Alignment of life

I have studied and taught a number of times in the past weeks about some interesting perspective on the doctrine of Christ and the steps of salvation.  

As a foundation I will layout the steps and doctrine side by side.

Faith-----Commitments

Repentance------Commandments

Baptism------Covenants

Gift of the Holy Ghost-------

---------------------------------------Character of Christ

Endure to the end-------------

So see if this makes sense.

As we begin to exercise faith in Christ, we learn to make and keep commitments.  Simple they may be to begin, but we start making and keeping them.

Then as we do that, we begin the process of repentance, which leads us to begin living the commandments outlined by the Savior.

As we live those commandments, we qualify ourselves to enter into our first covenant, being baptism.  

So here we are, we have exercised the first principles and the first ordinance of the doctrine of Christ.  And we have traveled the path of starting commitments, keeping the commandments, and entering covenants.

Then later we receive the gift of the holy ghost and start our journey of enduring to the end.  As we use that gift, and endure in faith, we then take upon ourselves the character of Christ.  This transforms us into better people, better mothers and fathers, and better saints.

So there you have it, in a nutshell.  The doctrine of Christ laid along the path in the work of salvation.  As you study and learn in, you can see it woven into nearly all principles of the gospel.

Today in the 3rd hour we all talked about the doctrine of the family and this is again woven in.  All that we do in this life is to travel that path, transforming ourselves and entering the ordinances required (all possible through the atonement of Christ) that help us to be mothers and fathers that help us be like our father in heaven, qualifying ourselves for eternal life.  Or life like God.

If you have not, take the chance to read Sis. Becks address on teaching the doctrine of the family.

This was another crazy week.  With my job changing so much it has been a whirlwind.  But when I have trusted in the Lord and the gospel as an anchor, it has meant calm in the soul.  Busy, yes.  New challenges, yes.  Uncomfortable times, yes.  But trust that all will work for our good and that I will still be able to deliver valuable service to the company and be trusted to continue on and help others.  In fact they asked me to manage a new high potential person that is hired by Emerson corporate because they like what I do in positive outlook, big thinking and supportive nature.  It is another load but also a vote of confidence.  I have to trust in Him to help me see how to accomplish all that is needed and to help others do the same.

Just like at church, the more time I spend building and developing others, the more gets accomplished.  If I tried to do it myself I would accomplish only so much.  But if I spend my time on others, more happens and more gets done.  Then I "get" more done with really "doing" less myself.  It's a glorious principle when you are able to get to management and leadership.  Even without a formal "manager" role, as you lead others in this way, things are better and more is done.

Saturday was fun.  We set out to replace the outside lights with all matching ones.  We have been mismatched and hand me down since we came to this house.  But we saved part of our tax refund and finally felt OK to spend that on this that we have been saving for since we moved in.  They look great.  Mom and Lys even did a ton of the removal and replace with the new.  They are pros at doing electrical work.  They learned so fast!

Ty and I were going to do a lot of it, but we also were doing a "simple" job on the brakes for Buzz.  Well, you know how that can go.  We spent a ton of time dealing with challenges.  A broken caliper bracket bolt (sheared the head right off), rotors frozen to the hubs, not knowing they were frozen and thinking they were one piece, etc.  We removed and replaced things we did not need to, but in the end, Ty found the clues, and with the help of the sledge hammer we separated them and replaced the rotors.  We had the hubs back on, got the brakes reset, and all is well.  A great learning exercise on hubs, spindle nuts, cotter pins, rust frozen rotors, broken bolt heads, lug studs, dust caps, press fits, and others.

When we finished we rushed to clean up and we all went to the temple to do baptisms.  Even mom did some!  It was wonderful.  Ty and I helped officiate int he confirmations and Ty was a witness for a few baptisms.

