Its no lie, this blog is an assignment for my writing class. I probably would not have ever started writing a blog if I had not taken this class. Since I did have the chance to write I have learned some things about myself and blogging in general.
The first thing I noticed is that I dont take the time to sit down and think about why I do the things I do, and my thought process in general. Putting my thoughts down on a page definitely forced me to think through what I really wanted to say. It let me be introspective, which I really enjoyed.
I think that blogging is beneficial, but it definitely takes something special to affect a large number of people. I am not planning on making a living off of blogging like some people have done, and they all have something that the average person doesnt. Its very interesting to think about what drives us to read and follow and share one persons words over anothers.
Overall I enjoyed writing about my thoughts more than I thought I would. Its been an interesting experience and I would not be surprised if I dedicated more time to writing my thoughts in some capacity from here on out.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Monday, April 6, 2015
Preparing for Marriage
As was very clear right from the beginning of conference, marriage and family is a very important topic to consider right now. While many people will note that I am not married, I have a rather unique situation where I already know who I am going to marry, and when. I have known who and when for just under one year now, and I have just under one year left to prepare. For those of you who dont know, this very long waiting time is due to the fact that before we start our family, someone in Germany needs her to teach them.
Warning: I am waiting for a missionary. Side note: yes I am actually waiting, yes I am sure, no I have not dated anyone else in the time she has been gone and I have not had the desire to.
If we did not feel the importance that she serve at this time, I guarantee we would already be sealed and happily starting our family. I have heard many things during the past nine months or so ranging from admiration that I am dedicated, to indifference, to disbelief, to outright critisism. To all I answer that our first desire is to do the will of our Father, who knows best. She needed to serve and I personally can not wait for the day when on the other side I meet every person she served while she was on her mission, and hear the stories of how they effected one another.
There are many difficult things reguarding waiting and being apart so long, but there are several major blessings I have received. First, I have come to appreciate everything she is to me on a whole new level. They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, and for me that has certainly been the case. Second, I have come to have an appreciation of what the temple sealing really means to me. I have had time to reflect and grow personally. I have had time to better myself and learn what I really want my family to be like. Third, I have had to rely on my Heavenly Father in difficult times. When I have been lonely and wished her home, he has shown me visions of new families being sealed because of her efforts. It has given us the opportunity to every day pray for the well-being of one another, an invaluable habit.
While it may be hard at times to listen to talk after talk, day after day about marriage and family, to see my friends getting engaged and married while I wait, and to watch the clock as every day seems an eternity, I know that when we look back from the eternities at our life, we will see this time as but a small sacrifice compared to the inexplicable joy it will have created.
Warning: I am waiting for a missionary. Side note: yes I am actually waiting, yes I am sure, no I have not dated anyone else in the time she has been gone and I have not had the desire to.
If we did not feel the importance that she serve at this time, I guarantee we would already be sealed and happily starting our family. I have heard many things during the past nine months or so ranging from admiration that I am dedicated, to indifference, to disbelief, to outright critisism. To all I answer that our first desire is to do the will of our Father, who knows best. She needed to serve and I personally can not wait for the day when on the other side I meet every person she served while she was on her mission, and hear the stories of how they effected one another.
There are many difficult things reguarding waiting and being apart so long, but there are several major blessings I have received. First, I have come to appreciate everything she is to me on a whole new level. They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, and for me that has certainly been the case. Second, I have come to have an appreciation of what the temple sealing really means to me. I have had time to reflect and grow personally. I have had time to better myself and learn what I really want my family to be like. Third, I have had to rely on my Heavenly Father in difficult times. When I have been lonely and wished her home, he has shown me visions of new families being sealed because of her efforts. It has given us the opportunity to every day pray for the well-being of one another, an invaluable habit.
While it may be hard at times to listen to talk after talk, day after day about marriage and family, to see my friends getting engaged and married while I wait, and to watch the clock as every day seems an eternity, I know that when we look back from the eternities at our life, we will see this time as but a small sacrifice compared to the inexplicable joy it will have created.
conference report
I absolutely love general conference! I had a wonderful weekend with some good friends and absolutely zero homework. I got the chance to go to temple square a fair amount this weekend and listen to conference in person. There were a lot of wonderful things and I think it is fairly safe to assume now that a big focus over the next six months is strengthening marriage and family.
While I was sitting in conference I made note of several rhetorical devices. One thing above all else was represented in most every talk. Stories began many a talk, and stories were all throughout the conference. It goes to show that in general conference, pathos is very important. All of the speakers wanted to use relatable examples while teaching what they taught.
As far as things that stood out to me in the doctrinal sense, one brother said that we can have righteous desires that are not in harmony with the will of God. I had never thought about it like that before, but a righteous desire may not be the right thing to do. It was comforting to me personally because I have had what I thought to be righteous desires, and then doubted once I recieved revelation that something else needed to happen. having to stay home from my mission when I wanted to go back out readily comes to mind. I wanted to serve for the right reasons, but he needed me here. That doesnt make my desire to serve again bad, just not the best at this time.
While I was sitting in conference I made note of several rhetorical devices. One thing above all else was represented in most every talk. Stories began many a talk, and stories were all throughout the conference. It goes to show that in general conference, pathos is very important. All of the speakers wanted to use relatable examples while teaching what they taught.
As far as things that stood out to me in the doctrinal sense, one brother said that we can have righteous desires that are not in harmony with the will of God. I had never thought about it like that before, but a righteous desire may not be the right thing to do. It was comforting to me personally because I have had what I thought to be righteous desires, and then doubted once I recieved revelation that something else needed to happen. having to stay home from my mission when I wanted to go back out readily comes to mind. I wanted to serve for the right reasons, but he needed me here. That doesnt make my desire to serve again bad, just not the best at this time.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Preparing for conference
I absolutely love General Conference, Ever since my first conference right after I joined the Church. I got to go in person and I still vividly remember how I felt when the Prophet first walked into the room. There really is a special feeling in the air when the Lord's chosen representative is in your presence on his errand.
For this conference I get to meet up with several friends and go to the conference center for the sunday morning session. I have friends that are just back from missions who never thought they would have gone, friends who always knew they would, friends who didnt get to go, friends who are coming back to the church. I am a combination who didnt think I would ever go, then got baptized and had no doubt, then had to come home early.
My favorite part of all of this is that though all of us have had different lives and have made different choices, we all are going to listen to the Lord's will for us this weekend. We all have tread different paths, but we have found the right one and are doing our best to stay on it.
If it werent for all of the wonderful people I am fortunate to call friends, I would not be where I am right now, and they would not be where they are if they hadn't met me. I hope all of you have a wonderful conference.
#becausehelives We can hear his voice through his chosen servants.
For this conference I get to meet up with several friends and go to the conference center for the sunday morning session. I have friends that are just back from missions who never thought they would have gone, friends who always knew they would, friends who didnt get to go, friends who are coming back to the church. I am a combination who didnt think I would ever go, then got baptized and had no doubt, then had to come home early.
My favorite part of all of this is that though all of us have had different lives and have made different choices, we all are going to listen to the Lord's will for us this weekend. We all have tread different paths, but we have found the right one and are doing our best to stay on it.
If it werent for all of the wonderful people I am fortunate to call friends, I would not be where I am right now, and they would not be where they are if they hadn't met me. I hope all of you have a wonderful conference.
