Seeking True Messengers
Well, it was another one of those late night - early morning meeting type of days. I guess it was not super early, but I was lazy enough to tell my body and mind that it was. I did not get up and do like I should have done this morning, so here I am sending this out in the afternoon.
I hope you have all had a productive week. Life here has been busy.
On top of my normal study and pondering, we, the Queen and I, were asked to speak in sacrament meeting this week. My mind has been full of many thoughts, questions, inspiration, more questions, repentance, more repentance, and then even as I stood up to share my thoughts in sacrament meeting this morning, it turned out nothing like I had kind of formulated in my head. I don't like writing it all down. I never know how much time I am going to have. So when you do write it down, you start scrambling at the last minute about what to cut and keep to make what you had written down all make sense. In the end, it all ends up being like this posting, a bunch of ranting and rambling. Some people liked it so, I guess that is what matters regardless of what I thought.
Alma 32:4
"Now, as Alma was teaching and speaking unto the people upon the hill Onidah, there came a great multitude unto him, who were those of whom we have been speaking, of whom were poor in heart, because of their poverty as to the things of the world."
I chose to do just one verse this week. I have loved how it all came together for me in my personal study, our family study, Come Follow Me study, and preparation for our speaking assignment. So give a little back ground, our topic was "How to develop a storm proof testimony of the Savior and the prophets."
What stood out to me in this verse is that the people sought out Alma. They came looking for spiritual guidance. At first they were looking for something more, but what they received was the spiritual guidance to find peace and happiness.
How many of us are seeking the same thing in the troubled world around us?
This week, we studied the message from Christ to his Apostles in the final hours of his life. He basically told them how to carry on and have true happiness. Serve others, keep the commandments, and seek to be one/unified with the Father as He was with the Father.
That was our message in Sacrament meeting. Both the Queen and I talked about the repeated counsel throughout the Book of Mormon. We have heard it over and over again from the present day leaders. Now it is up to us to follow or not to follow. What are we doing?
I related a story from my youth. It was the summer of 1974. I was 8. At that time, I was riding on the protection and guidance of my parents. We were moving from Independence, KS to Grand Terrace, CA. The day we left Independence, a storm rolled in. I remember one thing. We hung out in a city jail along the way. I thought it was pretty cool. I was experiencing life.
However, I opened my Mother's journal entry from the experience. She was terrified. All of our worldly possession were in a U-Haul. Dad was driving it with the family station wagon in tow. Mom was driving the family motor home filled with her eternal possessions and a family friend. The winds were crazy and it was raining hard. The radio waves were filled with warning about funnel clouds and caution about being out and about.
Mom and Dad had a plan. If there was a problem, Mom just had to flash her headlights and Dad would pull over. After driving for a few hours through the rain, Mom was nervous and flashed her lights in a small town just outside of Tulsa. Dad pulled over and calmed her nerves. He assured her that it would be fine and that they needed to keep going forward.
When they got to the next town, Mom flashed her lights again. Dad pulled over and assured her that they were making good progress even in the storm and that they needed to keep going. After passing through the next town, they came upon a bottle neck in the traffic where the local police were guiding traffic through a flooded section of the road. Yep, they were not driving in the interstate, they were driving on the local roads because they wanted to be able to stay close to each other.
After passing through the flooded road, Mom flashed her lights all through the next town. Dad didn't stop. She was a little frustrated. As they drove through the next town, she hit the lights again and Dad kept on driving. When they came to the next town, Mom didn't even flash her lights, she just pulled over and waited for Dad to realize she was not following him. Eventually he did and turned round. She told him she could not do it any more, the rain and wind were too much. As they were discussing the situation, a police officer pulled up behind them and told them they needed to get to the nearest shelter. He emphasized the urgency by pointing to the funnel cloud that was come from behind them.
We all drove to the jail house and huddled into the shelter. We spent most of the night in the jail house and then in the motor home once the storm settled down. At the end of the journal entry, she talks about getting up the next morning and driving through the storm destroyed towns. It was horrible. There were 6 funnel clouds that touched down in the surrounding area that night. She commented that later they learned that the two towns we had passed through where she flashed her lights and Dad kept on driving were completely destroyed. She was grateful that he was listening to the spirit better than she was.
Storms are all round us. They are not always and evident as the storm we drove through. It is important that we work on our testimonies daily so we are not deceived by the influences of the world around us.
I talked about a 30 day workout plan I came across this week in the basement. There were several levels of the plan. So in reality, it was more than a 30 day plan. Once one felt comfortable with level one, you move to level two and so on. Our testimonies are the same way. We have to work on them every day. We don't take vacations from them.
After my talk, a brother commented that when you take a week off from any workout plan it take three weeks to get back where you were before you stopped. He like the analogy about taking spiritual breaks. We have to keep working on it every day.
I encourage you to do the same. I ended with Alma 46:12 We need to remember this title of liberty and make it a priority every day ... God, Religion, Freedom, Peace, Wives, Children. God is like the cardio. He gets and keeps our hearts pumping. He needs to be mixed into our daily spiritual work out every day through the True, Pure, and Simple things...you know what they are.
Ok our week.
Lady Hawkins woke up very early Sunday and headed East. It took her most of the day, but she finally arrived on the sandy coast. It sounds like she had a great time. She returned on Thursday.
The Queen and I worked and did the normal thing.
The Professor geared up and tracked back on at the end of this week.
Tall Man started training for a new job.
Puddin made the transfer and commuted here instead of north while Lady Hawkins was out of town.
SnackPack received his first pay check and looked for new opportunities within his current employer.
