Matthew 7: 7-11 Random Coincidence?

I had a very interesting experience last evening. But before I get to it, I need to provide you with a little background information. If you scroll a few blog posts down you’ll see that we recently moved to the Dallas, TX area. Whenever you move it gives you the opportunity to ask yourself, “Do I really want to lug, ‘that item’ again to a new place?” It’s a great opportunity to throw stuff away.

As is usually the case with our moves, I went first for work, and Wendy tied up loose ends at home and came later. In this instance the loose end was allowing our son, Colby, to graduate high school before moving. Anyway, we had dining room chairs that were well past their useful lives. They were broken, tattered, stained, etc. Wendy made the executive decision to leave them behind.

This presented unique challenges as we don’t really have any good chairs now. We had a couple of folding metal chairs, a couple of $10 plastic office chairs with wheels, i.e. we could sit, but our dining room was not what anyone would describe as aesthetically pleasing. It was functional, that was good enough to start with.

If you scroll further down my blog you’ll see that I was in Boston a while back on a business trip. I had a great time there. I had the opportunity to attend the ward where I was staying. A kindly man asked if I wanted to join him and his wife for dinner. I think they like their anonymity so I’m not going to post their names, but if you visit Boston and you run into them your lives will be blessed by the experience I can assure you. Anyway, when I got to their house I was informed that they had a tradition that everyone that ate there had to sign the table cloth. The man pulled out his table cloth (you do not eat over this table cloth), and laid it across the table. I looked at him dumbfounded. He chuckled and replied, “Yeah, I know. Just try to find somewhere to sign.” The table cloth was covered in signatures.

I asked them if they knew how many signatures were on the table cloth. He, being a mechanical engineer, was tracking that in an Excel spreadsheet. His wife said, “We’ve gotten a little behind in updating the spreadsheet, but there’s a little over 2,000 names on it.” Seriously, how cool is that?

It was a wonderful evening. They had invited over others as well and we had a great evening together. It inspired me. I went home and bought a table cloth. I do not know if I’ll come near the 2,000 signatures they have, but we’re trying.

Okay, so that’s the back story. I own a table cloth. The intent of the table cloth is to motivate me to go out of my comfort zone and invite people over for dinner. I’m an accountant, so I like my Excel spreadsheets, but I’ll never be accused of being an extrovert. I don’t have enough chairs to be inviting people over for dinner, and we haven’t found money in the budget yet to buy enough for our dining room.

Enter Matthew 7: 7-11:

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

After our family scripture study we have been praying to be able to acquire some chairs so we can invite people over for dinner. My friends in Boston seemed to invite over people that were visiting or brand new to the ward. I thought I would do likewise. It really meant a great deal to me that they invited me, a complete stranger, over for dinner. I was on the road, missing my family, and they filled a need when I needed it most. Maybe I could do the same for someone else.

I think at this point I also need insert Ether 12:6:

6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.

We have invited the missionaries over a few times since we’ve moved here, but we hadn’t yet invited anyone else. Last Sunday, I invited a friend from work to go to church with us and I would make them their favorite meal, Mac n Cheese afterward. (Coincidentally, I make a killer mac n cheese with Smoked Gouda, Aged Asiago, and Sharp Cheddar).

My friend from work became the 25th signature on the table cloth; I’m not quite to 2,000 yet.

Last night we had the missionaries over for dinner. Just as a side note, missionaries don’t mind sitting in rickety, broken down chairs. Anyway, I’m driving them home and as I’m doing so, we’re going through road construction and it looks like they’re about to close the road down. I realize that I’ll have to find another way back home. As I was thinking it dawned on me that the way I would’ve chosen wouldn't work also due to the construction, so I traveled home along a different route that I had never gone before. I was fairly certain I could get home that way, but I wasn’t sure until I actually tried it.

As I’m driving through a residential neighborhood, low and behold, I see several dining room chairs on a lawn with a for sale sign on them. It wasn’t a garage sell. It was after 8:00 p.m. and it was just chairs and a couple of pictures.

I raced home and got Wendy. I had no idea what they were selling for, but if they were just sitting on a lawn I was guessing the owners of the chairs were willing to deal. The owners were a younger couple that had to move. They couldn’t fit the dining room table and chairs into their new place and so they were selling a complete set of six dining room chairs and four other very nice chairs. For less than the price of what two of the chairs would’ve cost retail, we acquired all ten.

Coincidence that I was driving a path I never had before? Coincidence that the very items I needed were sitting on a lawn? Not even by a long shot. I think the Lord now expects me to invite people over since he found us some chairs. Who knows, come visit our ward and you might get dinner out of it too.

I Nephi 18 – A Study in Contrasts

I have always been fascinated by this chapter of scripture. It shows a significant contrast in how Nephi and his older siblings, Laman and Lemuel, respond to calls from the Lord.

As we read in the previous chapter, Nephi was commanded to build a ship. He had never done this before. His brothers mocked him, and refused to help. Eventually the Lord required him to use a little divinely inspired percussive persuasion to get them moving. It was ONLY after this experience that they repented and worshipped the Lord.