#becausehelives We can hear his voice through his chosen servants.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Writing a Narrative
In class we had to write a story from our life. This paper was very hard and very easy at the same time. On the one hand it took me like ten days to even think of the story that I wanted to write about. Every time I thought about things that I could write about from my life, they were all very personal. I wasn't comfortable sharing the things that really changed my life. Then I thought a lot about sifferent stories that I would be comfortable sharing, but they didn't have very much substance.
When I finally found a story I liked it seemed so obvious. I have spent more time in my life running than pretty much anything else and it is a huge portion of my high school experience. Once I found the story, it was so easy to write because it is something I am passionate about and something I remember very distinctly. It was weird thinking about a period of four years taken in abstract, but I actually learned more about myself while writing it.
When I finally found a story I liked it seemed so obvious. I have spent more time in my life running than pretty much anything else and it is a huge portion of my high school experience. Once I found the story, it was so easy to write because it is something I am passionate about and something I remember very distinctly. It was weird thinking about a period of four years taken in abstract, but I actually learned more about myself while writing it.
Personal Narrative
Beating the Clock.
He is getting
closer—I take one last deep breath and remind myself that I can do this. I know
what I need to do and I have trained for years to get here. He hits the mark
and I take off—our handoff is perfect, my feet move faster and faster beneath
me, not fast enough. I can hear footsteps behind me, now I can hear only one
pair, now nothing. I come around the bend sprinting as fast as I can. Remember
what you need to do, it’s time to relax a little and breathe. I’ve done this
thousands of times. Each step becomes a little longer. Breathe in, breathe out,
don’t let yourself slow down, relax. For a second I allow myself to look up. In
front of me there is a giant screen—there is someone running on it. That
someone is me! I look for the other runners but I can only see myself. I’m
winning. Focus on the race, you won’t be
ahead for long if you just keep staring at the screen, I tell myself. I
look back at the track. I’m almost at the end of the straight. It’s time to speed
up. My mind wanders again, how did I even
get here?
What am I even doing here, I’m a horrible runner, I remind myself
as I step up to the starting line. I know
that everyone here is faster than me. I shouldn’t have let my friends
convince me to run track.
“Hey good luck man,” someone I don’t know says as he shakes out his arms
and legs. He looks nervous. What must I
look like?
“Yeah good luck to you, too.” I wish that it really worked like that! If
only luck could make me faster.
“On your marks.” I just want to leave. “Get set.” Maybe there will be
someone that is slow like me and this won’t be as bad as I think it will.
Bang! I take off
willing my legs to move faster, but they don’t cooperate. I’m already behind
every other person. Try as I might they keep getting further and further ahead.
When the race was over I wanted to go hide in a hole, but instead I went to
look at the posted times. As my eyes moved down the list my heart sunk lower
and lower as each number read a name other than mine. Finally, the very last
name on the list was my own. Was I really the slowest person on my team? There
had to be some sort of mistake, I was active and played sports my entire life.
“Shane, why did you
decide to run the hurdles.” My coach always talked to me a lot once everyone
else had left the track. I really admired him, even though he was balding. He
was six foot three, the perfect height for hurdles. His calves still showed the
effects of years of running past. He was so fast! He had told me many times
about how he had ran a 39 in the 300 hurdles. I was still running slower than
50 seconds.
“I thought I might like it, and honestly it was the only way I would get
to run at the meets.”
“Well you seem to have taken to it! You are always the last one here.”
“Yeah, well I have to do something if I want to get better. I’m going to
finish better than last at region, I just know it.”
“You have done great this year,” he said “you have improved more than
anyone on the team, but I do have some bad news. Region only allows four
runners to compete in varsity so you can go, but you can’t run.”
“Really?” I choked out “Well at least I got to run at all this year.”
“Like I said Shane, you have improved a lot this year. You have gotten
faster in every race. Keep working hard, and you will make varsity next year
I’m sure.”
“I’ll do it! I know I can make it.”
“But for now go home. I’m hungry and you’re keeping me here.”
“Ha! In that case I think I better stay a while longer.”
The summer and fall
came and passed, and it was time for run-offs again. I approached with
anticipation. The race came and went and I wasn’t last overall. I wasn’t even
last in my heat! I earned a spot on varsity for the hurdles, but I wasn’t
satisfied. I was running in all of the races, but I was finishing in the middle
of the pack. I didn’t ever make finals so I only ran one day of the track
meets. No matter how fast I ran, or how much my time improved it was not
enough, I wanted to be the leader, I wanted to be the best. That year came and
passed and I had again improved in every race I ran in. My aspiration of
becoming the top of the team was starting to seem possible. I just had to work
harder.
I lined up in front
of the hurdle, “just one more, I almost have it perfect.”
“You can get it perfect tomorrow, it’s time for dinner and you need to
come home.” She looked too tired for me to argue much today. She always drove
by the track on her way home from work, knowing that she would often find me
still there.
“Alright I’m leaving right after this one.” I take off towards the
hurdle, I jump and I hit my knee. “Alright I’m leaving after THIS one.”
“You are the
pace-setter now.” My coach is talking to me, why is he talking to me?
“I don’t know how to set the pace! What if I run too fast or too slow?”
“You’ll figure it out. Run each 200 in 28 seconds, everyone else is going
to base how fast they run off of you.”
“Can’t someone else set the pace? I don’t think I’ll be good at it.”
“You’re the team captain, who better to run at the front?”
As I step onto this track for the first time ever it finally hits me. I’m
running in the state track meet! I made it a year before I thought I would too!
I had improved so much and not only was I at the state meet, but I was
confident I was locked into the finals. I hear those familiar words “On Your
Marks.” I’m calm, I know what to do. “Get set.” I tense up, this is what I have
been working for. Bang! I take off, a perfect start. Three, Four, Five hurdles
down and I’m in first place! Six, Seven, only one more hurdle to go, I almost
have it. I feel my foot connect with plastic, the all too familiar ring of
plastic and metal fills my ears. The ground comes close, but I barely maintain
my balance and stumble across the finish line. Two people passed me. It’s going
to be close. Heart pounding I wait by the results board. “I can still make top
9, I had a good finish even if I messed up.” The list is up. I spot my name…
next to the number ten. “I got 10th?” At least I have another race,
and it’s my best, the 300 hurdles.
The gun goes off,
and I am paired up against the fastest runner in the state. We take off step
for step and I know I have it. As we round the bend for the final 100 meters
the gun starts firing bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. “Stop the race, Stop the
race.” A man is running towards us waving his arms. We slow down and stop.
“What is going on?” one of the runners asks.
“The timer never started for your heat, you are going to have to run
again.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” he shouted.
We walked back to
the starting line and the race began again. I ran my hardest, but my body gives
out in the last 30 meters of the race. “I don’t know what in the world happened
coach, I was just too tired.”
“They shouldn’t have run through that race again until tomorrow, but you
ran a decent time. You can still make finals.” My coach was trying to cheer me
up, “Just so you know in that first race you were on pace for a 39, you’ll get
it in the finals!” The results go up on the board, Shane Miner 10th
place…
I’m not letting that ever happen again! I think to myself as I
bring myself back to the present. I am steps from the end of the straight. I
may have started fast, but I know who my competition is. He finished in 6th
place yesterday in the open 400 with a time faster than I have ever run. I pick
up my pace, knowing that I am going to have to run the race of my life to beat
him. I will my legs to move faster and faster, he still hasn’t caught up to me.
