I am at home

I am here with my wife and children today enjoying the opportunity of being a husband and father. While I am on the road so long,it becomes nice to get away from work. That's why I am keeping it short and I'm going to say this, I have such a patient children and wife that I can't help but love the whole lot if them.

Basking in the Son.

Today I want to talk about the last son of Krypton. No I am not going to talk about the allegory messiah aspect of him but that there is something that each of us members of the church have and that is the Holy Ghost; ultimate cosmic power, itty bitty living space. I’ll explain.  

While at church I was privilege to hear a lesson in sacrament about the lessons of abiding by the rules of sports. When we engage in a sport we agree to honor the boundaries and rules of that sport. For Olympiads abiding by the rules is strictly important and a tenth of a second could mean winning and losing. What the Lord did for us here on Earth was he gave us a plan and with it came the rules of the game with eternal consequence and reward. Our boundless spirits with boundless understanding and potential would be given boundaries. The game was hide and seek and all we needed to do while here on Earth was find our Father in Heaven. Now with no memory of who he was he would make it fair by giving us the Holy Ghost and for many that companion would be a constant companion; a gift.

In the mean time we would have bodies not unlike our spiritual bodies with arm, legs, eyes and what not but it would have boundaries; limits. Being spirits we knew nothing of boundaries because we had been limitless so this was new but we were up for the challenge. Ok find Father and we will have a partner in the search; great.

Our bodies while here on Earth have been an asset for some of us and a hindrance to others. Without knowledge of the Spirit that can be a real crippling blow but with the spirit you realize how powerful you are both spiritually and physically. I have come to a realization that the give that was given to me as a young eight year old was the best thing I could have had; it like the yellow sun to the son of Krypton.

The power of the Holy Ghost unlocks to your spirit truths that you would have not had if you had not taken the time to learn it though the prism of the Holy Ghost. What I mean is every day that you spend with the Holy Ghost in your life you become more and more enlightened and you begin to see the world differently; you are able to do and say things in such a way that it changes you and those that you intended to change. 

Each day you expose yourself to prayer and the scriptures you gain a new color to your rainbow.Although Satan would have us think that we will be like Icarus and fall because we attempt to gain power from the Son (see what I did there), it is completely different we become more powerful and gain the chance to win the challenge of seeing Father, well, that just comes easier and easier. It just takes time to bask in the power and influence of the Son.

Image found here.

Dont be Seduced by the Coolness

I am so not perfect. I might be creative and spiritual but I am not perfect. I was in the foyer (because I was late to church) and I had forgotten to turn off my phone ringer and the darn thing began chiming telling me that I had a tweet (or something like that) and I realized that this could have been embarrassing if I had been in the chapel. Then it hit me, I was looking at my phone while I was ‘listening’ to people bear their souls in testimony and was not feeling the Spirit! Again… embarrassing… I wanted to justify my behavior initially because I was a visitor but the Spirit came to me and told me that although I was not telling my testimony, I should pay attention; that perhaps for a second I could feel the Spirit and learn something. I had become seduced by the coolness.

I am not sure who has or who has not heard of the phrase. It comes from a television show called Phineas and Ferb. In ‘Put that putter away’ Candace warns her friend Stacy to not be seduced by the coolness. It’s interesting how something in a funny and witty cartoon could stick to me so much that I encouraged my family to make that one of our house rules (rule 6) because it could be applied to so many things and is so simple to remember.

All day I thought about the lesson learned and how I could make it stronger for me. It was during priesthood that I think I heard the answer. In life there is so many distractions and our lesion was on plotting your course in life. It was not enough to avoid sin but to create barriers (emotionally spiritually and physically) to avoid sin and to  keep an eye single to the ‘Glory of God’ as it were and through little goals and coursing your mindset you could avoid the ‘Coolness’. How easy it has been for Satan who is also a goal minded person to pull us under because what we thought, saw, sang, etc was ‘cool’ or ‘harmless’. A navy oriented person would tell you that it only takes one degree to be off course and that could be the case with being seduced. Sailors daily and (perhaps by the minute) not only chart their course (set goals) but monitor their course to insure safety and success.

When things rattle the course they do not give up but assess the situation and reestablish their bearings so that they can get back on course. We must be just as vigilant in our lives to do the same and learn from the sailor. Our lives will have rocky water and sometimes we will need to repent and correct our course but if we are prepared for the road ahead our need for correction is minimal and our course then can stay true. 

Heavenly Father asks us to hold to the Rod of God (the word) and hang on because there will be times when the Coolness will be so enticing that you will be tempted to be near the Rod without holding it tightly. Those are the most dangerous times because when the storm comes you are not prepared and easily swept away by every enticing thing that would keep you from your Father. I would exhort you all to check your course again and check your compass; are you on a Celestial path? If not, ask yourself why and then why not. You have the potential to be on the path and whatever it takes from climbing out of the filth that you have heaped upon yourself or merely dusting yourself off you can be on that path again. God wants you to succeed. Don’t be seduced by the coolness.

Image is found here.