Then we went to dinner and were going to pick up Sam White from the Columbus airport.  But times were misunderstood, rides home for Ty and Alysia with the Bennett's (saw them at the temple as we left) were arranged, and mom and I had a wonderful time talking as we waited until Sam arrived, then drove back to Tyre to drop him off.  It has not been that late (1 AM) that I have arrived home in a long time.  I am not so sure I would recommend it.  But a wonderful day, especially with mom, Ty and Alysia.  We missed Kieren, Gavin and Skjelse/Jeff.  Some day!

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.  It works.

Love you forever,

Dad

3 John 1:4

He can do more

What a LOOOOOOOng week back. It's always hard to come back from many weeks gone and try to catch up. Along with other changes at work this proved to be a week to just hold on and not fall off. From Monday at 7 until Friday at 3:30 I had no break in meetings or chances to catch up. I used every "dull" moment to try and read email, follow up with others, etc. then Friday afternoon I was hyper productive and made good progress. Not all the way caught up but I hope this week will be good and I will get a handle on past weeks and new job responsibilities. 

Saturday we stand the pergola and it looks great. It's so nice to have that done and to feel that project is complete. Sure I want to make future improvements, but for now it feels good. 

After we had just finished the sister missionaries came to help so instead mom baked cream puffs with them to take to others. It was nice of them to volunteer to help. 

They had just returned from the temple with a new young adult that was baptized last week. She has many friends in the Ward from this year and last and just graduated this past school year. She has a great testimony and wanted to do everything she could. She even found her ancestors names to take to the temple with her. 

I lean red even stronger this week that when we turn over our lives to Christ, when we will truly accept to do what he asks, to serve in callings, to volunteer to serve others, to put gospel things first in our lives, then when we do that he makes much more of our lives than we ever could on our own. No matter what we try He is just steps ahead of us. He will provide what we need, as we act in faith he provides even what we want. And as we turn our priorities over to him we even get things or situations that we thought "wouldn't it be cool if" in our lives. And to make it even more evident, just because he can he even goes above that and provides things we haven't even thought of or considers. He just does more and more to overcompensate anything we try to give. 

It's been a really great week. I have thought of Gavin in his new place as there are timeshare units there. I just never really knew about the place. Kieren called and we had a good chat while she was on the way to the temple. And mom talked to Skjelse this week too. All in all a good week to be here on earth. 

Love you forever,

Dad

3 John 1:4

Last week of vacation

I don't think I have ever driven 26 hours straight before. It was such an adventure!  It really was fun with Ty and Alysia and mom. And everything went well. We brought home around 300 lbs of meat and it made it OK. Some of it defrosted but much was still rock hard. Kinda gross but it made it. And now we have steak and roast to celebrate!

We cleaned up around the home when we got back, and I spent lots of time fixing cars and the. Ty and I went and bought the new riding mower. I think Ty had a fun time being the first to ride and mow with it. It looks way faster than the last one and it mows great. The mulching kit did its thing and all the clippings are not in clumps but are nicely feeding the lawn. 

I burned lots of calories this week too. Back in the heat and humidity of Ohio. I did a bulk of the work outside in the heat so it melted me. But I got all pretty well fixed or patched so I'm fairly pleased with what got done. 

I realized stronger this week how much the Lord looketh upon the heart. And you can't tell what is most important from any outward appearance. But when working within a calling or stewardship we can rely upon the spirit to help us see into the eternal heart of an individual and discern their status. I have prayed for years for the gift of discernment and now it is more easily employed. And as stated last conference, "our distance between us and the Lord is important, but even more vital is the direction we are facing."  That can often be seen by insight into our hearts. It is a delightful experience to see someone who is not perfect, but trying, and to see that their heart wants the eternally right things and they are working hard to follow that. 

Keep up with your own personal gospel study and meaningful personal prayers. 

Love you forever,

Dad

3 John 1:4 

#foreverfamily

What a wonderful week I have had. I could get used to this not working but being with family thing. We left Ohio and got to Utah which I wrote of. But July 4th was really fun with family and events. Ty and Kieren did the Main Street mile in Hyrum. And we just hung out with family and had a wonderful time catching up with all of them. Then we came down to Kaysville and say Brigg and Michelle and kids. They are fun to be with. We them took an evening hike up to Adam's canyon falls. Ty and Mom and I did it and it was very nice up a small canyon to a great falls. We came out as it really was dark so we made it just in time. 