I hand the baton off to my teammate and collapse off to the side of the track.
“Shane do you know what you just ran?” my coach is shouting from the
crowd. I couldn’t concentrate or reply, it was all I could do to keep from
collapsing completely. The race ends and all I can think about is those words,
do you know what you just ran. I stumble over to where he is in the crowd and
he turns a stopwatch and points it towards my face.
“Are you serious?” The words were out of my mouth before I could think.
“You killed it.”
“Are you sure that was my time?”
“Well it wasn’t my time! Yes I’m sure”
I stared at the screen again, 50.2 seconds! The fastest time that anyone
in our school had run that whole year.
Monday, March 16, 2015
Research paper reflective essay
I know right from the
get-go that the biggest thing I have taken away from this paper is a new
motivation to learn my family story. I come from a family that didn’t sit down
and tell stories all of the time. We spent most of our time in the here and
now. I learned about several ancestors I have never heard of before and I loved
learning more about them. On that side this paper was really positive for me,
but though I enjoyed researching my family stories, I had a considerably hard
time writing this paper. I don’t know if it was because of what was going on in
my life, if I am just bad at writing research papers, or if I just didn’t find
a subject that interested me enough, but I had a bear of a time getting the
length I needed. I also felt like I didn’t quite understand the citations, and
as always grammar kicks my behind.
I feel like this
paper allowed me to apply a lot of things I have been learning in other classes
this semester. I used principles I learned in other classes all throughout this
paper and it would have been very different if I had a different schedule. I
can see the things I am learning being applied elsewhere and that validates the
effort I’ve put in.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Look Sister Steadman, No hands; research blog
When I was first thinking about what I was going to do with this project, I had no idea what I could write about. I figured since I hadn't heard many stories about my ancestors, that there wouldn't be many good stories out there. I was definitly wrong! I found more people and subjects than I could think about writing about. I never knew just how intimatly tied with church history my family is, even though I am a convert myself. I began with the origin of my last name, which led me to my first ancestor in the states who was prominent in every community he resided in, founded a church, and was the first man with the surname Miner in America. Then I found a decendant who was the first to join the church. His story inspired me so much I decided to change the topic of my paper entirly, and I have found that it is much more intriguing.
If everyone has to fight for their rights, will we ever make it to true equality?
That is exactly the problem. We have been hearing equality arguments for the whole history of the world. Everyone wants rights, but people in general are judgemental and seek power. For someone to be in power, they try to push down others. When someone pushes for their own rights, they often do so at the loss of others. Laws can state that everyone is equal, but if the people dont believe that, they will not treat everyone equal.
So what?
It is important for us to recognize the underlying problems that cause inequalities to surface if we are ever going to fix them. While through time groups of people will gain more acceptance, it may be to the scorn of others. For example currently it seems that as rights for the LGBT community are growing, judgements are forming about those who advocate traditional marriage laws. To truly find equality, we need to focus not on the rights of individuals, but the pregudice that preceeds inequality.
If everyone has to fight for their rights, will we ever make it to true equality?
That is exactly the problem. We have been hearing equality arguments for the whole history of the world. Everyone wants rights, but people in general are judgemental and seek power. For someone to be in power, they try to push down others. When someone pushes for their own rights, they often do so at the loss of others. Laws can state that everyone is equal, but if the people dont believe that, they will not treat everyone equal.
So what?
It is important for us to recognize the underlying problems that cause inequalities to surface if we are ever going to fix them. While through time groups of people will gain more acceptance, it may be to the scorn of others. For example currently it seems that as rights for the LGBT community are growing, judgements are forming about those who advocate traditional marriage laws. To truly find equality, we need to focus not on the rights of individuals, but the pregudice that preceeds inequality.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Magic, the greatest game ever!
If anyone gets to know me too well they find out about Magic: The Gathering.
Yes I am indeed a Magic player, and the game is awesome! There are many reasons people play, for me it is especially because of the intellectual challenge of playing. Most people dont know this, but Magic is one of the most complex games ever made. First a very basic outline of how the game works.
A magic deck consists of a minimum of 60 cards (which is generally the best way to do it because having more than 60 cards reduces your chances of drawing any specific card in your deck) and they can have as many cards as you want as long as you can shuffle the deck to randomize it. There are 7 common card types which include, land, creatures, instants, sorceries, planeswalkers, enchantments, and artifacts. There are sub-types of all of these types of cards. All of the non-land cards have a casting cost, which means you have to have the right amount of lands in play to play that card, and often the right colors as well.
There have been tens of thousands of unique magic cards printed, and you can build a deck out of any combination of them within the following limits. First, you can only have 4 or less of any one specific card in your deck, except basic land, which you can have as many as you want. There are also different formats, which limit specific cards. The smallest format is standard, which has about 1200 unique cards legal. The possibilities of deck building are very vast, there are billions of different deck combinations in the smallest format.
The point of the game is to reduce your opponents life total to 0 from 20, while not letting them do the same to you. You can only play one land from your hand each turn, if you have one in hand. You start the game with 7 cards in hand and draw 1 each turn.
The game is so complex because you need the right mix of lands, creatures, and other spells, while also considering what are the strongest cards against your opponent, and for you in general. The draws are random, and you cannot guarantee you will draw the right amount of lands. There are different abilities that cards have that interact with one another differently, and every single turn of the game there are 9 phases, and you pass priority 18 times. So not only do you have to build your deck correctly, you need to play your cards in the right order, decide when to attack and not, deal with your opponents cards, make sure to play around what possible cards they could play, know what every card in the game does, make sure to send the right signals to your opponent about what cards you might have, and on top of all of that you depend on luck to make sure you draw the right cards and amount of lands.
To put into perspective how hard this game is, the best people in the world NEVER win more than 60 percent of all of the games they play. There are literally hundreds of outcomes of every single game depending on what the players choose to play and when.
Theres also other considerations such as mana curve, tempo, power, synergy, interaction, card advantage, virtual card advantage, immediate value, timing, priority, and how many of each card you want in your deck.
In short the game is incredibly complicated. There are tons of decision points and possibilities in every game and that is why I love it so much. Im not alone and to put it in perspective, the most powerful card in the game is worth up to 100,000 dollars, and there is millions of dollars of prizes given in magic events every year. There are even people who play professionally.
When I think of how immense the posibilities of one small game are, it causes me to marvel at the knowledge and scope of our Heavenly Father. He literally sees all from the beginning of time to the end of years, and he has seen all of the possibilities and found the best one. I cant even comprehend that. It just testifies how amazing he really is.
Friday, February 20, 2015
perspective
I have a wonderful friend named Erik, today I have been thiking a lot about him and his story. It started my sophmore year of highschool. It was right before track practice one day and like the 16 year old I was, I was out tanning in short shorts before practice. Then our coach called the team together and told us that one of our fellow runners and one of my good friends Erik had just been diagnosed with cancer.
The word sunk into my mind... CANCER... I obviously knew that younger people could get cancer, but it never felt like it actually happened. Mind racing I thought of many scary things that entire practice. I couldnt imagine how he must have felt.
Fast forward a couple years. Erik is still going strong and we have lots of fun going on random adventures. At this point he had been cleared and rediagnosed a couple times, and he didnt really get to run anymore. I always marveled at how he was able to stay so positive when he literally had something that could kill him in his life.
Since he has been diagnosed he has gone through a lot. Having to eat through a tube, learning to walk again, and lots of surgery and medicine.
