Let Your Light So Shine

One of the little angels killed in last Friday's awful shooting in Newtown, CT, was 6-year old Emilie Parker. To the left is her picture.

She was an artist who always carried around her crayons and paper, just in case there was some artistic inspiration that hit her. She had two younger sisters, and from what I heard her grief-stricken father say, they always turned to her for comfort. Her dad was teaching her Portuguese and one of the last things she said to him was, "Eu te amo", which means, I love you. She and her family moved from Ogden, UT to CT less than a year ago when her dad accepted a new job. They're going to take her body back to UT for burial.

There are a lot of other stories about these beautiful children. One could write a book about the heroes who tried to save them. I weep for them. I literally weep when I read about them or hear a story on the television about them.

I also hear of those who have dropped everything to go to CT to be with these suffering people. I heard last night about "comfort dogs" who were taken to Newtown so that grieving families could pet them and hug them. I heard about three people who drove 1000 miles just to give hugs to the survivors.

I also watched as the good people of this country came together to support those who lost loved ones in the shooting in CO some time ago. I have watched members of my own ward and stake go to New Jersey and New York to help those who lost so much to Hurricane Sandy. My heart has been warmed as I watched the nation band and rally together to give aid, comfort, money, time and effort to those in need.

I've even read stories about how NFL players this past weekend wrote the names of the CT victims on their shoes, and how the normally stringent uniform police of the NFL have looked the other way. Yes, there is a lot of good in this world, if you watch for it.

But now it's time to stop watching. The time has come to put the doctrine of Christ to the test, to put my beliefs to action. How can I help these families? How can I be more like the Savior and show Him how much I love Him? By doing something!

I don't propose driving all the way to CT, but I do propose donating to some of these causes and by being active in my own community. For instance, Emilie's parents are going to take her back to UT for burial this week. They are short on money to do so. A fund has been started in her name on Facebook to which I can donate. It's called the Emilie Parker Fund and is located here.

And there are others. Some of them are:

• Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung Memorial Fund, CT Teachers Credit Union, P.O. Box 2121, Waterbury, Conn. 06722
• Friends of the Engel Family Fund
• Noah's Ark of Hope Fund
• If you really do want to drive to CT and volunteer, you can call (800) 203-1234. That number will get you in touch with someone who can help.
• Sandy Hook School Support Fund, c/o Newtown Savings Bank, 39 Main St., Newtown, Conn. 06470.
• Newtown Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 596, Botsford, Conn. 06404

There are others, too I'm sure, but the point is this: it's time to let our light so shine, to put the Spirit of Christ and Christmas to action. Let your influence be felt in this world. After all, it's our responsibility to leave this world a better place than it was when we got here!

Emilie sure did.

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Put The Man Back Together

I learned of last Friday's killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School as I was walking back to my desk after a nice lunch out. A vendor friend of mine told me about it as he received an alert on his phone. As were you, I'm sure, I was deeply affected by it. I even shed tears on several occasions.

I feel the worst, though, for those who are left behind to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. I don't worry about the kids who died as much as I do about their parents and families. The kids are fine, nestled safely in the arms of Him who loves us all. But the families must now make sense of this whole sordid thing, and many children who were not shot will be scarred for the rest of their lives. Who knows what terrible thoughts were bred by this one person's actions?

Early on I thought, "Only a coward would do such things and then take his own life. Only a coward." To some extent I still feel that way. A coward will do things and then fail to stick around to face the music, the consequences of those actions.

But over the weekend I've reflected on this again and again. I've watched the pundits and their words of "wisdom" and have listened to all of their arguments for this and for that. I've heard them argue about gun control. I've heard the President say that "we can't tolerate this anymore." I've heard that it's the media's fault. I've heard it from 101 different angles.

But after sitting in our High Priest Group meeting yesterday and listening to the lesson, I've come to my own conclusions. Take it for what it is, my opinion.

First, this is NOT a gun control issue. YES, get assault rifles and such out of the hands of the average citizen. I can see that. No one needs those for hunting or anything else. They were made for war, and last time I checked there isn't one going on in the United States.