Lys went down with Kieren that morning and had fun at BYU while we were with Ty. 

The next morning started early for a great reason. Growing up in Ohio does not give one the opportunity to really experience mountains much. And Ty wanted to climb to a mountain peak before he left. So he and I left early and hiked up to Squaw Peak above Provo and the temple. It was really nice, a beautiful day and a great hike. We did not talk much because I would have puked too much. But what a view for a reward. 

And we finished with plenty of time. We cleaned up, had lunch, and then had a lifetime experience again dropping Ty at the MTC. I as so pleased with Ty and Gavin that you would fulfill your Priesthood duty and also make the choice to serve full time. It was a proud papa moment. 

On Friday Kieren, Lys, Mom and I went down to Zion's and had a great 2 day extravaganza. We stopped by the family of a sister serving in our Ward to drop off some heavy things since we were goi g right by. They were very nice and we enjoyed meeting them. 

We then spent the eve hiking Emerald pools and the Kayenta trail. We again left late and when we got back to the hotel it was late late. 

We decided to go to Alfredo's Mexican. And the other sign says Alberto's, so we really don't know which. But it was awesome. As authentic as we can find in America. We all loved it. And then crashed. We got up fairly early (not early enough) and hiked the narrows up to Wall Street and it was fantastic. We had so much fun in the river and everyone did so well. 

On the way home we saw the cutest thing on the back of a semi. See the pic. Hilarious. 

Today we went to our old Ward in Orem. Think of Alma 17 first few verses and how I feel about seeing so many that still are working out their own salvation. It was wonderful to see.  We also discovered that Caleb Andreason's mission president is our old stake president Bro. And Sis. Watson. Small world. 

I loved the lesson in priesthood as we studied the temple and the refuge it provides in our lives. Spiritual, physical, temporal, and emotional. The temple, the recommend, qualifying ourselves to be there, they all play a part in helping us find personal peace amongst the turmoil around us. 

I have so enjoyed seeing everyone, being with Kieren, dropping of Ty, and remembering just recently seeing Skjelse and Jeff. I am so happy Lys is still with us and gives me good hugs. And I am excited to see Gavin again soon. 

Gavin, Liam said tonight your. Is keeps asking when you are coming back. You must have made a great impression. They are so hoping you will come back and work there. Liam said you could start any time!

Love you all forever. 

Dad

3 John 1:4

Speeding Along

This week has been a whirlwind. Everyone has been everywhere. Skjelse and Jeff in Ohio, Gavin and Ty in Mexico, Kieren in Utah, Alysia in Tiffin (EFY), and I went to China. I got back Friday and we left a few hours later and drove to Utah. It's been wonderful and crazy. 

I got to finally ride the maglev train in Shanghai. I have been wanting to do that since I have been going there. It was fun, 300km/hr and my dad would have loved it. I especially liked the decelerating glass technology they use. It slows down the outside in visual perception so it does not make you sick. It was great. A usual hour to hour and a half drive took 8 minutes on the train. 

While I was in China I got more food art. I am amazed with what they do with food to make it as a decoration. Enjoy!

It was a fun 4th with family and to see the events around Hyrum. Good memories we all shared here. And we were surprised by Stuart and Shar showing up 5 minutes after we arrived. It was such a surprise. Totally unexpected but welcomed for sure. 

I have again grown this week in realizing that when we follow the prompting a we are given them things will turn out better than if we try to do our own thing. Time and again as we will stop, reflect, and ask we will get direction and can accomplish more than if we rely on ourselves. 

The sky and horizon was so beautiful as we drive across Wyoming and northern Utah. We live in a wonderful country. 

Remember those that are and have served on the frontiers of freedom so that we can enjoy what we now have. And do your part to protect what has made is a nation. 

Dad