The word sunk into my mind... CANCER... I obviously knew that younger people could get cancer, but it never felt like it actually happened. Mind racing I thought of many scary things that entire practice. I couldnt imagine how he must have felt.
Fast forward a couple years. Erik is still going strong and we have lots of fun going on random adventures. At this point he had been cleared and rediagnosed a couple times, and he didnt really get to run anymore. I always marveled at how he was able to stay so positive when he literally had something that could kill him in his life.
Since he has been diagnosed he has gone through a lot. Having to eat through a tube, learning to walk again, and lots of surgery and medicine.
With all of these things, you would never tell that he has had a rough go at it. He is definitly one of the most positive and enthusiastic guys I have ever met.
When I was getting ready to leave on my mission, we spent quite a bit of time together, and because of his cancer he wasnt able to serve. He didnt let that hold him back though! He wanted to do anything he could so as all of his friends started leaving, he sent them all off with a special copy of the Book of Mormon to give to someone that they taught on their mission with his testimony in it.
Over time he was finally able to stay clear of the cancer for a year, and started a service mission at the St George temple, Which he is doing now and loving every minute of it.
Unfortunatly he hasnt had the easiest go during his mission, in November he was diagnosed again and is currently going through chemo and serving once a week on fridays. In all this time he has been so positive and even through his latest development of losing all of his hair, he is still smiling.
It is always great to know I have such wonderful people in my life to inspire me, and I feel it appropriate to end this blog with the catch phrase he uses to end all of his
Keep running
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Normally I post about the spiritual aspect of my life, but this was just too good to pass up! A deer hit me! Disclaimer, the deer is OK so I am totally fine saying things about its intelligence in doing so.
Lets paint a picture. Its 230 am and I am driving home. I am on Main Street Cedar City, Utah. I have just finished a very long, fun day filled with friends and very good birthday taquitos. As I am driving I see a deer in the road. Naturally I slow down and keep an eye on it as I pass. All of a sudden in the other peripheral I see a deer very close to the right side of my car, I feel a thump, and start freaking out. I immediately turn around to make sure that it is fine and it is already walking next to the other deer, check. Then I think about my car...
Just so you know I LOVE my car. Her name is Giselle and she is wonderful. I was filled with dread at the potential damage(and bills!) I jumped out and immediately began to inspect the front of my car, nothing! good! I go to bed and think of how lucky I was. I wake up in the morning, walk out to my car and see a pretty big dent in my rear passenger-side door.
Think about the timing of this. I was going 40 miles per hour, the deer hit my rear passenger door hard enough to dent it pretty bad, and missed the front of my car entirely. I haven't done the calculations but the deer had to be at least trotting along. There is no way it could have been walking and moved that far forward that fast.
The point of the story is the deer ran into me, I didn't run into it. I guess now we know who the superior species is!
Lets paint a picture. Its 230 am and I am driving home. I am on Main Street Cedar City, Utah. I have just finished a very long, fun day filled with friends and very good birthday taquitos. As I am driving I see a deer in the road. Naturally I slow down and keep an eye on it as I pass. All of a sudden in the other peripheral I see a deer very close to the right side of my car, I feel a thump, and start freaking out. I immediately turn around to make sure that it is fine and it is already walking next to the other deer, check. Then I think about my car...
Just so you know I LOVE my car. Her name is Giselle and she is wonderful. I was filled with dread at the potential damage(and bills!) I jumped out and immediately began to inspect the front of my car, nothing! good! I go to bed and think of how lucky I was. I wake up in the morning, walk out to my car and see a pretty big dent in my rear passenger-side door.
Think about the timing of this. I was going 40 miles per hour, the deer hit my rear passenger door hard enough to dent it pretty bad, and missed the front of my car entirely. I haven't done the calculations but the deer had to be at least trotting along. There is no way it could have been walking and moved that far forward that fast.
The point of the story is the deer ran into me, I didn't run into it. I guess now we know who the superior species is!
Things as they really are
I find it fitting that in the middle of my media fast I take the time to talk about the prophetic warning about technology.
First of all I absolutely love Elder Bednar. I am always very excited when he gets up to talk because his understanding of the world seems to align very well with mine. He kind of speaks to my mind in a way with his words and to my heart with the spirit. I have learned the pitfalls of media first hand and I am a strong advocate in the fact that the technology is being abused and broken.
I can not describe how sad it makes me to see someone who has so much potential and privilege waste away their life doing things that do not matter. Like I said in an earlier post I have started a media fast. I am not allowing anything in my life right now that does not invigorate the mind, or the spirit. How is it going after the past week?
I honestly have a hard time every once in a while. We are bombarded with so much all the time that I feel somewhat anxious if there is nothing going on. I am very bad at sitting still. I have found that even while fasting on mainstream media, I find myself listening to church music and general conference talks all the time. The biggest difference is how I feel. I am so calm and happy! There is an amazing peace that has come into my life. I feel like I have the spirit and that it is close.
Elder Bednar was warning of the harmful consequences of the misuse of technology and I have found this past week that when I use technology for good things, It uplifts me. Its true what they say, all technology is brought forth for wise purpose in God, we just need to find what those purposes are.
First of all I absolutely love Elder Bednar. I am always very excited when he gets up to talk because his understanding of the world seems to align very well with mine. He kind of speaks to my mind in a way with his words and to my heart with the spirit. I have learned the pitfalls of media first hand and I am a strong advocate in the fact that the technology is being abused and broken.
I can not describe how sad it makes me to see someone who has so much potential and privilege waste away their life doing things that do not matter. Like I said in an earlier post I have started a media fast. I am not allowing anything in my life right now that does not invigorate the mind, or the spirit. How is it going after the past week?
I honestly have a hard time every once in a while. We are bombarded with so much all the time that I feel somewhat anxious if there is nothing going on. I am very bad at sitting still. I have found that even while fasting on mainstream media, I find myself listening to church music and general conference talks all the time. The biggest difference is how I feel. I am so calm and happy! There is an amazing peace that has come into my life. I feel like I have the spirit and that it is close.
Elder Bednar was warning of the harmful consequences of the misuse of technology and I have found this past week that when I use technology for good things, It uplifts me. Its true what they say, all technology is brought forth for wise purpose in God, we just need to find what those purposes are.
Is there a God
Don't worry Im not questioning my faith today, I am reflecting on how it has developed.
This morning in my Book of Mormon class we had a discussion that highlights perfectly something I have seen time and again during my time as a member. The assumption that all humans are searching for the reason behind everything, and that if you do not profess belief in God, you actively don't believe in him either.
This is a perspective that I personally cant understand because I was literally the exception to that rule before I joined the church. In retrospect I would declare that I was agnostic. If you had asked me before I joined the church I would have given you a response of "I'm nothing" or "I don't have a religion." To me, religion, God, pre or post life, were all just non-factors.
No I never once wondered where I came from, or where I was going to go after I died. I never once thought about why the world was the way it was or why things happened to me. Those feelings are associated with an innate belief that there is SOMETHING else going on and I just had no reason to think that there WAS something else going on. This is very important to understand and I hope I can explain this clearly.
It takes some form of faith to even entertain the idea of God, whether you believe he exists, or is a coping mechanism developed by the collective human experience, you must believe something for it to matter in your life. That is where people like I was are so hard to understand for people who have always had a religious context.