I get the impression however, that they weren’t thrilled with the task of building a ship when they believed that their brother had no idea of what he is doing. This point is brought home in verse 4, when we read that it was ONLY after the ship was built and looked good that his older brothers “humbled themselves again before the lord.”

The point being that Laman and Lemuel would only repent after they saw a sign or received some blessing from the Lord. Nephi’s life is in stark contrast to that paradigm.

When Nephi was commanded to build a ship, his response wasn’t, “Love to Lord, but I have no idea how to do that so if you could find someone with a little know how, I’ll chip in.” He got to work, and by that I mean he dug the ore to build the tools he would need to build a ship and then built the ship.

So the ship is built. Everyone agrees that it is well made. They set off for the promised land. At some point in time in their journey, his brethren and the sons of Ishmael and also their wives, began to be very rude. I’m not exactly sure what that means, but it caused Nephi anxiety that it would cause the Lord to stop helping them on their journey.

Accordingly, he asked them to tone down their behavior. Did they comply? Of course not. They got angry at him and eventually tied Nephi to the mast of the ship. This is the part that really amazes me about Nephi. For most of us, at least for me, it would be human nature to say, “Really Lord? You had me go through so much grief just to get it built and now I’m tied to its mast by my ingrate brothers?” He was tied to the mast for 4 days. Stop to think about that for a while. There are certain things that the human body needs to do on a daily basis, like use the restroom. He was not untied for 4 days. Anything he needed to do during that period was done strapped to the ship’s mast. How humiliating. Are you with me here? He built the ship to save him and his family, including his brothers. He has done everything he can to serve those that hate him and would like to see him dead. Instead of griping about his situation, or cursing the Lord for the injustice of it all, the scriptures state, “Nevertheless, I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions.”.

Awesome right? Here’s a person that had every right to complain…but didn’t. I try to think of this scripture often as I’m going through challenges and struggles. It helps me to remember that the Lord really is aware of what I’m going through, and He has his purposes for what He wants me to experience and become. I only hope that I can try to be a little more like Nephi as I’m traversing life’s difficult ocean of trials and tribulations.

Memorial Day

During this Memorial Day weekend I wish to publicly state my gratitude to the fine young men and women that so graciously sacrifice their all to ensure the freedoms I so dearly love.

The move to Texas

Wendy and I keep trying to put down roots wherever we move...it just hasn't happened yet. We lived in Layton, UT for the last three years. We loved it there and felt tremendously blessed that the Lord put us there for a short while. However, that while is now ended and we're in the process of moving again.

As usual, I move first due to work and Wendy is left behind to take care of all of the difficult challenges of moving a house. Fortunately, my employer has provided a moving company to pack and move our belongings.

I've been living in the Irving, TX area (between Dallas and Fort Worth) for the last month. I can testify to the truthfulness of Genesis 2:18, "It is not good that the man should be alone." I'm really looking forward to having my wife and son join me in a couple of weeks.

In the mean time, I have found great strength in attending church on Sunday. I find my time with the saints to be a refuge from the storm of life. Fortunately, I think that I may have found the friendliest ward in the church. That would be the Dallas 6th Ward. I attended a couple of wards in the area. Walking into this ward, I was greeted by several people that all went out of their way to introduce me to others. I was sitting on the back row and Alfred, (a very kindly gentleman), came back to me and said, "Why don't you come sit with me?" You need to read that last sentence with a Scottish accent to fully appreciate Alfred.

Alfred is also the class president for the Gospel Doctrine class. At the beginning of Sunday School he introduced me to everyone. After Sunday School, he assigned someone to take me to priesthood.

I was introduced again to the group in opening exercises. I mentioned in both of my introductions that I was looking for a house to rent. The next week when I came back a woman came up to me and said, "Have you found a place to live yet? I found a place in our ward boundaries but I didn't know how to get a hold of you." That is fellowshipping.

As I've been looking for a place to live I have tried to fashion my prayers along the lines of, "Lord send me where you want me to be." After attending the Dallas 6th ward my prayers were, "Lord send me where you want me to be, and if it happens that you want me in the Dallas 6th Ward, that's okay with me too."

I found a house in the ward for my family and me. I'm so grateful to the Lord that I have found such a friendly ward and I look forward to the opportunity to getting involved.

Good bye Layton, UT. I made a lot of great friends there. You were definitely the place I needed to live for the last few years. The Lord, Wendy, Colby and I all know why we lived there.

We're looking forward to new chalenges and making new friends in Dallas.

The Assassination of Governor Boggs

From the Back Cover:

Twenty-five years ago Governor Lilburn Boggs was shot at in his home, but the gunman was never found. Now Detective Calvin Pogue has been hired by the Boggs family to open the cold case. From one end of the country to the other Detective Pogue follows clues that lead him relentlessly to the legendary Mormon gunman Porter Rockwell - who still isn't making things easy for anyone! Join Detective Pogue as he steps into this hair raising mystery and tracks down Gov. Boggs’s enemies and friends to a finale you won’t believe.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s hard not to like a book about a character described on Wikipedia as “The Destroying Angel of Mormondom.”

