The thoughts and ponderings of my life.
March 16, 2012 Leave a comment
Last fall I wrote a post highlighting some of the reasons I really like team sports. This morning I was watching the mega coverage of the NCAA’s March Madness. It truly is the best sports time of the year. In their coverage CBS (along with TNT, TBS & TruTV) focused in on the Murray State Racers. Read more of this post
March 15, 2012 Leave a comment
I must admit, because I have served in the Young Men’s programs of the Church for almost all of my adult life, I have not attended very many High Priest Group meetings on Sundays. In fact, until now, I don’t think I’ve attended two weeks in a row. High Priest Groups generally have a reputation for either being a time for the “more seasoned” men of the ward to take naps or for less-than-stellar teaching – or both. But this past Sunday I was visiting my parents ward in Coos Bay, Oregon, where I heard a really cool thought (just to debunk the aforementioned reputation.) Read more of this post
February 23, 2012 Leave a comment
Sign on the door of the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem
I have been impressed lately with the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I don’t know that anyone can overstate the impact and significance – both globally and individually – of the literal resurrection of the Lord. In this secular day when “science” is king and the only way to know anything is through the scientific method, belief in the actual resurrection of Jesus is key and needs to be boldly articulated more often. Read more of this post
February 13, 2012 5 Comments
Oregon City Stake Presidency 2006-2012
It’s not that I wasn’t excited to come home. The idea of real pizza, cold milk and long naps made me grin from ear-to-ear. But the idea of leaving was almost too much to bear. I had been on the island for two years, managed to extend my mission from the usual 24 months to twenty-six and had grown to love the Dominican people beyond any love I had ever felt before. And the work, oh I loved the work. It was intense, exhausting, heart-breaking, stretching and beyond stressful. But as hard as it was at times, my mission was also fulfilling, satisfying, surprising, exciting, exhilarating and filled with spiritual experience after spiritual experience. Though Alma was speaking of a different kind of experience, his description also fits here: Read more of this post
February 6, 2012 4 Comments
Stake Leaders plus One
It’s that week again. It has come and gone so many times before that unfortunately, we don’t give it a second thought. Some of us even consider it a “church bye week-end” – a free Sunday when we don’t have to attend regular meetings and can simply take a break from church. This sentiment, so wrong for so many reasons, is really an indicator of one’s faith, devotion and commitment. Read more of this post
December 26, 2011 1 Comment
In Numbers 11, Israel is being prepared for its final journey into the Promised Land. As was often the case, the majority of the Israelites were murmuring and complaining to Moses. In these particular verses they were reminiscing about the good-ol’ days in Egypt.
4 ¶ And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a alusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: Read more of this post
November 24, 2011 4 Comments
In the second book of Nephi we get a wonderful glimpse into the humanity of Nephi. His father Lehi had just died and the murmurings of his older brothers had reached an all-time high. One can imagine Nephi heading to his favorite spot of refuge – a mountain top, a forest – a place where he could ponder and pray. There, “in the space of not so many verses”, we witness Nephi taking a profoundly common, mortal journey – a series of phases similar to the stages of grief. Read more of this post
"The Things of My Soul" 