Reflections of a True Millennial

Asking yourself the right questions "And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?" - Alma 5:14 If I asked you to find your pulse, your probably could on your neck or wrist within about five seconds. With some time, you could measure your pulse and determine whether it is healthy or not. However, if I asked you about your spiritual pulse, how would you measure it? How is your relationship with God? Are you living up to be the person you want to be? Do you have faith, hope, and charity? All of these metrics are hard to quantify, which can lead to skewed perceptions if we don't find a way to measure them properly. Without proper assessment, we tend to broadly label ourselves and fail to see strengths and weaknesses. Sure, I think I'm a pretty good person, but when I use a stamp like "good," I don't

Finding Help in our Trials " Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to  chasten  his people; yea, he trieth their  patience  and their faith.   Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his  trust  in him the same shall be  lifted up  at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people." - Mosiah 23:21-22 Life can be pretty overwhelming sometimes. In this last stretch before Thanksgiving, it seems like every teacher is trying to cram a week's worth of work in before Tuesday. You also have to work 20 hours a week, attend to family obligations, somehow maintain a social life, and find a little bit of time for sleep. With all of this, it can be easy to let stress consume us and give us a negative attitude. (Plus your favorite football team losing another game in the 4th quarter is rough too.) Without the right perspective, we try to handle everything on our own and forget that God is there to help us. In the book of Mosiah, a group of people led by Zeniff depart from the Nephite

Your relationship to God "And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.   ... and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true." -Mosiah 4:11-12 These verses come from the great account of King Benjamin's speech to his people in the beginning of the book of Mosiah. The fourth chapte

Coming to God through Prayer "And I said: Lord, how is it done?  And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen... wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole." - Enos 1:7-8 The four books between Jacob and Mosiah in the Book of Mormon are often seen as transitory and not very important. These writings cover almost 200 years in only 9 pages. Despite the brevity, there are still important lessons to draw from the text. Enos, like Nephi, had goodly parents as his father Jacob taught him in scripture and other things through the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Despite his righteous upbringing, Enos does not portray himself as a perfectly good prophet. His main account is of his "wrestle" with God in prayer (v. 2). As he was hunting, he began to pray "in mighty prayer and supplication for [his] own soul" (v. 4). Enos probably felt guilt concerning mistakes he had made, just as we do. He was det

The last writings of the great prophet "For what I seal on earth, shall be brought against you at the judgment bar; for thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey. Amen." - 2 Nephi 33:15 Thus ends the writings of Nephi. Throughout the first 117 pages of the Book of Mormon, we see Nephi grow from a boy and change into one of the great prophets of the world. It is fitting that Nephi's last written statement is "I must obey." His life was filled with patterns of obedience and humility. He understood the will of God and he followed it as exactly as he could. Starting as a boy "born of goodly parents" (1 Nephi 1:1), Nephi quickly becomes a leader among his family as he committed to "go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded" (3:7). The Lord tests him and changes him with difficult tasks, even to the point of killing a man for the greater good (4). His father sees the famous vision of the tree of life, which Nephi expounds on

Avoiding the root of sin "Yea, and there shall be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us.  And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God.  Yea, they have all gone out of the way; they have become corrupted, because of pride," -2 Nephi 28:7-8,11-12 In these times, many people reject the notion of any standard to follow in life. The world increasingly turns toward an attitude that anything goes, and away from an attitude of righteousness. This situation is described in verse 7. In the next verse Nephi talks about a more common group

Finding Light in Dark Times   "Wo unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that put darkness for light, and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" - 2 Nephi 15:20  There's an old cheesy Mormon joke that if you shoot a Book of Mormon, the bullet won't get past 2nd Nephi. Chapters 12-24 of 2nd Nephi transcribe the writings of Isaiah 2-14 recorded by Nephi for his people, and are probably the most dreaded writings in the entire book. Isaiah wrote his prophetic work in Hebrew poetry form from 740-701 BC. His writings can often be confusing due to their heavy influences from historical events of the time. Anyone seeking to study his words should brush up on the history of Judah and Israel concurrent with his writings. It is also helpful to note that as a poet, he uses much repetition and symbolism. With the ancient historical references, Isaiah's writings can seem out of date and unimportant. Later in the Book of Mormon when Ch

Finding Comfort in the Infinite Atonement " And why should I   yield   to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to   temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my   peace   and afflict my soul? Why am I   angry because of mine enemy?   Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul." - 2 Nephi 4:27-28 Throughout the book of 1st Nephi, we read the story of a strapping, young, courageous boy who heeded every command from the Lord. He seemed a perfect example and diligent leader. Second Nephi chapter 4 humanizes Nephi as we see his sorrow and emotion after the death of his father. He preaches through a clear cycle that we can apply to ourselves when we experience sadness.  First, Nephi emphasizes his righteous desires that his "soul delighteth in the things of the Lord" (v.16). He begins the next verse with the contrasting phrase "nevertheless"

