A Curious Instrument

Ben Stiller's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is my favorite movie and reflects people who are trying to cope with less-than-inspiring lives, which is just about everyone.  https://archive.org/details/kohenmonkmormon/Walter+Mitty+is+Broken.ogg

I know everyone says they love Jesus and that Jesus loves them, but are they just demanding favors by doing that?  Do you "love" Jesus because you want stuff you expect for free?  Would you stop "loving" him if you might not get the rewards you feel that you deserve?  Would you still "love" him if you saw others being blessed and rewarded and you didn't get the same?  if things didn't seem fair enough to suit you?  https://archive.org/details/kohenmonkmormon/Leaving+Exaltation+to+Love.ogg

 In the second of two recordings on trust and God, I ruminate on trusting God on a real level.  When God doesn't act the way you expect, do you stay loyal to Him? https://archive.org/details/kohenmonkmormon/In+God+We+Trust.mp3

I broke the RSS feed to my main "on-the-road" podcast (without a backup), so I decided to drop the RSS feed and advertise the recordings (no longer a podcast) on the blog and on Facebook.  It is a bit duplicative, but I want to see which method is more "successful". Anyway, here is the first of two recordings on the importance of trust as far as God seems to be concerned.  This first recording has to be with our earning the trust of God and meriting exaltation at his hand.  https://archive.org/details/kohenmonkmormon/Engendering+Trust.mp3

There is much talk from Lisa and Jason about car problems, buying a property in Fritch Texas, and other things. I'm going to start advertising recordings from the Princess and/or the Priest page on Archive.org here on the blog.  I'll see if it gets some notice from the universe.  Enjoy! https://archive.org/details/princesspriest/Lots+of+Peas+at+Fritch+Flop.mp3

Here is another time when the Lord takes credit for doing something horrible.  I used to think God did nothing nasty, but he does punish those who turn against him. Mormon 8: 7 And behold, the Lamanites have hunted my people, the Nephites, down from city to city and from place to place, even until they are no more; and great has been their fall; yea, great and marvelous is the destruction of my people, the Nephites. 8 And behold, it is the hand of the Lord which hath done it. ... This and so many other posts have been a study of mine toward a more accurate picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. As I have done this, I find that many portrayals of Christ describe a largely extra-scriptural representation of him as extremely non-violent and loving to a fault, strongly aligned with modern attitudes of the superiority of unconditional love and behavioral anti-judgmentalism. That is a flawed vision of the Savior insofar as I have found. Moving slowly through the scriptural recor...

I have discovered that my wife really likes Dog the Bounty Hunter.   Duane Chapman and his family often convince the families of his bounties that they are better off in jail and drug rehabilitation, especially if that person's life is out-of-control.  Dog encourages some of the worst elements to get themselves clean, take responsibility for their actions and make their families a higher priority in their lives.  This is good advice for those who have used their freedom poorly. People usually end up in jail because they cannot control their own behavior. We find that once we put them into a situation where their behavior is under tight external control, it isn't surprising to find that inmates don't develop any more self-control, though they have great incentive to do so. Upon release from custody, they will likely be even less able to control themselves, after a period of not having to control themselves at all while incarcerated, and will quickly find themselves back ...

Far too many people live lives of constant emergency and make conscious choices everyday to live that way. I ran out of gas (lack of presence or planning) I broke down and some angel person rescued me (it happens but how often).  TK rescues Nemrow. Living "paycheck to paycheck" the homeless (the central misnomer) Not living in a house or apartment is rarely the worst of their problems. And getting a place to live often exacerbates their problems with added responsibilities. It's not my fault. That is rarely true. Most people choose their circumstances.  A very small group is truly disabled and most of those can live successfully within extended families.  There cannot be a correlation between "homelessness" and disability, if we say that everyone living in tent cities and sidewalks are incapable of doing more for themselves. Balderdash. Many people DON'T want rigorous lives Everyone is concerned that churches are emptying, but they shouldn't worry about ...

