Update to the Mariner's Log

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.

Alma 39:15

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 day will speed over such "gravel"-sized wisdom that might be missed on the fast-paced super-highway of our modern lives.

In this scripture are two important ideas about the mission of Christ:

1. "take away the sins of the world" - This is a reference to the atonement, where Christ was resurrected and overcame the effects of Adam's original transgression, which was physical death. Also, the atonement involved Christ's punishment for our individual sins and opened the way for our effective repentance, our purposeful improvement, and our possibility for ultimate exaltation. Adam's sin and its worst consequences was taken away and so to can many effects of our sins be taken away as we follow Christ and repent.
2. "to declare glad tidings" - This is the "good news" of the Gospel being taught to everyone. It also mentions "unto his people", which could be a reference to the fact that Christ only comes to "his people", the children of Israel, and that it is up to us to go and "declare" the the fruits of Christ's atonement to the rest of the world (the "gentiles" in a term).

 While I was mulling over the atonement, I recalled the plight of a young man in a wheelchair that I met on my mission.  He told me that he had prayed and fasted often to be healed and he was losing his faith in Christ's ability to heal him.  He asked for a blessing, which I dutifully gave although I certainly can't remember what I said then. I am always a little slow in insight, but I get there in time, where I think of what I would have said to that young man. In the grand scope of the atonement, it may or may not be important for a young man to rise from a wheelchair and walk. That young man receives the full benefit of the atonement, including the potential for exaltation, and whatever handicap put him in that wheelchair was now temporary at best given what Christ had done for him (and us all). More worrying would be his loss of faith that would keep him from the best eternal reward.  If it were a choice between celestial glory albeit with mortality in a chair on wheels and the lesser reward that comes with a lack of faith in Christ, I hope I would choose the former.  I hope that young man chose this as well.

The atonement of Christ is meant to provide us a way to become exalted as Christ is.  No matter our circumstances in life, we can take advantage of it!

So, one little scripture stirs up so much (and a lot more that I don't have time to type out).

3 Ways You can Be an Effective Philosopher Now!

Jason uses a few marketing gems to help you become the amazing philosopher you always wanted to be! Here is how the "master" does it!

Check Out Culture Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Xenos Now on BlogTalkRadio

Being Slow and Late

I am the tortoise and I don't know if there is any virtue in it...

I am realizing that I am a slow person and that, when it comes to life's accomplishments, I am typically running a bit late.  As the years pass, I notice my colleagues and my supervisors are getting younger and younger in comparison to myself. They seem certainly to have accomplished far more and moved up the "ladder of success" earlier in life than I did and it is a little depressing.  In this break-neck-paced world, I can't even begin to keep up!

I take consolation in the fact that, in the eternal scheme of things, it really doesn't matter how long your personal development takes as long as you are on the right road, you are faced in the right direction, and you are moving forward. To be early about things is an advantage surely, but the reward it still the same - if you continue on, you will reach the destination of God's exaltation.

Back to Prison

In 1999, I had just left my off-shore job and I was able to find work at a prison about 60 miles from our home as a computer technician. I only worked there for a few months, but I met some inmates that were Mormons like I am. One of them hooked me up with the prison chaplain and asked that I start a "sunday school" class for the Latter-Day Saint inmates. I decided to do it and a friend of mine, who had spare time and income on his hands, got involved with it as well.  Many Saturdays, we would make the drive to the prison in my friend truck, spend some time with a handful of inmates, and drive back, which took up the bulk of the day.

It was a marvelous experience and I can say that some of my most enduring spiritual experiences happened in a tiny, cinder-block room in the bowels of the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility (GCCF)!

Sadly, as the years passed, I guess my friend got burned out and dispirited as our favorite prison chaplain died of cancer and the cost of travel and time was taking a toll on my family and causing a few problems, so our prison visits came to an end.

I don't remember when we stopped visiting at the prison, so I don't know how long it has been since I did it, but it has been a long while.  A few months ago, I got the impression to look up what the Church (of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) had on its website about prison services and was quite impressed with the progress made. When we started fifteen years ago, there was very little guidance and we were basically on our own.  I said something to my wife, looked up what prisons were nearby, and dropped the subject.

Then, one of our high councilors came and spoke at our ward and I had an impression to ask him what the stake was doing for prison services.  He surprised me by saying that they were just getting something pulled together and that they would love to have someone who had some experience or even interest in doing this! I was hooked up with another man who the stake had identified and finally got on the phone with him last night.

So, I am getting back involved with LDS Prison Services after a bit of a hiatus and it seems to be motivated by the Lord. Perhaps there will be more on this in future posts.

I am the Master, Not the Doctor

Lest you think me cocky with the title, it was not not me that proclaimed myself a Master.  After nearly eighteen months of effort and lack of sleep, Western Governors University has proclaimed me a Master of Science.  I am told I have mastered Information Technology and have a specialization in Network Management, so who am I to argue with that?

Now that this is done, I will likely take a bit of a break and then get back to my more philosophical writing, if I can muster such.

The Quasi-Indefatigable Xenolith Server Returns

After a wrestling match with AT&T U-verse, the long stretch of server-less-ness has finally come to an end. If you thought http://qix.me, http://quix.us, gopher://qix.me, http://shetlandic.info, and all the rest had disappeared into the fading purple of the World-Wide-Web sunset, you were wrong. It lives on!