Keeping the commandments without knowing everything  " And it came to pass that they did worship the Lord, and did go forth with me; and we did work timbers of curious workmanship. And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work the timbers of the ship." - 1 Nephi 17:1 After reaching the shores, Lehi's family needed a way to cross the ocean between them and the waiting promised land. In chapter 17, the Lord had commanded Nephi to build a ship. In the beginning of chapter 18, Nephi expands on this process. Nephi describes that he built the ship after the manner instructed by God, and not by man. He prayed "oft" to receive instruction and revelation (v. 3). The Lord showed him "from time to time" what he should do. Could you imagine being instructed to build a boat to carry your family across the ocean? It seems ridiculous, and most of us wouldn't even know where to start. The task seems so incredibly large that it would be

Obedience and eight years in the wilderness "And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness. And we did sojourn for the space of many years, yea, even eight years in the wilderness." - 1 Nephi 17:3-4 In the Hebrew language spoken by many writers the Book of Mormon, punctuation is not used. The English uses periods, question marks, and other signals of intent, but the Hebrew language uses select phrases at the start of each sentence to convey similar meanings. For example, the phrase "and it came to pass" occurs frequently and basically equates to a period. Another phrase used a bit less often is "and thus we see." This is usually followed by a powerful summarizi

Living in Humility "And my father dwelt in a tent." - 1 Nephi 2:15 If you have ever been in seminary or any sort of religion class, you surely know this scripture. The famous one-liner seems to have no meaning at all, and is often given jokingly as a devotional by the class clown. It seems like such an obvious, pointless statement. The chapter begins with wise words of Lehi to his sons as they entered the Red Sea, and their reactions of murmuring or acceptance. Then we find the account that Lehi did indeed live in a tent while he was in the wilderness. We know that Lehi departed from Jerusalem after preaching their wickedness and coming captivity at the hands of Bablyon. We know he was on his way to the Promised Land of the Americas, where the Nephites and Lamanites would prosper. And now we know that he dwelt in a tent in between those stages. The significance of Lehi’s dwelling lies in his inherent humility at this stage. He was a wealthy man in Jerusalem, and enjoyed

A look at the most often-read, yet least understood verse "I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days." -1 Nephi 1:1 The Book of Mormon begins with this seemingly simple anecdote from Nephi recounting his youthly circumstances. Nearly anyone in the Church could recite the first line from memory due to its prominent nature as the first verse of a book central to our religion. However, the oft-cited nature does not carry much doctrinal significance for readers. For most, this is an unessential introduction, but if we dig deeper it stands as a symbol of the entire Book of Mormon's message. In the first line, Nephi uses a key word, "there

Wow, these past few months have been pretty incredible, and I have hardly blogged. Of course I was super busy with robotics, and I have already written recaps of that on our team's website here , here , and here . But, something else I have been busy with is the opening of the new Mormon Temple in Ft. Lauderdale. Since February, we have been working hard on several events related to this, but it all started long before that. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints first started appearing in Florida in the late 19th century. At that time the closest Temple was in Salt Lake City, Utah. Temples are separate from regular meetinghouses, and serve as places to be close to God and perform sacred ordinances. I have written more about their function here . In 1927, the closest temple became Mesa, Arizona. Then in 1974, the Washington D.C. temple became our temple. By the time my parents moved here in the late 80s, our closest temple was in Atlanta. In 1994, a temple was bu

Happy new year to everyone! The new year is the typical cliché time of year for new beginnings and new changes to your life. Now is the time to lose weight, gain knowledge, and save money! But, the new year can also be the cliché time of year for discouragement. Just the thought of trying to live life differently- and better- can fill us with doubt and fear by highlighting our past inadequacies and failures. In the Bible, Lot and his wife were commanded to leave the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities are almost synonymous to wickedness, and the Lord commanded Lot to not turn back as they left. Lot's wife had been accustomed to her life there and looked back as she left, then turned into the infamous pillar of salt.  We should all heed the Lord's counsel in Genesis 19:17 to "Look not behind thee." Our past mistakes offer no prediction of the future. Starting today, we can choose to be any person that we want to be. Never give into the temptation of de

So, I'm now writing in another blog, too. (Don't worry, I'm still writing here as normal.) Check out my recent post from my robotics team's blog. Follow along with me and my co-president this season as we provide daily updates on the team's progress. The blog can be found at  http://team2383.com/blog/  and is linked at the top of this page. Of course follow along with me here as usual too! ---- "Kickoff!" 1/5/14 Wow, so yesterday was a pretty crazy day. I mean, it started by driving a car of 5 teenage boys up I-95 to the local kickoff. Oh, and there was apparently a spider in the car too which freaked out Ryan as he was reading the car’s manual (don’t ask). Then we had to go to three high schools in the area to find the right one. But, we made it! And then we saw this year’s FIRST Robotics Competition. Wow. So, Aerial Assist will be the game that overtakes our lives for the next 4 months. Here’s the game animation: Honestly, my first r