It has been a busy week. We have all had wedding receptions to attend and meetings of some sort or another. We are glad for the opportunities.
We look forward to the adventures of the week to come.
I hope you have all had a productive week. Life here has been busy.
On top of my normal study and pondering, we, the Queen and I, were asked to speak in sacrament meeting this week. My mind has been full of many thoughts, questions, inspiration, more questions, repentance, more repentance, and then even as I stood up to share my thoughts in sacrament meeting this morning, it turned out nothing like I had kind of formulated in my head. I don't like writing it all down. I never know how much time I am going to have. So when you do write it down, you start scrambling at the last minute about what to cut and keep to make what you had written down all make sense. In the end, it all ends up being like this posting, a bunch of ranting and rambling. Some people liked it so, I guess that is what matters regardless of what I thought.
Alma 32:4
"Now, as Alma was teaching and speaking unto the people upon the hill Onidah, there came a great multitude unto him, who were those of whom we have been speaking, of whom were poor in heart, because of their poverty as to the things of the world."
I chose to do just one verse this week. I have loved how it all came together for me in my personal study, our family study, Come Follow Me study, and preparation for our speaking assignment. So give a little back ground, our topic was "How to develop a storm proof testimony of the Savior and the prophets."
What stood out to me in this verse is that the people sought out Alma. They came looking for spiritual guidance. At first they were looking for something more, but what they received was the spiritual guidance to find peace and happiness.
How many of us are seeking the same thing in the troubled world around us?
This week, we studied the message from Christ to his Apostles in the final hours of his life. He basically told them how to carry on and have true happiness. Serve others, keep the commandments, and seek to be one/unified with the Father as He was with the Father.
That was our message in Sacrament meeting. Both the Queen and I talked about the repeated counsel throughout the Book of Mormon. We have heard it over and over again from the present day leaders. Now it is up to us to follow or not to follow. What are we doing?
I related a story from my youth. It was the summer of 1974. I was 8. At that time, I was riding on the protection and guidance of my parents. We were moving from Independence, KS to Grand Terrace, CA. The day we left Independence, a storm rolled in. I remember one thing. We hung out in a city jail along the way. I thought it was pretty cool. I was experiencing life.
However, I opened my Mother's journal entry from the experience. She was terrified. All of our worldly possession were in a U-Haul. Dad was driving it with the family station wagon in tow. Mom was driving the family motor home filled with her eternal possessions and a family friend. The winds were crazy and it was raining hard. The radio waves were filled with warning about funnel clouds and caution about being out and about.
Mom and Dad had a plan. If there was a problem, Mom just had to flash her headlights and Dad would pull over. After driving for a few hours through the rain, Mom was nervous and flashed her lights in a small town just outside of Tulsa. Dad pulled over and calmed her nerves. He assured her that it would be fine and that they needed to keep going forward.
When they got to the next town, Mom flashed her lights again. Dad pulled over and assured her that they were making good progress even in the storm and that they needed to keep going. After passing through the next town, they came upon a bottle neck in the traffic where the local police were guiding traffic through a flooded section of the road. Yep, they were not driving in the interstate, they were driving on the local roads because they wanted to be able to stay close to each other.
After passing through the flooded road, Mom flashed her lights all through the next town. Dad didn't stop. She was a little frustrated. As they drove through the next town, she hit the lights again and Dad kept on driving. When they came to the next town, Mom didn't even flash her lights, she just pulled over and waited for Dad to realize she was not following him. Eventually he did and turned round. She told him she could not do it any more, the rain and wind were too much. As they were discussing the situation, a police officer pulled up behind them and told them they needed to get to the nearest shelter. He emphasized the urgency by pointing to the funnel cloud that was come from behind them.
We all drove to the jail house and huddled into the shelter. We spent most of the night in the jail house and then in the motor home once the storm settled down. At the end of the journal entry, she talks about getting up the next morning and driving through the storm destroyed towns. It was horrible. There were 6 funnel clouds that touched down in the surrounding area that night. She commented that later they learned that the two towns we had passed through where she flashed her lights and Dad kept on driving were completely destroyed. She was grateful that he was listening to the spirit better than she was.
Storms are all round us. They are not always and evident as the storm we drove through. It is important that we work on our testimonies daily so we are not deceived by the influences of the world around us.
I talked about a 30 day workout plan I came across this week in the basement. There were several levels of the plan. So in reality, it was more than a 30 day plan. Once one felt comfortable with level one, you move to level two and so on. Our testimonies are the same way. We have to work on them every day. We don't take vacations from them.
After my talk, a brother commented that when you take a week off from any workout plan it take three weeks to get back where you were before you stopped. He like the analogy about taking spiritual breaks. We have to keep working on it every day.
I encourage you to do the same. I ended with Alma 46:12 We need to remember this title of liberty and make it a priority every day ... God, Religion, Freedom, Peace, Wives, Children. God is like the cardio. He gets and keeps our hearts pumping. He needs to be mixed into our daily spiritual work out every day through the True, Pure, and Simple things...you know what they are.
Ok our week.
Lady Hawkins woke up very early Sunday and headed East. It took her most of the day, but she finally arrived on the sandy coast. It sounds like she had a great time. She returned on Thursday.
The Queen and I worked and did the normal thing.
The Professor geared up and tracked back on at the end of this week.
Tall Man started training for a new job.
Puddin made the transfer and commuted here instead of north while Lady Hawkins was out of town.
SnackPack received his first pay check and looked for new opportunities within his current employer.
It has been a busy week. We have all had wedding receptions to attend and meetings of some sort or another. We are glad for the opportunities.
We look forward to the adventures of the week to come.
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