Steps Of Faith

Steps Of Faith is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The uniqueness of the Steps Of Faith music, is the wide range of musical styles they are able to create and perform, i.e. rock, pop, folk, country, jazz, contemporary & traditional Christian music. Their music touches a wide audience.
"The Mission of Steps Of Faith is to write, produce, and perform music that touches, challenges, heals, and inspires everyone who experiences the message."
In Loving Memory, for our Patriarch, Grandpa Edgar Hanson…Rest In Peace
We appreciate all of you who came to celebrate Edgar's life at the memorial service on 8/16/08. You all said such nice things about the impact that Grandpa Edgar had on your life. An overriding theme in e-mail tributes and at the memorial, was the spiritual and musical legacy that Edgar left his family, and that he was a gentle, peaceful, spiritual man. We will see Edgar again in Heaven!
A special thanks to Pastor Dean Sanner & Discovery Church in North Las Vegas for allowing us to use their facility to have the event. We couldn't have had a better venue for the celebration.
Memorial can be directed to the following:
Hanson Harmonies, Inc. Musical Ministries P.O. Box 34615 Las Vegas, NV 89129
God Bless,
The Hanson Family
No more suffering…
At 7:45PM, Friday 8/1/08, Edgar Hanson drew his last breath. He was 89, soon to be 90. Dad was tired and ready to go. He felt that he had “fought the fight” and run the race, and was anxious to see God. Psalm 116:15 in the King James Bible says, Precious in the site of the Lord is the death of his saints. We understand what that means. Here is a little story surrounding the events of the last few hours of Edgar’s life:
The legacy that Grandpa Edgar left us, is to serve the Lord and man with love, compassion, and gentleness. Because of his love for music, Edgar’s descendants have been blessed with the gift of music, and he has loved being involved with it and us for many years. Edgar was the Chairman of the Board of Hanson Harmonies, our musical ministries non-profit corporation, which is committed to ministering the gospel through music.
In light of this, there was much music happening as the family visited Grandpa Edgar for the last week of his life. He loved it so much, and even sang several times, though very weak. On his last afternoon and into evening, we made the decision to bring Chris’s keyboard into the room to send him out with the angelic music that he loves. Dirk, our main lyricist, was inspired with a new song about his Grandpa, and as we do when we team write, contacted Wally and Chris to get the initial ideas down. Chris then picked up the flow from Dirk, and took off on the keyboard, with Wally and Bryan jumping on board with guitar, and Mark contributing ideas on the lyrics. The words were inspired by Grandpa Edgar’s thoughts and blessing, which he gave to the family as he was weakening in the middle of the week.
We, like most families, are not professionals with the dying process, so we relied on guidance from the wonderful staff of Life Care of Las Vegas and Nathan Adelson Hospice to help us through the process. We were guided by God and His Life Care and Nathan Adelson Angels all week. It was so special to see so many of Grandpa Edgar’s caregivers coming in to check on him at the beginning and end of their shifts. Though reluctant at first, we decided to try to finish Dad’s song entitled, "I Want to Be With You", at his bedside, so he could continue his role in the collaboration during the final important session of the song. We saw the pain on his face that last day as he fought to exist, but noticed that he seemed more peaceful during the songwriting session. Edgar, Mark, Wally, Dirk, Chris, and Bryan Hanson were all present in the room for the final collaboration session, as well as one of the Life Care Activities angels. God’s presence was strong in the room, especially during the Hallelujah section of the song.
"I Want to Be With You", was about 90 per cent completed that evening, and then we continued with other music, trying to quietly sing and play many of Edgar’s favorites. We had been guided by some of the Nurse Angels to watch for signs when it would be getting toward the end, and we saw some them appearing. This, and some other encouragement from some very special Nurse Angels, set the stage for the final part of the story.
Of course, no one can predict the exact time of someone’s passing, and it could have been several hours or another two days, so we felt led to give Edgar a final family blessing and stay by his side. At about 7:20PM, we started gathering the family around the bed. We had been playing our family CD off and on all week. Grandpa Edgar had a major financial role in the Hanson Harmonies first commercial production, “Steps of Faith”, and of course also gave us much prayer support and encouragement during the production. When we moved to the private room that Life Care so lovingly arranged for us, the 1st thing we did was set up the CD player right by his bed and turned our CD on, which was his favorite…imagine that. 20 seconds into the first song, Blessed Are the Believers, Grandpa Edgar said, "Oh, I think I’m in Heaven already."