I'm not a gun rights zealot by any stretch, (though I do possess my conceal permit) but I do believe in the Constitution. I believe it was a God-inspired document that unfortunately has seen much better days. But though it may have been weakened drastically in the last 30 years, the 2nd amendment is part of that document. Though it may have been meant for simpler time, the right to bear arms is still necessary...and MAY be even more necessary in years to come. But that's another issue altogether.

Second, this is not solely a media problem, though I do think that if it weren't all over your tv screen this kind of person might think twice before doing something so heinous. Having been in the media and having seen what goes on behind the scenes, I can empathize with those who believe the media glorify those who perpetrate such foul deeds. We have to know everything about them. We scrutinize their upbringing, the meds they were taking, the courses they took in high school and the fact that they wet the bed at night. Like John Wilkes Booth, those who do such things think they'll become famous and will be known forever, maybe even revered. I can see this, but still don't believe it's the media's fault.

Third, this is not only a mental health issue. Sure, there is something wrong with these people. How else could you go into an elementary school and start killing innocent children? Some screw somewhere is seriously too tight.

Fourth, this is not solely an education problem, either. Yes, we need to teach our children better. Yes, we need to help them understand the consequences of their actions. Yes, they need to know that they are responsible and NOT entitled to ANYTHING.

Nope. All of those are just symptoms. What this is is a LOVE problem, a turning to the Lord problem, a listening more to the adversary than obeying the commandments of the Lord problem.

Listen to what a prophet of God said regarding this.

"By following the teachings of the Lord, by turning unto Him and repenting of sin, by going about doing good, we may have peace and happiness and prosperity. If mankind will love one another, the hatred and the unkindness that have existed so much in the world will pass away." George Albert Smith

Did you just read what I did? Hatred and unkindness would pass away IF we will love one another. And how do we do that? Listen to the same man.

“This world is in a critical condition. War will not cease and the strife in this world will not end until the children of men repent of their sins and turn to God and serve Him and keep His commandments.”

So there's the answer to all of the unbelievably insane and sickening things that are happening now in our world.

• Repent of our sins
• turn to God
• serve Him
• keep His commandments

Sound like anything you've heard before?

Sound like something the Savior tried to teach 2000+ years ago and has been teaching through His prophets ever since? And people ask me why we could possibly need a prophet today. I guess this answers that question.

Listen to one more quote from President Smith.

“We are all under the obligation of making this world a happier place for our having lived in it."

You know what that tells me?

This Connecticut thing is MY problem.

The reason these things are happening is partially because of me. I need to get closer to my God. I need to serve Him better. I need to keep His commandments a little bit better. I need to make my influence felt in this world. Once I do that, at least part of the world will be a better place.

Years ago I heard a story about a man who was doing some work for his job from his home. His son was playing with his toys nearby and making a lot of noise, causing the dad to not be able to concentrate very well. Quickly flipping through a magazine he saw lying nearby, he tore out a page containing a picture of the earth taken from the moon. He tore it up into many small pieces and giving it to his son said, "I'd like you to put this puzzle of the world back together. When you do that, I'll stop working and will play with you." The son, anxious to have his dad play with him, accepted the "puzzle" and started working on it. The dad, thinking he'd have a good hour of quiet time ahead, settled back down to his work.

After five minutes the boy came back with the picture all put back together, and said to his dad, "I've got it all done, dad!" The father was greatly surprised and said, "Son, how did you do this so quickly?"

The son replied, "Well, I knew that putting the world back together would take me a long, long time, so I turned the page over and saw the picture of a man. I just put the man back together and the world took care of itself."

So it is in this situation. If I can put the man back together correctly, this world will heal itself, and all of the hatred and unkindness will pass away.

You see, it's not gun control.

It's not education control.

It's not media control.

It's self control.

---------------------------------

An Evening With John Fascenda

From distant kingdoms folk beat long
To beam their visage dark and black.
Wrought cages 'round their crowns they bore,
And armor to defend their back.

A pleasing land of tundra numb,
Of dreams before the half-shut eye
Of booty since collected, n'er
For several years, now glorify.

Still beat the feet of one so proud.
Four times the prize had ridden home,
Just to be grabbed and born from thence.
For this the chieftan lord did roam.

