985.  We even attended the church where we were youth pastors off and on.  While I worked in construction, Adele got a job at Viewcrest School as the administrative assisstant and we got a chance to see what it was like to just be real people (not pastors) for a change.  The life lesson for me was that it doesn’t matter what I do for a living, I don’t need a title to be a pastor.  The job was alright, and God was good to us, but it didn’t take long for the whole family to realize that we are called to the ministry.  I seemed to lack motivation and drive and confidence to explore opportunities, so creating a resume was a slow process.  By December ‘06 I was asked to fill in as the Interim Pastor at Viewcreat Assembly of God, so I left my short career as a laborer and joined the staff during  it’s transition.  It felt good to lead and preach and invest in people again.  It came to me pretty naturally.  We asked God to help us to grow and flourish during this time of transition, and He certainly did teach us about how to trust Him and rely fully on Him.  He also taught us how to lean on each other as a family.  I will always be greatful for being blessed with such an incredible wife and children.  He also amazed us with the spiritual, social, and personal growth of our kids.  It was hard for them to move from the only place they had ever known, but they did it while exelling in their different areas of gifting.  Adele and I are so proud of them.

 Well, our time of interim ministry has now come to an end as of August 5.  We had a tearful end to a great seven months of ministry and now we find ourselves looking forward to what the next chapter of our lives is going to look like.  We have had resumes out since early spring and honestly, have seen little results.  One of the challenges is finding a place that can support our family financially.  I never wanted ministry to be about money and I’m not looking to get rich, but I do feel a very strong responsibility to care for our basic family needs.  Even so, I believe that My Heavenly Father is also my provider so I will trust Him and praise Him wheather I have plenty or barely enough.  We do have an interview this weekend (Aug. 6), and possibly one on the following weekend (Aug. 19), so we are asking our friends to pray with us for God’s perfect will.  I don’t want to just take what I can live with, I want to wait for the place that I can’t live without.  I believe it’s there somewhere.

Lauren’s story

Well folks, one week and two days ago we brought Lauren home from Children’s Hospital in Seattle.  When we left, we were feeling pretty overwhelmed and unprepaired for insulin shots, taking blood sugar counts, and counting carbs, but God is faithful. 

I feel like I should back up a little and tell her story both for the sake of our friends that haven’t heard it as well as for our own record.  I never want to forget to tell others how God met us and carried us during this trying time.

On July 6, Lauren was celebrating her 11th birthday with friends at home.  It was a happy day.  Her friend from Orting, Baylie Powers stayed with us for a few days and everything seemed great.  On Monday July 9, we took Baylie home and continued on our way to Lincoln City OR, for an interview.  It was that day that Lauren started complaining about having some pain in her lower back. This pain was off and on until our return on Wednesday.  The next day, she said that the pain had moved to her lower stomach area.  By Friday, she was having symptoms of nausea and vomiting. (By this time you are asking yourself the question, “Why didn’t they take her to the Dr.?”  The answer is summed up in two words, No insurance, or Cheap Skate.)  Anyway, Friday night Lauren found herself having difficulty catching her breath and had a very rough night.  Since there was no improvement in sight,  we finally decided to take her to the clinic Saturday morning.  We were the first ones to arrive, so they were able to get her right in.  When they weighed her, we noticed that she had lost about 20 lbs.  The Doc took a blood sample right away and said that her blood sugar count was in the mid 500s.  He told us that she had diabetes and said that we needed to get to emergency right away.  He wanted to call for an ambulance, but I (John) told him that because we didn’t have ins. that I could drive her.  When we got to the hospital, the Doc had called ahead so they were ready for us and immediately put Lauren on insulin through an I.V., and oxygen.  When the Skagit Hospital Dr. came in to see her, she told us within seconds that Lauren needed to go to Children’s Hospital where she could have constant attention.  Since it was difficult to find an ambulance driver who was familiar with the insulin drip, they offered to air lift her.  I (John again) told them to look harder to find a driver.  They did find one, but by the time Children’s received Lauren’s chart via fax, they insisted that she be flown as quickly as possible.  We couldn’t go with her, so by the time we got there she was already being cared for.  They told us that she was very sick and that there had been some swelling in her brain so they would have to keep a close eye on her because the next 24 hours would tell them a lot about how she would come out of this.  She spent the rest of the day Saturday and all of Sunday in intensive care, and by late Sunday night was moved out of ICU.  I know that this has been a long entry, but it was like our lives were moving in slow motion.  Our little girl was straining to breathe, she was cold, and her eyes were rolling around in her head.  It was probably the scariest thing we’ve ever experiended.

The next few days were filled with being educated about diebetes and how to treat it.  Lauren has type 1 which means that her body just doesn’t produce insulin anymore.

 I can say without question that God has shown Himself faithful.  He always does.  He has given us strength to walk this road.  He has blessed us with a tough little girl who has become our hero and role model for courage.  Three days after coming home she started doing her own insulin shots and finger pokes to test her blood sugar.  Phil. 4:13 says, I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.  We are praying that Lauren will be a testimony and encouragement to others like her, and that this speed bump will actually be a platform for her to share her faith in Jesus.   

We have been blessed with so many wonderful family members and friends.  Many have visited and/or sent  cards or called or emailed…thanks.

the road to recovery

Hello friends

We are attempting to join the modern world in order to communicate current happenings with our family.  The most recent has been the discovery that our youngest daughter Lauren was just diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.  More later.   We are just getting set up now.