Most of the book is written from the point of view Detective Pogue. Since this is LDS Historical Fiction, I expected it to have a fairly strong LDS bias. I was pleasantly surprised that most of the book didn’t. Detective Pogue is trying to decipher who attempted to assassinate Gov. Boggs. The anti-Mormon people he interviews, like John Bennett, speak quite ill about Mormons and their religion. At the same time, the LDS members that are interviewed in connection with the case describe the persecution they experienced at the hands of Gov. Boggs and the Missouri mobs.

Every now and then we get to read snippets from Porter Rockwell:

If ever I had inclinations toward the Christian ways of turnin’ the other cheek, they left me that day. I determined to find the means to get me some guns and learn how to use them. Them mobbin’ pukes would never get away with attackin’ my family. Never Again.

I was discussing this book with a friend at work. Once he heard that Porter Rockwell was a main character he became quite animated telling me what he knew about him. Ironically, that evening as I continued reading the book, I read in it, the exact things my friend told me about Porter. I appreciate when an author does their research and includes fact in their historical fiction.

The author, Rod Miller, does an excellent job of “changing voice” for each character. It is a difficult thing to do, i.e. create several different ways of speaking and thinking for each character when they’re coming out of one person’s (the author’s) head. Rod did it very skillfully. I highly recommend this book to anyone that likes either historical fiction or just a good mystery. You can buy the book HERE. This book will make a great Christmas gift. You might want to buy two copies though, because you’re going to want to read it too, and no one likes unwrapping a used book for Christmas.

FTC note: I did receive a free copy of the book so I could review it. However, that didn’t influence my write up.

Boston

I'm in the middle of a business trip in Boston. Well, technically I'm in Danvers, which is about 19 miles north of Boston. Danvers used to be Salem Village which is where the witch trials all started. This is the view out of my hotel window.

Today's Saturday, i.e. I'm not working, so I decided to take the train to Boston. The train station dropped me off at North Station and I started walking towards Faneuil Hall. While walking, I came across a street called something like Robert "RIP" Valenti Way. It made me wonder, if we don't include "RIP" for all streets named after deceased persons are we being insensitive...?

I finally got there. Here's a few pics.



There were several street performers there including a human statue and a guy riding a unicycle while flinging out two yoyos.


I kept walking along the Freedom trail and came across this:


This is a picture inside the Old South Meeting House. Benjamin Franklin was baptized here and the seeds of the rebellion that led to the Tea Party in Boston Harbor started inside these walls. Here's a picture of the pulpit.

I figured I'd just keep walking to Boston Commons. It was on the Freedom Trail. When I get there I see two live bands at different spots in the park. There are food vendors and concession stands selling souvenirs, etc. There was a sea of humanity milling about and I was curious what kind of festival was going on. I get to the middle of the festival, passing through the middle of very interesting people, to see these booths:


Yes, unknown to me, I walked smack dab into a "Legalize Marijuana," festival. It was at this point that I truly realized I was no longer in Utah...
I wondered what that distinctive odor was that wafted through the crowds. I might still be buzzed. Thank you Boston for making me have to go confess to my bishop about indirectly breaking the Word of Wisdom...

Anyway, once I realized what the festival was celebrating I decided it was time to leave.

As I was on the outskirts of Faneuil Hall I came across an epic group of street dancers. Still images do not do them justice. They contorted their bodies into positions that I don't think humans were meant to twist into. I loved the guy that did a back handspring flip over four people.

The Key of Kilenya

The Key of Kilenya is the debut novel of Andrea Pearson. From the back cover of the book:

When two vicious wolves chase fourteen-year-old Jacob Clark down a path from our world into another, his life is forever changed. He has no idea they have been sent by the Lorkon--evil, immortal beings who are jealous of powers he doesn't know he possesses--powers they desire to control.

The inhabitants of the new world desperately need Jacob's help in recovering a magical key that was stolen by the Lorkon and is somehow linked to him. If he helps them, his life will be at risk. But if he chooses not to help them, both our world and theirs will be in danger. The Lorkon will stop at nothing to unleash the power of the key--and Jacob's special abilities.

I love fantasy novels and found this to be a worthy first effort into the genre. Andrea's writing improved as the book went along.

The protagonist, Jacob, is assisted by a race of people called the Makalos. Someone else described this race in their mind as being a cross between Native Americans and Ewoks. That's about how I pictured them too. The pacing in the book is good, I would've liked more descriptions of what the primary characters looked like, i.e. Jacob, but the action of the book helped me overlook some of the lack of descriptions.

One minor nit, sometimes the characters all spoke with the same voice. They all used the word, "wow" way more than they should have.

The beginning of each chapter had a journal entry from another person in the tale. I really enjoyed that. While following the primary line of the story, I was allowed to see briefly another character line. That gave two very different and distinct views of what was happening, and why it was happening.

I look forward to the sequel and reading the continuing saga of Jacob and his friends as they try to save damsels in distress and two worlds from annihilation.

You can purchase a copy of the book here.

You can learn more about the author here.