Hi, I'm Ed

I grew up in Wisconsin and lived all over the world playing music. I'm a Mormon.

About Me

I'm a former professional classical musician. I lived and performed in Hong Kong and Germany for nearly two decades before returning home to work in the US. I now work in computer software support tech support, documentation, training, implementation, etc.. I went to Northwestern University in the Chicago area -- Go 'Cats!
I'm an avid reader and a pretty accomplished cook. I like going to movies. I also like river kayaking and taking beach vacations on the ocean. Music is still a big part of my life, even though I don't earn my living at it anymore.
I started a new community band with some friends, which included setting up a not-for-profit corporation and getting tax exempt status, so I learned how to jump through those hoops.

Why I am a Mormon

I had a pretty hard time converting to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints it took about 10 months altogether. There were some lifestyle issues that I thought would be hard to overcome, but when I really came to understand what God wanted of me and believe it was true, it wasn't that big of a deal. I also really wanted to feel that I had my own testimony of what the church teaches. I guess that comes from being a suspicious, cynical adult without much interest in formalized religions.
The important thing is to take your time to really find out that what you're being told is true. The church is different from a lot of others because, even though there is a body of people telling you what God has revealed to us, it's still up to you to find out for yourself whether it's the right thing to do.
For me, it came down to living a life surrounded by decent, intelligent people who care about family, honesty and faith.

How I live my faith

I've had a lot of callings in my congregations. I'm now the choir director, which is turning out to be a lot of fun because I don't have to do any music I don't like! lol
One of my favorite parts of this church is that we care for each other by visiting other members in their homes to bring spiritual messages and helping them with chores or other things. We grow together as friends and as a congregation by learning to give and receive help like this.

What is faith?

Zen answered...

Of all the definitions of faith I have read or heard, I add the simplest and most complete to me, which is the Love of Christ. I cannot think of a better way to describe faith. Love of Christ is the substance of hope in something evident we can not see with earthly eyes. It is the faith in Christ or the love of Christ that enabled Able to make a more perfect sacrifice (Hebrews 11:4). That love is why we believe in Christ, it is why we have grace, it is why we have works, it is why we have belief, it is why we have hope, it is why we have charity, it is the very essence of faith, and faith is the very essence of the Love of Christ

Perfect knowledge is worthless without faith. For instance, most of us have perfect knowledge that applying a pointed pencil to paper will cause a mark. That knowledge will not make a mark if we do not exercise the elements of faith called works (picking up the pencil, applying it to the paper, and making a mark), belief (that doing so will make a mark), and hope (that it actually will make a mark). It is my desire that you would exercise works to find out about Christ and study Him, that you would believe on His words and His life and His sacrifice, and that you would hope that He would have an effect in your life. If you exercise this faith, you will truly come unto Him.
Cary answered...

Faith is a huge topic, rarely fully understood even by people who talk about it a lot. In the Mormon conception, it's a step of confidence between mere belief and full knowledge. It's perhaps best described by contrast with these two extremes on the continuum on which they all lie. First, faith is not that passive thing we call belief because it's a principle of action. So for someone to have faith, they have to be motivated to put a belief into practice, not merely be content with keeping it in their mind. For example, we believe that Christ is the Savior, but because we have faith we ACT as if this were true, and follow His example as best we can. In fact, "acting as if..." is a fairly good phrase to define faith. On the other hand, faith is not "perfect knowledge" either. There is enough of an element of uncertainty about the thing we have faith in, that it takes an effort of conscious decision-making to test our faith's hypothesis. If we had a full knowledge of a thing, that whole test, and the faith to find out if it's true, wouldn't be necessary. Atheists will argue that faith is mere belief (and baseless, at that), but what I have described for faith here leads to a more "scientific" approach that Atheists would like to admit is operable in the minds of the faithful. The proper response to a scriptural assertion, then, becomes not blind obedience, but rather careful thought, hypothesis forming, and testing. As tests come back proven or unproven, faith will grow in the right direction until it approaches "perfect knowledge".

What is the Mormon lifestyle like? How do Mormons live?

Serge answered...

Family is everything to us. Our family spends lots of our free time together because we like each other. Life gets crazy with teenagers, dance practice, after school academic decathlon, usually with a toddler in tow, but no matter what, every Monday night is Family Night.

The kids know that every Monday we spend time together and nothing gets in the way of it. It's our commitment to each other. We bake cookies, have lessons about the Savior, work on personal goals, go to the park, go geocaching, play board games or just go out for ice cream.

We do lots of things together. The point is that at least once a week we spend an hour or two together, just for the sake of being together, just because we love being together as a family. It's not as perfect as it may sound, with all the poking and "she's in my spot," and all the other crazy things family members do to each other when scrambling for a spot in the living room, but we try real hard. It takes effort to make sure we don't miss, but it's worth it.

I'm not sure the kids will remember all the games we played, the places we went or what we did, but I hope they always remember that we loved each other enough to dedicate one night a week to be with each other. And that we spent every Monday night together for as many Mondays as they can remember because family is everything to us, and every member of our family is important.