Some of my views about my religion. Note: I do not speak for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The blog is purely my responsibility and I alone, am responsible for its content.
From the last frontier, Space. A must-have, out of this world adventure! Star Scout Rising, First Trail by Gary Darby is a thoughtful, awe-inspiring, and spine-tingling Sci-Fi mystery that follows a young man named Del Baldura during his quest for knowledge, truth, and discovery in the distant future of human and alien kind. This story has it all superb background, surprises, mystery, love, futuristic technological possibilities, bizarre life forms, and a hero trying to make sense of his duty and loyalty, his current leadership responsibilities, and his search for truth about part of his and his family's history. Volume One of a three-volume set, Darby hits a grand-slam with this first novel. Smart and thought provoking. Volume Two due out in 2011.
I thoroughly enjoyed Star Scout Rising, First Trail Volume One. Sci-Fi fans will thoroughly enjoy the “technical” descriptions that explain deep space exploration so believably. I really liked the writing. Each character of a story should have his or her own unique voice. Since typically a story is told by one person—the author, that can be a challenge.
I’m always pleased and very impressed when I can read dialogue and know exactly who is speaking even if the author didn’t spell it out. Of course, writers do spell out who’s talking, but if the character really has their own voice, the reader will come to recognize it. My favorite character in the story is Sami. He is not the main character, that would be Del Baldura. However, he is Del’s close friend and fellow Star Scout Cadet. He’s quirky, fun, and when he was in a scene a smile automatically came to my face.
The content of the story is clean and appropriate for all ages. The plot is compelling and will have you turning pages until you reach the final one. There are several story lines that don’t have closure. This is the first book of a trilogy and so you’ll have to read the next two books to get everything. I for one am eagerly awaiting volume two which should hit the shelves in 2011.
You can purchase the book by going here. If Kindle is your thing, try this link.
Legal disclaimer: I did receive a free copy of this book to review. My opinions of the book are in no way influenced by receiving a free copy.
I read an interesting article today from the Washington Post. The author is a professor of philosophy for Biola. He is not LDS, but sees a lot of good things about LDS people and their values.
Mormonism is old enough by American standards to feel "ancient," but young enough to make the founding stories easy for Americans to understand. Joseph Smith received his revelations closer than four score years after the American founding. Any literate English speaker can read founding Mormon documents without the need for much translation or scholarly explanation, but knowledge of American history is vital. Most Americans look abroad for "holy land," but Mormons look here.
I had to go to New York yesterday to present the annual budget to the ownership group for the hotel I work at. Developing the budget is always a highly stressful time of year. You prepare the budget. The corporate offices review the budget and then tell you to do it over again. You repeat this process (not unlike lather, rinse, repeat) several times. Once corporate gives you their blessing you're ready to go have a little face time with the owners to see if they will accept the budget.
Four of us from my hotel flew out of SLC International airport on Monday morning at o'dark thirty. Actually, we tried to but the plane sat on the tarmac for an hour as they performed a complete de-icing. We then flew to Denver, and then on to La Guardia airport in NY. It was pretty much a full day affair. Once we got to our hotel, we went and ate at a nice little diner across the street. We came back and brain stormed for about an hour to prep for Tuesday morning's meeting.
Our meeting with the owners' representative lasted all of about 90 minutes. I spoke for about 5 minutes. Mostly they were interested in top line revenue, so our Director of Sales did most of the talking. It was undoubtedly the most painless budget presentation that I've ever done. We finished by 10:00 a.m. and our flight didn't leave until 5:30 p.m. That's when the boondoggle started. Our hotel spent several thousand dollars to get us there, and it seemed a waste to spend all that money for a 90 minute meeting that easily could've taken place via e-mail and perhaps a phone call. So here's my pictures of the boondoggle. If they're going to be that short and painless in the future, I'm hoping that next year's presentation is in Jamaica.
Here we are walking somewhere near Broadway.
Our first stop was the Empire State Building. This is just inside the Empire State Building. The woman sitting at the desk gave me directions to find Ray's Pizza. I heard a lot about the many incarnations of Ray's Pizza on the Food Network. She's sitting at the Information Desk, so when she said that Ray's had the "best pizza in New York," I knew she had to be telling the truth. You can't lie if you're working at the information desk. Anyway, I have much love for that woman.
Here's a picture looking at Lower Manhattan from the 86th floor observatory of the Empire State Building. There is a bit of a gap in the center right of the buildings. I think that is where the World Trade Center used to be. If someone could confirm or deny that suspicion, that would be cool. There are a few islands in the middle of the Hudson river. Though you can't really see it in this picture, on the center island is the Statue of Liberty. If I had known I was going on a boondoggle I would've taken a better camera. These pictures where simply taken with my phone.
The next two pictures are also from the 86th floor looking in different directions.
And finally, a picture looking up at the top of the Empire State Building. For the record, I am extremely afraid of heights, but when you get the chance to go up the Empire State Building, you've got to take it right?