Try to picture what it sounds like when you tell someone that they can say words in their head, and a parent they don't remember, that has seemingly supernatural powers, will hear them and talk back to them in their thoughts and feelings. How motivated would you be to actually do this? I know I wasn't! It was the initial seeds of faith that I let grow within me, that gave me the desire to know it there was a God, that drove me to my knees the first time, no matter how ridiculous it felt (It was by far the most humiliating thing I had ever done up to that point in my life.)
The point of this post is this. It takes some form of belief to cause action. If you are sharing the gospel with a friend and it seems like they might be negative, its very possible that they just do not have the desire to know. You can never give them that desire, they need to find it for themselves. Don't worry if it seems like you aren't accomplishing anything. Though they may not realize what you are doing is out of love, you can be giving them the crucial frame of reference that will allow them to find their "why" someday.
Always remember your "why." Keep it sacred, because it is the driving force behind what you do, who you are, and who you will become.
This morning in my Book of Mormon class we had a discussion that highlights perfectly something I have seen time and again during my time as a member. The assumption that all humans are searching for the reason behind everything, and that if you do not profess belief in God, you actively don't believe in him either.
This is a perspective that I personally cant understand because I was literally the exception to that rule before I joined the church. In retrospect I would declare that I was agnostic. If you had asked me before I joined the church I would have given you a response of "I'm nothing" or "I don't have a religion." To me, religion, God, pre or post life, were all just non-factors.
No I never once wondered where I came from, or where I was going to go after I died. I never once thought about why the world was the way it was or why things happened to me. Those feelings are associated with an innate belief that there is SOMETHING else going on and I just had no reason to think that there WAS something else going on. This is very important to understand and I hope I can explain this clearly.
It takes some form of faith to even entertain the idea of God, whether you believe he exists, or is a coping mechanism developed by the collective human experience, you must believe something for it to matter in your life. That is where people like I was are so hard to understand for people who have always had a religious context.
Try to picture what it sounds like when you tell someone that they can say words in their head, and a parent they don't remember, that has seemingly supernatural powers, will hear them and talk back to them in their thoughts and feelings. How motivated would you be to actually do this? I know I wasn't! It was the initial seeds of faith that I let grow within me, that gave me the desire to know it there was a God, that drove me to my knees the first time, no matter how ridiculous it felt (It was by far the most humiliating thing I had ever done up to that point in my life.)
The point of this post is this. It takes some form of belief to cause action. If you are sharing the gospel with a friend and it seems like they might be negative, its very possible that they just do not have the desire to know. You can never give them that desire, they need to find it for themselves. Don't worry if it seems like you aren't accomplishing anything. Though they may not realize what you are doing is out of love, you can be giving them the crucial frame of reference that will allow them to find their "why" someday.
Always remember your "why." Keep it sacred, because it is the driving force behind what you do, who you are, and who you will become.
Dating Morms(Norms)
There are multiple things that the people who Im close to all know about me.
1.) I am most likely the pickiest person you know, yet I also probably eat more than anyone you know. Its rough and I have a love/hate relationship with food.
2.) I am very high energy and there is almost never a time when Im not up to do something
3.) I hate Mormon dating
Hold on just a second, hate isn't the right word... I disagree very strongly with many aspects of what "Mormon Culture" has defined as dating. Don't get me wrong here I love the doctrine of Family and Marriage. I have ZERO problems with the doctrine behind dating, even if at the time I wanted to date before I was 16. The problems I have is with how dating is approached in the community, especially from what I have seen here in Provo.
First of all lets start with how dating begins. Asking someone on a date is not a proposal, nor declaring your intent to propose down the line if you two seem to get along. Asking someone on a date means that you want to get to know them better, and that you can see yourself in a relationship with said person, but you want to get to know them better.
Second asking someone out should not be a huge deal or scary, but it also should be done with respect and thought. Texting is a huge no! thankfully most people agree on this but theres another side to it. Asking someone out should not be scary or some huge deal. Just in case you weren't sure, boy or girl, if you ask someone out they are very likely to say yes, and in the case that they say no, you can be glad you aren't wasting your time with someone who doesn't value your company.
Finally there seems to be this huge rift in the community on how long to date. There are people who propose on date 3, there are people who say they will never get engaged until they have dated for at least a year. The problem with this is that you are actively putting your own will above that of the Will of the Father. For example, me and Nala. We started dating April 7th. After the most amazing ten days of my life, we had a date picked for when we were going to be sealed. If either one of us would have set up an arbitrary amount of time we had to date before deciding to get married, we would be actively ignoring promptings to guide and direct our lives.
It all comes down to this. Date! that's it! Just let it happen. If you meet someone you are interested in, you can ask them out! If you fall in love, great! If you don't, theres always more people to get to know! If you try to force dating, or you try to hold it back, you are only limiting yourself from the wonderful possibilities that the lord is saving for you. Don't let anything limit your potential, especially yourself :)
1.) I am most likely the pickiest person you know, yet I also probably eat more than anyone you know. Its rough and I have a love/hate relationship with food.
2.) I am very high energy and there is almost never a time when Im not up to do something
3.) I hate Mormon dating
Hold on just a second, hate isn't the right word... I disagree very strongly with many aspects of what "Mormon Culture" has defined as dating. Don't get me wrong here I love the doctrine of Family and Marriage. I have ZERO problems with the doctrine behind dating, even if at the time I wanted to date before I was 16. The problems I have is with how dating is approached in the community, especially from what I have seen here in Provo.
First of all lets start with how dating begins. Asking someone on a date is not a proposal, nor declaring your intent to propose down the line if you two seem to get along. Asking someone on a date means that you want to get to know them better, and that you can see yourself in a relationship with said person, but you want to get to know them better.
Second asking someone out should not be a huge deal or scary, but it also should be done with respect and thought. Texting is a huge no! thankfully most people agree on this but theres another side to it. Asking someone out should not be scary or some huge deal. Just in case you weren't sure, boy or girl, if you ask someone out they are very likely to say yes, and in the case that they say no, you can be glad you aren't wasting your time with someone who doesn't value your company.
Finally there seems to be this huge rift in the community on how long to date. There are people who propose on date 3, there are people who say they will never get engaged until they have dated for at least a year. The problem with this is that you are actively putting your own will above that of the Will of the Father. For example, me and Nala. We started dating April 7th. After the most amazing ten days of my life, we had a date picked for when we were going to be sealed. If either one of us would have set up an arbitrary amount of time we had to date before deciding to get married, we would be actively ignoring promptings to guide and direct our lives.
It all comes down to this. Date! that's it! Just let it happen. If you meet someone you are interested in, you can ask them out! If you fall in love, great! If you don't, theres always more people to get to know! If you try to force dating, or you try to hold it back, you are only limiting yourself from the wonderful possibilities that the lord is saving for you. Don't let anything limit your potential, especially yourself :)
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
I think I skipped it!
When I started this blog, I posted about what I wanted to do with it and where I was coming from but I forgot one very crucial aspect. Who am I anyway???
First off my name is Shane Miner, I love everything sport, my family is my greatest treasure, and Im a Mormon... Oh wait that's not what we are doing here! back to the point.
I was born in Colorado, raised in Utah. I am a city boy through and through. Provo is on the small end of where I am comfortable with. Salt lake is my home. I grew up with one older sister and now I have four bonus siblings from my Moms second marriage. Like I said my family is my life and I would do anything to keep them safe. Im somewhat of a protector and I cant stand to see anyone take advantage of anyone else.