Hanging out to fly home.  First time in NYC  Atlanta to Albuquerque 

Kilkenny castle 

Kiss the stone and listen to the songs of the third generation barkeep.

Killarney town

Beside the holy well of st Brigid  On the ferry 

A new watch, a ring, and sending more Aran wool clothes home. Fine lunch at Sonny Molloy's Bar and Restaurant

Marion is our guide.

on the way to the ferry  Titanic Museum

Not quite Edinburgh but close. Not sheep but rocks 16 Regents road Edinburgh 

Rainy at Atholl Palace and we discover Brenna's next job, Chocolatier!  tay river ship at Dundee The oil industry

Couldn't figure out Robb heritage.  there is not much of a wool market and highland cattle are useless, he keeps one as a pet. shopping in Cairngorm

Harry Potter location Jacobine donan Armadale Isle of Skye

 Rob Roys Cave and the Macfarlands on the shores of Loch Lomond.  Willie serves the hot chocolate on the cruise. Sleeping at Glencoe at Ballachulish Hotel, which has been here a long time and has a creaky yet distinct suspended staircase.

 Very old stuffed animals and paintings from the Glasgow Boys.

The prophet and war captain Mormon of the Nephite nation was the national archivist, divinely-inspired compiler and commentator of what we have now as the Book of Mormon. He specifically saw our day and gave his advice to us through the lens of his people's historic and religious records. It is not just a story of the Nephites and Lamanites, their bitter brethren - it is more a guidebook to our times and how God deals with people and their behaviors. Chapter Seven of his personal record is the "final words" that this historian gives, mostly to his surviving people, but also to we "Gentiles" which will be brought to God's set-aside land of the Americas. Mormon speaks to all the descendants of Lehi, of which he was also one. Everything he promises for his own people is also promised to all of us as we make covenants with the Lord. Mormon 7 :10 And ye will also know that ye are a remnant of the seed of Jacob; therefore ye are numbered among the people of the fi...

"Jesus loves us all unconditionally..." From the way so many people behave (beyond spoken rationalizations), they think that they are doing Jesus some great favor in letting him be around them.  "Can I bring you your slippers?"  "Would you like a softer pillow?"  To these questions from the Christ-ish figure which most people demand, a spitting in the face is what those same people give as a first answer, and then say:  "You are not offering me enough to be acceptable as my Savior.  My Jesus would do everything so I don't have to do, well, anything!" From all the talk, you would think that one of our purposes in life is to judge whether this Jesus character fulfils our grandest desires at zero cost to us. In holy writ, it reads the other way around: The Lord is judging us to see if we are fit to be one of his people - if we offer him our "broken hearts" and our "contrite spirits". Overly-self-compassionate Jesus-demanders ...

In previous posts, I presented my personal thoughts (not official statements of doctrine promulgated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) on the afterlife and its conditions. I had hopefully vivid descriptions of the "spirit world" (squaring up) , judgement (full disclosure), the telestial reward (no consequences) , and the terrestrial reward (no responsibilities) . I feel I did a rather pathetic job on giving some analogy for the celestial reward (no limits) , but after watching episodes of the "Downton Abbey" television series, I feel a bit more prepared to talk about my conception of the highest glory and what it will be like there. There will be three basic divisions of the celestial glory, although only the highest is mentioned much in holy writ. The celestial reward is the state which God and his angels enjoy and the description that we have, of mansions and kingdoms, are a good description of the whole of it. The three divisions have more to...

First Venitia The woman Venitia doesn't enter into the narrative yet, but so much that affects her going forward can be better understood from what's happening here and now. We look upon a farm, a big corporate one. The people living in the ramshackle house on the farm are certainly not the owners, but the use of the house is part of their compensation for farming this land in the way the corporation wants it done. The equipment belongs to the corporation, even so far as the truck the family uses like a personal vehicle is owned by the corporation. In the end, beyond some personal belongings that can be easily moved and their clothes, all this particular “farm family” really  has  is each other and we will see how tenuous that is as well. Acres and acres of green beans, stretching out to the horizon, the sight only broken by a solitary red bug-shaped monster tractor. The father of the farm family is riding in the air-conditioned cab of the tractor, not even paying attention t...