Most of the week, rather than shut the CD off when we needed silence, we just turned the volume up and down, and let the songs come up where they were in the 10 song rotation. On Friday evening, when the family was gathering around, we turned the volume up on the CD for some quiet reflection, and amazingly the song, “Open Letter” was on, the heart of the CD, and Dirk’s testimony. The first line of the chorus came up, which says, "I’m writing for my life". This was not planned. It took a few minutes to gather the family, so we just continued the CD, with "Back In My Life", Jim’s testimony…interesting, because some of the staff had told us that through Dad’s influence, they had invited God back in their life. We let the next song play also, which was one of Dad’s favorites, entitled, "Broken Branches". This one is a beautifully accompanied keyboard song, and inspired some of the artwork and deep symbolism on the CD cover. It was also the first commercial collaboration of the family songwriting team of Dirk, Chris, and Wally Hanson. Dad’s favorite line in the song was, “Lord help me find the smoothest stones, and the power to bring my own Goliath down.” (We feel that he was slaying his giant this week). One by one, the family members joined in singing along with the CD, and all broke out quietly into the chorus which says, "Lord, help me find myself in Your Spirit…won’t you take this man of clay, make him Your way…the vine grows and Love flows heals broken branches…I was driven to the end…forgiven by a friend." As Grandpa Edgar said all week, Wow!!!
When the song finished, we gathered in, and said a short prayer. We then explained to Grandpa Edgar that the music he heard earlier was the song that he helped write this week. We believe he knew it at the time, but it had been a couple of hours earlier. We laid the typed lyrics on his chest and read them to him. After each paragraph, we explained to him what each section meant to us. The chorus says,
"Jesus I am thru…I want to be with You…I’m down on bended knee…It’s time to set me free…I want to be with You…Jesus I am thru…my time on earth is done…I want to see the Son…I want to be with You."
After reading through the entire song, we thanked Edgar for the Spiritual and Musical legacy he has given to our family, and for living a Godly life before us. We told him that we loved him, and that none of us were trying to hold him here. We were ready for him to make his journey to Heaven. We ended with a short prayer. Right after that, we watched our Patriarch’s breathing gradually slow down, not fighting or labored at all, but peacefully slowing down. The last movement we saw was in his Adam’s apple, and then he breathed his last breath of life. Remember Psalm 115:15. We all waited quietly in silence for a couple of minutes, and then we called for the nurse. Edgar was pronounced dead at sundown, 7:45PM, with the nurse angel’s words of, "no more suffering."
We love you Grandpa Edgar…Rest in Peace…….Hallelujah!
Here's the Completed Song!!!
"I Want To Be With You" -By The Hanson’s
I’ve walked thru my life and I’ve tried… To let the spirit be my guide… As I look back on it, the joy is in the journey!
I’ve got pockets full of family… And I’ve got pages full of memories But my crowning achievement is yet to be done.
(I sing) Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah... Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Jesus I am thru... I want to be with You... I’m Down on bended knee... It’s time to set me free... I want to be with You...
Jesus I am thru... My time on Earth is done... I want to see the Son... I want to be with You...
I am Done... You’ve got to carry on... My lessons have all been learned... I’m passing it all to You...
I’ve wrote my lifesong... Now you write your song... And give your life to God... And share him with the world...
(Singing) Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah... Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Jesus I am thru... I want to be with You... I’m Down on bended knee... It’s time to set me free... I want to be with You...
Jesus I am thru... My time on Earth is done... I want to see the Son... I want to be with You...
In the hours before… You were praising the Lord… You BLESSED each one of us, and released your breath to Heaven
Don’t be Afraid... Cause I am not Frightened.. I won’t be alone. I am going Home…
(We sing) Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah... Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Jesus I am thru... I want to be with You... I’m Down on bended knee... It’s time to set me free... I want to be with You...
Jesus I am thru... My time on Earth is done... I want to see the Son... I want to be with You...
Steps of Faith Live at Cox Pavilion With the Heritage Singers
See us on YouTube at StepsOfFaith7
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