I was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on August 28th 2010 and that is to this day the best decision I have ever made. I say to this day because in March of next year I am going to make the new best decision of my life when I get sealed to my dear Nala. Why next year you may ask? She is needed elsewhere at the moment, specifically Frankfurt Germany. As a convert you can imagine how happy I am that she has decided to serve.
On the subject of serving, I served my mission in Arequipa Peru and I loved every single minute of it! Going on a mission is something that I would recommend for anyone, amazing time in my life.
I am totally a sports enthusiast and if you can think of a sport I have probably tried it out. I have spent my entire life outdoors and I don't see that ever changing. I love puzzling things and can often be found with a rubiks cube in hand. I am a math major and yes I do actually like numbers. a lot more than I like writing!
I love to laugh and be happy and I am willing to be anyones friend. I love giving to others and sometimes I find it hard to accept help in return. Im far from perfect but that isn't the point of this life. I am doing my best and constantly striving to grow, and that is the point!
First off my name is Shane Miner, I love everything sport, my family is my greatest treasure, and Im a Mormon... Oh wait that's not what we are doing here! back to the point.
I was born in Colorado, raised in Utah. I am a city boy through and through. Provo is on the small end of where I am comfortable with. Salt lake is my home. I grew up with one older sister and now I have four bonus siblings from my Moms second marriage. Like I said my family is my life and I would do anything to keep them safe. Im somewhat of a protector and I cant stand to see anyone take advantage of anyone else.
I was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on August 28th 2010 and that is to this day the best decision I have ever made. I say to this day because in March of next year I am going to make the new best decision of my life when I get sealed to my dear Nala. Why next year you may ask? She is needed elsewhere at the moment, specifically Frankfurt Germany. As a convert you can imagine how happy I am that she has decided to serve.
On the subject of serving, I served my mission in Arequipa Peru and I loved every single minute of it! Going on a mission is something that I would recommend for anyone, amazing time in my life.
I am totally a sports enthusiast and if you can think of a sport I have probably tried it out. I have spent my entire life outdoors and I don't see that ever changing. I love puzzling things and can often be found with a rubiks cube in hand. I am a math major and yes I do actually like numbers. a lot more than I like writing!
I love to laugh and be happy and I am willing to be anyones friend. I love giving to others and sometimes I find it hard to accept help in return. Im far from perfect but that isn't the point of this life. I am doing my best and constantly striving to grow, and that is the point!
What I got from the Devo this week
I don't know about anyone else, but the devotional this week was exactly what I needed to hear.
I don't know if it was the fact that I was super tired after not getting much sleep, or if I was just overwhelmed from my life, but I wasn't having the best day Tuesday. Picture this, I am taking 18 credits, work 5 days a week, was studying for midterms while trying to keep on top of homework and taking care of myself physically and spiritually.
I am happy that I can say that no matter how busy I get I never neglect to pray, read my scriptures, go to church, and things like that, but during the devotional I realized something. I am doing all of these things for good reasons, but besides taking a day off for my birthday and not doing any school work on Sundays, I hadn't taken time for myself in weeks. I hadn't stopped to do anything just because I wanted to. I hadn't even spent time with a friend in a couple weeks.
Im trying to find out how I can take this time that I have been given, and balance my goals and aspirations with actually enjoying the process. Does that mean I need to drastically change anything in my life? No. There are things I know that I am going to keep doing, I'm keeping school and my job. Not doing homework on Sunday is non-negotiable. but if there is one thing I have learned is that there is a priority in this life.
1.) experience trials and choose to become like Christ and our Heavenly Father
2.) Family/Marriage/Enjoy the experience
3.) learn and take care of physical needs
My number one goal is to live the gospel and become my best self. if I cant to that I failed the whole purpose of this life. I forgot it for a minute but enjoying this life comes next. I love being happy and Ive realized lately being happy isn't just not being sad. I haven't been sad these last few weeks, but I haven't been happy. I know now where I have changes to make
Im not going to just live this life, I'm going to love it! Here's to being happy!
I don't know if it was the fact that I was super tired after not getting much sleep, or if I was just overwhelmed from my life, but I wasn't having the best day Tuesday. Picture this, I am taking 18 credits, work 5 days a week, was studying for midterms while trying to keep on top of homework and taking care of myself physically and spiritually.
I am happy that I can say that no matter how busy I get I never neglect to pray, read my scriptures, go to church, and things like that, but during the devotional I realized something. I am doing all of these things for good reasons, but besides taking a day off for my birthday and not doing any school work on Sundays, I hadn't taken time for myself in weeks. I hadn't stopped to do anything just because I wanted to. I hadn't even spent time with a friend in a couple weeks.
Who could not be happy with awesome friends that put candles on Jenga!
Im trying to find out how I can take this time that I have been given, and balance my goals and aspirations with actually enjoying the process. Does that mean I need to drastically change anything in my life? No. There are things I know that I am going to keep doing, I'm keeping school and my job. Not doing homework on Sunday is non-negotiable. but if there is one thing I have learned is that there is a priority in this life.
1.) experience trials and choose to become like Christ and our Heavenly Father
2.) Family/Marriage/Enjoy the experience
3.) learn and take care of physical needs
My number one goal is to live the gospel and become my best self. if I cant to that I failed the whole purpose of this life. I forgot it for a minute but enjoying this life comes next. I love being happy and Ive realized lately being happy isn't just not being sad. I haven't been sad these last few weeks, but I haven't been happy. I know now where I have changes to make
Im not going to just live this life, I'm going to love it! Here's to being happy!
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Drastic times, drastic measures.
First off I hope that everyone who could took a picture with the Book of Mormon today! I love the #discoverthebook campaign. Its awesome even if it is not officially church sponsored. I know that the Book of Mormon has changed my life in ways I will never be able to express. I owe everything to the gospel and it was through the Book of Mormon and prayer that I came to know the truth of it.
Today as I was reflecting on what I wanted to be the subject of my fast I was thinking about my week, what went good, what went bad, what I wish I could have changed, what I wish I would have done. As I thought about my week I realized just how much filth I have had to fight off this week. With many things going on constantly one has been popping up more and more. First a little backround.
I am sure that most everyone has heard of 50 Shades of Gray by now. It seems that everyone on the planet thinks that it is wonderful, or they think it is the most atrocious thing to ever happen. Though I definitely agree that it is an awful precept and it makes me sick that such a thing can be getting screen time in normal movie theatres, I do not agree that it is the first, or worst in main stream media. You know what I am talking about. How many movies have inappropriate scenes, how many magazines portray both men and women as objects of gratification, how many popular songs dont have explicit or provocative lyrics. Media is degrading at an alarming rate, and because we see so much of it, we almost don't recognize it is happening anymore.
It was while I was thinking about all of those awful things that surround us that I knew what I was going to fast about, and I knew what I had to do. I am going on a media fast. I am not going to listen to the radio, I am not going to watch tv or movies. I am going to cut these negative and degrading influences from my life entirely. This may seem rather drastic but what am I really losing here? All of these things are simply time fillers. I am taking something that provides no benefit to my life, that can weigh me down and Im eliminating it.
Personally I am tired of fighting negative influences in my life, I dont want to have to stay strong when something comes up, I dont want to search through the radio stations to try and find a song that isnt "that" bad. Those things are not worth it to me. Those things that really matter aren't going anywhere. I still have the love of my life, I have the gospel, I have work and friends and school. If you ask me, that is more than enough!