We did find Ray's Pizza, thanks to the nice lady at the information desk. There are several different Ray's Pizza in New York all claiming that they were the first. This one said that it was the "Original Famous Ray's Pizza" but I'm not sure if it really was or not. Regardless, the pizza (bought by the slice) was amazing.
This is near Times Square. I saw the ball that will drop on New Year's Eve.
Just by chance we drove around Broadway and the Rockefeller Center. They lit the Christmas tree last night, so we saw it just hours before it was lit. There were barricades and police everywhere. It's a very big deal there. We were lucky to get past it before the streets shut down.
Anyway, I went there on a business trip and basically had a one day vacation.
Trish Ingram works hard to maintain the perfect suburban household—or, at least, the appearance of one. By managing her outer world with lavish attention and rigid control, she’s able to ignore and conceal the darkness of her inner world, which is plagued by traumatic childhood memories of loss. Her terminally ill sister-in-law, Jamie, sees through the façade and reaches out in love to Trish, inspiring her to seek a more meaningful life and a more authentic self. But the childhood scars run deep, and despite Trish’s best efforts, she’s unable to be the wife and mother her family needs.
Devastated by the departure of her husband and daughter, Trish faces the challenge and opportunity of a lifetime. She desires to move forward in faith, but this desire alone cannot mend her family's shattered trust. The hollow realm of denial and fear has been her safe haven. To confront pain and transcend the shadows of her past will require a level of courage she’s not sure she possesses. This gripping story of familial love and conflict tenderly reminds us that forgiveness—of self, and others—is both a difficult choice and a precious gift.
Why I wrote the book:
“My Gift to You” is about forgiving ourselves, despite what we perceive as our shortcomings. When we judge ourselves as less than acceptable for any reason, small mistakes can cripple us with discouragement. It becomes easy to lose sight of our potential, as well as precious opportunities for growth.
I was an only child with ample time to ponder the intricacies of human behavior. At a young age, I became fascinated by the fact that while several people in my life were happy, upbeat, and in possession of inner peace in most if not all circumstances, some seemed inherently unhappy no matter what happened—good or bad. Money and possessions didn’t seem to have a bearing, and I wondered what did.
Though I’d been baptized when I was eight, my family didn’t attend church. If I wanted to go, I had to attend on my own. It took me a while to grasp gospel concepts, and I found that most of the time I was among those who were unhappy. About twenty years ago I decided to stop asking Why me? and instead start asking What if?
One by one, I replaced negative emotions with those of a positive nature. Instead of wondering why I couldn't make everyone around me happy—and becoming despondent because nothing I did seemed to change them or their opinions—I started asking things like, "What if happiness really is a choice? What if it can be my choice, no matter what anyone else thinks or feels?"
Instead of commiserating over why my extended family couldn't accept me for who I was and what I believed in, I asked myself, "What if I could choose my own thoughts and emotions based on what I know in my heart is right and true?" In short, "What if I accept myself for who I am?"
And, "What if I forgive—knowing that forgiveness doesn't mean acceptance?" When I began writing “My Gift to You,” I decided I wanted my main character, Trish, to discover something important about herself: I wanted her to discover her own inner strengths and worth—much like I had when I began to unravel my own life.
Some of the things I hope the book will lead the reader to consider:
What does charity mean? Why is it important we extend it to ourselves?
What can happen when we base our worth on what the world values? On what should we base our worth?
Why are women so hard on themselves? What defines true success?
What can result when we judge ourselves to be less than others? Why is important we have a clear sense of self and purpose?
Are cruelty and shallowness signs of strength, or weakness? Why can cruelty be the result of fear?
Bio:
Lori Nawyn's award-winning writing has appeared in regional and national publications including Outside Bozeman, Segullah, Deseret News, CraziBeautiful Women, and Latter-Day Woman. She is also a columnist for her local paper and a former member of Utah Press Women. One of her short stories was published in the anthology Stolen Christmas. Her first novel, My Gift to You, was released in October 2010.
Lori is currently writing her next novel, Day, about a mother’s relationship with her son. She works as a freelance artist and is the illustrator of the award-winning children's picture book What Are You Thinking? which was released in July 2010 by ThoughtsAlive Publishing. She and her fireman husband live in northern Utah where they enjoy spending time with their four children and two granddaughters, plus an assortment of dogs, rabbits, and chickens.
A very interesting survey was released today by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. They surveyed over 3,400 people to see how well they understood various religions. Not surprisingly, members of the LDS church (Mormons), and Jews scored well. Perhaps what was surprising was how well atheists and agnostics scored. Thirty-two questions were asked. On average, LDS members and Jews scored 20 points. Protestants scored 16, and Catholics got 15 correct. Atheists and agnostics however averaged a whopping 21 points.
I found that interesting. Continuing to read the article from Fox News,article I realized why:
Not surprisingly, those who said they attended worship at least once a week and considered religion important in their lives often performed better on the overall survey. However, level of education was the best predictor of religious knowledge.
28 O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish. 29 But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God.
So the highly educated tend to scorn God and his counsels, but they score very high on these sorts of surveys.
One more quote from the article:
On questions about Christianity, Mormons scored the highest, with an average of about eight correct answers out of 12...
