Defensive Tactics

Paul Stephens has it all--a wonderful job at the FBI, a new girlfriend, and a great apartment. Even when Jimmy, a friend from his past, unexpectedly ends up on his couch, Paul has no worries. But when arresting a corrupt judge puts his girlfriend's life in danger, Paul and Jimmy will do anything to save her. How far will Paul go to protect the ones he loves? Filled with suspense and action, Defensive Tactics shows just how much the bonds of friendship can endure.

Defensive Tactics is a LDS based suspense thriller. It is the debut novel by Steve Westover.

The book had several well placed hooks at the end of chapters that compelled me to turn the page and keep reading. Steve’s book has it all. Good and bad FBI agents, good and bad cops, bad judges mingling with mobsters, and likeable protagonists.

Interwoven into the suspense/thriller motif is a character struggling with his faith. Even the “true to the faith” characters make judgment calls that bring their ethics into question as they strive to accomplish the greater good by breaking a few rules. The story was very enjoyable, and devoid of overt sexuality and profane language that is very prevalent in much of today’s literature.

The book did contain a few point of view (POV) shifts that many writers would disapprove of; but since I frequently disapprove of writers that have conniptions over POV shifts, I don’t consider it a huge deal.

Defensive Tactics is a solid novel by an up and coming writer. I have no doubts Steve’s writing will get even better as he continues to hone his craft. You can purchase a copy of Defensive Tactics by clicking here.

Note: I did receive a free copy of the book so I could review it. However, the free book in no way influenced my write up.

How the Red Sea, er, Nile was parted

According to this article, there is a scientific explanation for the parting of the Red Sea, except it had to happen at the Nile.

It's a very interesting article. However, after having read it, I find it easier to believe that Jehovah controlled the powers of nature to split the Red Sea. I'm waiting to see the scientific explanation that shows how Christ walked on water...

The Missing Piece

The Forgotten Man

Elder Quentin L. Cook the blogger

This is possibly the first blog post by an apostle, so I think that makes it note worthy. You can find it here.

Weber County Fair

Wendy, Colby, and I went to the Weber County Fair yesterday. If you brought a can of food for the Utah food bank, you got in for $1.

This is a picture of a capuchin monkey. In the lower left hand of a cage is a ring tailed lemur. The lemur looked just like King Julian from the Penguins of Madagascar cartoons.

Here's Colby trying to ride the bull. I think that his left hand is supposed to be waving in the air and not desperately trying to hold onto the back of the bull. He actually does really well on mechanical bulls.

The sand castles I made at the beach never looked this good.

Here's the rest of the sand art creation. It's still a work in progress.

One-year-old white tiger. they also had a Bengal tiger, a mountain lion, and several other cool animals.

Pioneer Day

The significance of Pioneer Days in Utah.
The first company of Mormon pioneers, led by Brigham Young, officially entered the Valley of the Great Salt Lake on 24 July 1847. For Latter-day Saints, this event has come to signal the founding of a new homeland for the purpose of establishing their earthly Zion.

In all of United States history, few people have suffered for their religious convictions as did the early Latter-day Saints. Because of the rapid growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and what many contemporary religionists viewed as the heretical doctrine of living prophets and modern revelation, many outsiders viewed Latter-day Saints with suspicion and contempt. During the first two decades of the Church's existence, Latter-day Saints repeatedly experienced the cycle of migration, settlement (including purchasing the lands they settled in), and expulsion. Within the span of 17 years, the fast-growing body of Latter-day Saints moved en masse from the Finger Lakes region of western New York State (1830-1831), to Kirtland, Ohio (1831-1838), Jackson County, Missouri (1831-1839) and Commerce/Nauvoo, Illinois (1839-1848), where their prophet, Joseph Smith, was murdered by a mob. In the dead of winter 1846, the Latter-day Saints once again abandoned their homes and began the long, hard trek to the Rocky Mountains, where they would at last find welcome refuge.

Extermination Order
Following eight years of convergence and settlement by thousands of Latter-day Saint converts in northern Missouri, tensions with neighboring communities reached a climax. On 27 October 1838, Missouri Governor Lilburn W. Boggs signed one of the most heinous documents in American history, his Mormon "extermination order," declaring, "The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated, or driven from the State, if necessary for the public peace" (quoted in History of the Church, 3:175). This military directive called for the forced mid-winter exodus from Missouri of approximately 10,000 men, women and children from their own farms, homes, and lands. On 25 June 1976, Missouri Governor Christopher S. Bond issued an executive order rescinding the Extermination Order, noting its legal invalidity and formally apologizing in behalf of the state of Missouri for the suffering it had caused the Latter-day Saints. By the fall of 1845, preparations for the exodus were well under way; the proposed departure date would be, in the words of Brigham Young, "as soon as the grass grows" (quoted in Wallace Stegner, The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail, [1964], 38) in the following spring. But the mobs wouldn't rest. On 4 February 1846, in the heart of a Midwestern winter so cold and bitter the Mississippi River froze over; the Latter-day Saints were driven from their homes and lands down a street which came to be known as the "Street of Tears" and into the unknown mystery of the western frontier. Arrival in the Salt Lake Valley had a special meaning to each emigrant. For many it signified the end of their arduous journey. They had endured to the end of the Mormon Trail, and their participation in that memorable trek gave metaphor and meaning to life itself. Even for those who were not Latter-day Saints, the first glimpse of this broad, open valley after such hardship provided a deeply emotional moment. The trek from Nauvoo, Illinois to the Salt Lake Valley was 1,297 miles. Many of the pioneers made the trek on foot while pushing handcarts that held their few meager belongings.
1 in 6 perished along the route. Despite the trials and hardships of the forced trek, the Latter Day Saints remained upbeat. In the evenings they would gather together and frequently sang hymns. Come, Come, Ye Saints became their anthem on their journey to the Salt Lake Valley.

Come, come, ye saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
Tis better far for us to strive our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell -
All is well! All is well!

Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
'Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward if we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we'll have this tale to tell-
All is well! All is well!

We'll find the place which God for us prepared,
Far away, in the West,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the saints, will be blessed.
We'll make the air, with music ring, Shout praises to our God and King;
Above the rest these words we'll tell -
All is well! All is well!

And should we die before our journey's through,
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again to see the Saints their rest obtain,
Oh, how we'll make this chorus swell-
All is well! All is well!