Today as I was reflecting on what I wanted to be the subject of my fast I was thinking about my week, what went good, what went bad, what I wish I could have changed, what I wish I would have done. As I thought about my week I realized just how much filth I have had to fight off this week. With many things going on constantly one has been popping up more and more. First a little backround.
I am sure that most everyone has heard of 50 Shades of Gray by now. It seems that everyone on the planet thinks that it is wonderful, or they think it is the most atrocious thing to ever happen. Though I definitely agree that it is an awful precept and it makes me sick that such a thing can be getting screen time in normal movie theatres, I do not agree that it is the first, or worst in main stream media. You know what I am talking about. How many movies have inappropriate scenes, how many magazines portray both men and women as objects of gratification, how many popular songs dont have explicit or provocative lyrics. Media is degrading at an alarming rate, and because we see so much of it, we almost don't recognize it is happening anymore.
It was while I was thinking about all of those awful things that surround us that I knew what I was going to fast about, and I knew what I had to do. I am going on a media fast. I am not going to listen to the radio, I am not going to watch tv or movies. I am going to cut these negative and degrading influences from my life entirely. This may seem rather drastic but what am I really losing here? All of these things are simply time fillers. I am taking something that provides no benefit to my life, that can weigh me down and Im eliminating it.
Personally I am tired of fighting negative influences in my life, I dont want to have to stay strong when something comes up, I dont want to search through the radio stations to try and find a song that isnt "that" bad. Those things are not worth it to me. Those things that really matter aren't going anywhere. I still have the love of my life, I have the gospel, I have work and friends and school. If you ask me, that is more than enough!
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Good talks with good friends, and good revelation.
After I got home from class today, I was relaxing for a while before I got into the long hours of homework that will fill the majority of my weekend. Then I got a call from a good friend. Me and this friend often have good talks about life, the gospel, specific doctrines, and our own strengths and weaknesses. I am extremely fortunate to have such good friends in my life. Today this friend was calling with questions about doctrine. In an institute class earlier that day, they had talked about many things, from the garden of Eden, to the millenium. I have always strived to become compentent when it comes to doctrine, and though I have much to learn I feel as if I have a fairly solid understanding of the doctrine.
I am not positive that things didnt die in the garden of eden, but I think they didnt... But that isnt the main point of this post! The Millenium, and more specifically the part about Satan being bound. My friend couldn't quite understand how Satan could justly be bound. It was honestly something I have never thought of before, so like anyone who is confronted with something they dont know, I started shooting off ideas from the top of my head. Maybe it is like the pre-earth life after the war in heaven. We are preparing for the next phase of the test and it is just to not be tempted while we are learning the right? That just didnt quite sound right. It doesnt address why God could justly bind Satan, which would limit our agency.
Then the thought, The scriptures never say that Satan is bound by God, in fact when I looked the scripture up in 1 Nephi 22: 26, It says that because of the righteousness of the people, he cannot be loosed, or in other words he is bound because we wont give him any power to tempt us! Without us giving him power, he has none and can lead no one astray. It is our own personal righteousness that keeps him bound, and it isnt until the second resurrection after the millenium, when the sould of those who did not choose righteousness are resurrected as well, that he is loosed and again has power on the Earth. Whew thats a lot to take in all at once! So lets throw some more on top of it.
The Lord is bound when we fulfill our covenants.
The same acts that bind Satan out of our life, bind God into it.
Jesus Christ and God are bound to each other because they are both perfectly true to their word.
That is why the temptations of Satan had no hold on Jesus in his mortal life (he was bound out the heart of the saviour, who was bound to God.)
Pure light and pure darkness are unforgiving, and absolutes, inclusion of one requires exclusion of the other, being bound to God is by definition binding Satan out of our life.
Jesus Christ , our Heavenly Father, and the Holy Ghost are one because they are all bound to each other
As we align our will with God, we bind him, he binds us, and we all become one
We have the power to bind God, just think about that.
To ever actually bind God, the allure of that power will mean nothing to us, and in the act of becoming bound, we are literally incapable of betraying that bond, because of the power of the bond itself.
Those are just the things I have thought of in the last 15 minutes since having this conversation. This is what is so wonderful about the Gospel, With how many times I had read 1 Nephi, or thought about the millenium, I had never thought of that question. Then because I pondered the doctrine involved I have learned so many things about the nature of obedience and integrity. These are the things that keep me loving this gospel more and more each day.
Have you learned any new doctrine today? Go and learn something new, it is only then that we can progress in our journey to become bound to our Father in Heaven, and only then that we get closer to binding Satan out of our lives.
I am not positive that things didnt die in the garden of eden, but I think they didnt... But that isnt the main point of this post! The Millenium, and more specifically the part about Satan being bound. My friend couldn't quite understand how Satan could justly be bound. It was honestly something I have never thought of before, so like anyone who is confronted with something they dont know, I started shooting off ideas from the top of my head. Maybe it is like the pre-earth life after the war in heaven. We are preparing for the next phase of the test and it is just to not be tempted while we are learning the right? That just didnt quite sound right. It doesnt address why God could justly bind Satan, which would limit our agency.
Then the thought, The scriptures never say that Satan is bound by God, in fact when I looked the scripture up in 1 Nephi 22: 26, It says that because of the righteousness of the people, he cannot be loosed, or in other words he is bound because we wont give him any power to tempt us! Without us giving him power, he has none and can lead no one astray. It is our own personal righteousness that keeps him bound, and it isnt until the second resurrection after the millenium, when the sould of those who did not choose righteousness are resurrected as well, that he is loosed and again has power on the Earth. Whew thats a lot to take in all at once! So lets throw some more on top of it.
The Lord is bound when we fulfill our covenants.
The same acts that bind Satan out of our life, bind God into it.
Jesus Christ and God are bound to each other because they are both perfectly true to their word.
That is why the temptations of Satan had no hold on Jesus in his mortal life (he was bound out the heart of the saviour, who was bound to God.)
Pure light and pure darkness are unforgiving, and absolutes, inclusion of one requires exclusion of the other, being bound to God is by definition binding Satan out of our life.
Jesus Christ , our Heavenly Father, and the Holy Ghost are one because they are all bound to each other
As we align our will with God, we bind him, he binds us, and we all become one
We have the power to bind God, just think about that.
To ever actually bind God, the allure of that power will mean nothing to us, and in the act of becoming bound, we are literally incapable of betraying that bond, because of the power of the bond itself.
Those are just the things I have thought of in the last 15 minutes since having this conversation. This is what is so wonderful about the Gospel, With how many times I had read 1 Nephi, or thought about the millenium, I had never thought of that question. Then because I pondered the doctrine involved I have learned so many things about the nature of obedience and integrity. These are the things that keep me loving this gospel more and more each day.
Have you learned any new doctrine today? Go and learn something new, it is only then that we can progress in our journey to become bound to our Father in Heaven, and only then that we get closer to binding Satan out of our lives.
That time I didnt waste
For those who know me well, it will not come as a surprise that I am really bad when it comes to procrastination. I have spent Years perfecting the art of doing nothing for as long as possible, then doing everything all at once. I know quite a few people do the same. I have come to realize lately that though I am still working on doing things proactivly, there is a lot of time that I have not wasted in my life.