The prophet and warrior Mormon, of Book of Mormon fame, says that Gentiles (non-native Americans in this case) should turn away from their wickedness through repentance or they will face the "bad" sort of God's justice that people want to avoid. Mormon 5: 22 And then, O ye Gentiles, how can ye stand before the power of God, except ye shall repent and turn from your evil ways? 23 Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God? Know ye not that he hath all power, and at his great command the earth shall be rolled together as a scroll? 24 Therefore, repent ye, and humble yourselves before him, lest he shall come out in justice against you—lest a remnant of the seed of Jacob shall go forth among you as a lion, and tear you in pieces, and there is none to deliver. There might be more to say about this, but I will add such things later. 

God promises us blessings for our obedience. Sadly, we often forego our blessings in favor of something else we want. Sometimes, those blessings are of a physical nature - like a house or a piece of land. If we choose to be wicked, such things will be given to others who are more willing to be obedient. In the Book of Mormon, Mormon the prophet witnessed how evil his formerly righteous people had become and shared what could have been done to retain the land of prosperity that they had once enjoyed. Mormon 5: 19 And behold, the Lord hath reserved their blessings, which they might have received in the land, for the Gentiles who shall possess the land.  20 But behold, it shall come to pass that they shall be driven and scattered by the Gentiles; and after they have been driven and scattered by the Gentiles, behold, then will the Lord remember the covenant which he made unto Abraham and unto all the house of Israel.  21 And also the Lord will remember the prayers of the righteou...

Christ loves us enough to make some demands of us leading toward a life like his with the Father. They are not heavy demands, no matter what Laman and Lemuel from the early part of the Book of Mormon say.. 1 Nephi 16: 1 And now it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had made an end of speaking to my brethren, behold they [Laman and Lemuel] said unto me: Thou hast declared unto us hard things, more than we are able to bear. 2 And it came to pass that I said unto them that I knew that I had spoken hard things against the wicked, according to the truth; and the righteous have I justified, and testified that they should be lifted up at the last day; wherefore, the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center. 3 And now my brethren, if ye were righteous and were willing to hearken to the truth, and give heed unto it, that ye might walk uprightly before God, then ye would not murmur because of the truth, and say: Thou speakest hard things against us. God will turn...

In all of her years of work, she had never found herself so flustered. She had used up all the time that could be stolen from her duties in the crew rest compartments. She sighed deeply and slapped another nicotine patch over her collarbone but so much wanted a long drag from a cigarette a few thousand miles away. She heaved herself up and slogged her way back to her assigned station. She hated being called a flight attendant. Once upon a time, she was a stewardess with a miniskirt on smoke-filled planes full of businessmen, choosing her next boytoy from among them, secure in the fact that her looks and charm claimed every eye and opened every wallet. She has seen rooms and laid in beds in every airport hotel on two continents. It went without saying that every woman on every plane either loathed her or wanted to be her. Those were happy times. She still stays fit with aerobics and no one suspects with her east asian perfection that she is now something over 40 years old. She would hav...

We all hope desperately that God will not abandon us. There are plenty of scriptures that say that we can put our trust in the Lord and he will accept and help us if we turn to him in humility. From my perspective, the Lord's forgiving nature is real. However, any of us can go too far and have Christ turn his back on us forever. I know, it doesn't sound right, but you have to understand the concept of repentance.  If we change our evil natures toward the good, Christ will forgive us and help us in our changing. You can depend on this, of course. What I am talking of is those who reject Christ and do NOT repent (or make a change for the better). This doesn't apply if we are just wanting to avoid punishment without changing our natures. I worked in a prison once and I am very familiar with people who just want to do or say *anything* to get out of prison. Many will insincerely act good and try to "game" the system to get what they want.  These don't actually cha...