A Curious Instrument

When circumstances permit, I often walk to work. I did it as a WIC Nutritionist in Tucumcari (1 mile), a SysAdmin for ENMU in Portales (5 miles) , and a Linux Support person at Dell in Oklahoma City (4 miles). I cannot do it now as I am about 15 miles from work, but I was always looking for good things to listen to as I walk (when I am not recording my scattered, heretical thoughts). If you like TED talks , you must understand that I think they are a mixed bag of psychobabble with some nice gems.  If you want far more intelligent presentations that are consistently high-quality, I will happily point you to the excellent Long Now Seminars that are sponsored by the Long Now Foundation . As always, there are many times that I disagree with concepts spoken about, but it never fails to get me thinking! Forward and Upward!

The entire 15th chapter of the Book of Luke  is a study in the attitude that we should have about "the lost". Each of us as gospel teachers have a duty to seek out these "lost" sons and daughters of God and help them find the joy that the gospel brings.  Sometimes, that person doesn't come to church or may not feel welcome there. You may even find that our "lost" class members are present but, for whatever reason, they are still somewhat lost to the principles that can bless their lives. May I offer a personal experience of reaching out to some "lost" brothers? In 1999, I was working at a correctional facility in a remote place in New Mexico. One of the men incarcerated there found out I was LDS and asked if I could arrange for an LDS gospel class at the prison much like several other religious groups were providing. I worked with the facility chaplain and arrangements were made for a time and classroom for weekly gospel sessions. As an em...

Everyone wants advice about how to live their lives, right? What better source than Alma the Younger, former bad boy, Chief  Judge, mega-missionary, and a recipient of the "hey, he got translated" prize? After clarifying that resurrection is an incorruptible restoration of ourselves, good or bad, Alma give some advice to his wayward son, Coriantion, in Alma 41:14. be merciful to others; deal justly; judge righteously; and do good continually.  He says that if we do these things, we will get them in return in the resurrection.  In his words, they will be "restored unto you again, and you will have good rewarded unto you again." So, you want a nice afterlife? Alma's advice is to learn to spread niceness around during life and it will come back to you in the hereafter!  

The "one-a-day" study plods on and I am to the chapter where Alma is telling his son Corianton about how the resurrection works from his perspective. Of course, I am now interjecting my thoughts on the subject from my perspective as well, so as Alma did, "...I give it as my opinion..." ( Alma 40:20 ). One has to recall that Alma lived before the coming of Jesus Christ, so his perspective on it is different than those of us that live after Jesus himself was resurrected. Alma uses the phrase "first resurrection" in this context to mean the resurrection of the people that happens somewhat immediately after Christ's resurrection and involved those who lived before Christ, like Alma himself. Often, we, from our perspective, talk of the "first resurrection" as the one that is next in coming on the time-line, the resurrection of the repentant previous to judgement, which has not yet begun. I suppose we call it "first" because others wi...

Alma 39:14 Seek not after riches nor the vain things of this world; for behold, you cannot carry them with you. A few days back, I read one of those "riches" scriptures as part of my "one-a-day" study. At one time in the past, I did a rather in-depth study of the whole idea of money and the Lord's feelings on the subject. I can't say that I found any amazing insight into the subject, but I did learn that the manner in which one becomes rich and how it is used are of more vital interest to the Lord than the wealth itself. For most of us, it is better not to have or pursue riches in the first place. The whole endeavor can cause spiritual problems that are just as well avoided. But one must also understand that wealth can be the consequence of obedience to the Lord and his desire to increase your stewardship. Helaman 13:21 Behold ye, the people of this great city, and hearken unto my words; yea, hearken unto the words which the Lord sait...

You may have seen this string of characters before: 03IXI8E0OC This is the Mariner's Log , or God's Plan of Happiness in Ten Simple Symbols . It has been available to the public for several years, but its home on the Internet, which explains all about what it means, has recently moved. If you would like to learn more about the Mariner's Log and share it with others, you can find it at: http://jason.quix.us/the-mariners-log The Mariners Log is a major feature of Escape , the first book of  The Navigiary Allegory , available at Amazon.com.

Today's Scripture - Alma 39:15 "And now, my son, I would say somewhat unto you concerning the coming of Christ. Behold, I say unto you, that it is he that surely shall come to take away the sins of the world; yea, he cometh to declare glad tidings of salvation unto his people." Some years ago, President Henry B. Eyring gave a talk that included his earlier reading of the Book of Mormon where he did it at the pace of about one scripture per day. [I was looking for the conference talk where he referred to this, but I can't find it!  I hope I didn't manufacture the memory!] That sounded like a good idea to me and I have been doing this for several years.  As you can see from the scripture reference above, the progress takes a while. The whole point is to read that scripture and to think about it that day. I am finding that little nuggets of insight are found in such a study where our usual "hot-rod" reading of a page or a chapter of scripture a d...