Just this week I got a text from a good friend asking if I was busy that evening because they were going to the temple. I thought of the homework I could be doing during that time and very quickly agreed to go. I ended up leaving my last class early, but could the professor really complain, I mean I was going to the temple, whats really important here! When we got to the temple, we were told that there would be almost a two hour wait before we even got to go get our baptismal whites. I have never been in a temple for so long while not participating in ordinances, and I loved every minute of it. I could have been doing so many things during that time and I was sitting there singing hymns, but none of it mattered as much as feeling the spirit of the lord in his house.
It is easy to forget when we are living so close to a temple just how big of a blessing that really is in our lives. I remember a wonderful woman that I taught on my mission who is as strong as a convert comes. She gave everything to join the church and it broke my heart knowing that she would not be able to save up the money needed to go to the temple in Lima to get out her endowment. Luckily they announced a temple in my mission and she will get to go to that once it is finished, but I guarantee that if she lived in Provo, she would be at the temple weekly, if not more often. The longer we have been members of the church, the easier it is to take for granted the influence of the spirit in our lives. I still remember what it was like, how big of a difference it made in my life to start living the gospel. I know that those same types of feelings have always come back once I started living it again after slipping up.
If there is anything you get out of this post, let it be this. WE are NEVER too busy for the gospel, NEVER too busy to stop and appreciate the beauty of life, NEVER too busy to help a child of God in need. We are never too busy to be able to follow the example of Christ, NEVER!!!
Just this week I got a text from a good friend asking if I was busy that evening because they were going to the temple. I thought of the homework I could be doing during that time and very quickly agreed to go. I ended up leaving my last class early, but could the professor really complain, I mean I was going to the temple, whats really important here! When we got to the temple, we were told that there would be almost a two hour wait before we even got to go get our baptismal whites. I have never been in a temple for so long while not participating in ordinances, and I loved every minute of it. I could have been doing so many things during that time and I was sitting there singing hymns, but none of it mattered as much as feeling the spirit of the lord in his house.
It is easy to forget when we are living so close to a temple just how big of a blessing that really is in our lives. I remember a wonderful woman that I taught on my mission who is as strong as a convert comes. She gave everything to join the church and it broke my heart knowing that she would not be able to save up the money needed to go to the temple in Lima to get out her endowment. Luckily they announced a temple in my mission and she will get to go to that once it is finished, but I guarantee that if she lived in Provo, she would be at the temple weekly, if not more often. The longer we have been members of the church, the easier it is to take for granted the influence of the spirit in our lives. I still remember what it was like, how big of a difference it made in my life to start living the gospel. I know that those same types of feelings have always come back once I started living it again after slipping up.
If there is anything you get out of this post, let it be this. WE are NEVER too busy for the gospel, NEVER too busy to stop and appreciate the beauty of life, NEVER too busy to help a child of God in need. We are never too busy to be able to follow the example of Christ, NEVER!!!
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
I called my blog what???
Still converting convert in Provo, wow that's quite a mouthful. Lets break it down
Still converting: Just because I am a convert to the church in the literal sense, the process of conversion is universal and required of all, and definitely does not stop at baptism. I am still converting to the gospel every day, as are all of us. It doesnt matter to me where any one person is in regards to their personal testimony, as long as they are growing. As long as we are searching and striving to grow and better ourselves, our Father in Heaven is proud of us.
Convert: Yes I am a convert to the church, yes I think that a lot of things that are commonplace behaviours are weird. LDS people are strange! Thats just a fact. Once we all accept it we can move on with our lives. Being weird is good as long as we are weird in the right ways. Be weird in the right way people!
Finally... Im living in Provo, the most LDS, LDS city to be in. I have only been here for a month so far and I have already had tons of funny experiences. By far the most common thing I notice is the differences that happen when everyone assumes that everyone has always had the gospel. Or more likely, they do not realize in the first place that what they are saying is an incorrect assumption about those who aren't members of the church. I want to share a quick story from my past, and my mission, that exemplifies this point exactly.
When I was first attending church, I had zero interest in joining the church, learning anything about the gospel, or even whether or not God existed. Those things did not matter to me. No one could convince me to pray about the church, read scriptures, pay attention in class, etc. because those things didn't matter to me. When I was on my mission, I had an experience talking with other missionaries where they were saying that getting someone to read the scriptures is all they needed to find their testimony. In their eyes, all people are searching for God, and are willing to follow him, they just need to be exposed. As someone who grew up in Utah, without being a member of the church, I can tell you that is definitely not the case. It was not until after almost a year of going to church that I had any desire to learn if God existed. I knew all of the teachings of the church, and by the time I finally met with the missionaries, I practically taught the lessons with them.
The point of this blog is to offer a converts perspective on this crazy LDS community we all love. To help others see that they are not the same as everyone else, and that they can stand to grow from understanding the point of view of others. Hopefully I will help someone understand better the mind of someone who does not have the gospel, and how things are really taken by those outside of the church.
I love this gospel, and I am grateful for the knowledge that I have learned, and the drastic difference that the gospel has made in my life. Its impossible to describe the difference to someone who has always had it, and even harder to describe it to someone who never has. But I know of myself the power of the Gospel Alma 36:24. Just as Alma, I will strive all my days to help others receive the joy that I have received, member and non-member alike.
Still converting: Just because I am a convert to the church in the literal sense, the process of conversion is universal and required of all, and definitely does not stop at baptism. I am still converting to the gospel every day, as are all of us. It doesnt matter to me where any one person is in regards to their personal testimony, as long as they are growing. As long as we are searching and striving to grow and better ourselves, our Father in Heaven is proud of us.
Convert: Yes I am a convert to the church, yes I think that a lot of things that are commonplace behaviours are weird. LDS people are strange! Thats just a fact. Once we all accept it we can move on with our lives. Being weird is good as long as we are weird in the right ways. Be weird in the right way people!
Finally... Im living in Provo, the most LDS, LDS city to be in. I have only been here for a month so far and I have already had tons of funny experiences. By far the most common thing I notice is the differences that happen when everyone assumes that everyone has always had the gospel. Or more likely, they do not realize in the first place that what they are saying is an incorrect assumption about those who aren't members of the church. I want to share a quick story from my past, and my mission, that exemplifies this point exactly.
When I was first attending church, I had zero interest in joining the church, learning anything about the gospel, or even whether or not God existed. Those things did not matter to me. No one could convince me to pray about the church, read scriptures, pay attention in class, etc. because those things didn't matter to me. When I was on my mission, I had an experience talking with other missionaries where they were saying that getting someone to read the scriptures is all they needed to find their testimony. In their eyes, all people are searching for God, and are willing to follow him, they just need to be exposed. As someone who grew up in Utah, without being a member of the church, I can tell you that is definitely not the case. It was not until after almost a year of going to church that I had any desire to learn if God existed. I knew all of the teachings of the church, and by the time I finally met with the missionaries, I practically taught the lessons with them.
The point of this blog is to offer a converts perspective on this crazy LDS community we all love. To help others see that they are not the same as everyone else, and that they can stand to grow from understanding the point of view of others. Hopefully I will help someone understand better the mind of someone who does not have the gospel, and how things are really taken by those outside of the church.
I love this gospel, and I am grateful for the knowledge that I have learned, and the drastic difference that the gospel has made in my life. Its impossible to describe the difference to someone who has always had it, and even harder to describe it to someone who never has. But I know of myself the power of the Gospel Alma 36:24. Just as Alma, I will strive all my days to help others receive the joy that I have received, member and non-member alike.
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