The verdant green of pastures lay
Athwart his back and fore his breast.
The missile settled in his grip,
A grimaced face by priests long blessed.

The lines were drawn, the battle raged
And lo, a battered colonnade.
One chieftan fell and carted off
Beneath the tattered flags they made.

Their blood upon the pitch was spilt,
And sweat and tears the trenches filled.
The honored mud from ages past
Laid dripping from their iron will.

Until the hour when bomb was hurled
Through air and space and downy flake,
No man could choose the victor there,
Nor battered pawn their hope forsake.

But once the fell advance was won,
Just one could wear the laurel crown.
The epic contest now complete,
Glist'ning spoils on sprinkled ground.

Disciples gazed, gripped with delight.
Guerdon prize raised above the rest.
With cracking voice the chieftan praised,
"The Forty-Niners are the best!"

The Stream That Runs Through My Brain

The ducks swim faster than I can run, I bet. They have hoods on their heads. I guess that's why they call them hooded mergansers.

A new email! Oh, they want me to donate my blood. Yea, I don't think so. Why would I do that when it hurts and makes me feel woozy?

One time, while I was on my mission, my Argentine companion donated blood and thought he would be incapacitated for several days. I told him that wasn't true, that he'd only be weak for a little while. He didn't believe me, but I was proven right. I never did get along with him very much. He took a nap every day during lunch and we didn't work. What that has to do with the ducks, I don't know.

I wonder sometimes what's really inside my brain. I know there's grey matter and a big pink thing in there, but really, how does my brain work? A bird just flew past my window and another duck swam past on the shimmering pond. Geez! That light shines right in my eyes. I can barely see them. Maybe I should put down my blinds.

You know, the first time they took blood out of me, two little test tubes worth, I fainted and fell on the floor like a sack of old spuds. I awoke in the chair with a nurse hovering over me, rubbing the back of my neck and shoving an ammonia capsule up my nose. I learned from that experience and never watched them take it again. So far, so good. I'm not very good with the sight of blood. Makes me feel oogy.

I'd like to be more observant. Maybe I should take a class or something. I don't notice what people wear and I can't remember what I ate for lunch yesterday. I'll remember tomorrow what I eat today, though. Papa John's pizza with peperoncinies. Yea, baby!

What was that? Oh, just a car going by out in the parking lot. Quick! Look again! Nope, just a car.

That hole in my tooth is getting larger, I think. I can fit my tongue into it quite easily now. I'm too chicken to go to the dentist about it. I know they're going to want to yank a couple of teeth out of my head, or give me another root canal or two. I'm too much of a sissy to have to endure that again. I'll just have to die with it the way it is. I can see it now. Some day, thousands of years from now, some archeologist will dig me up, look at my mouth and think I'm a missing link.

That's what all of those ...

A helicopter! I wonder what he's doing flying around here. Looking for something, I bet. Maybe some dope. You know, it shows up purple from the air. Not sure why. I was in a helicopter once. Pretty fun to fly around like that. I'd like to learn to fly, but I'm poor and can't afford the lessons. Too bad. I would have make a great helicopter pilot.

What was I thinking about? Oh, yea. All of those "missing links" and huge skulls they find. Just normal people who had not-so normal deformities. They're not a different species or anything like that. I think if those guys knew that archeologists were digging them up and calling them missing links they would get a big kick out of it. "I'm just a regular guy with an abnormally large forehead, not some forerunner to modern man." I can hear the snickering now.

Squirrel!!

Maybe I should go into the lab and get some work done. The ducks are congregating. Whoa, there's another car parking in the lot. I wish I could park in that lot. It's right next to my window, for pete's sake. But no. I have to park in the back and walk a half mile to my cube when I could walk about 25 feet. Who is that getting out of the car? Just some guy. He can't see me look at him. I could make faces at him and he'd never know. The windows are too reflective.

Wow, how many ducks are there? Hmm, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven...

Who is that that just walked by my window? Just some guy. I should really get some work done. Drink some water. It's good for you. My lips are chapped. I guess I'm not drinking enough.

What do I have to do tonight? Take Hannah to dance class, maybe. Ha! Don't have to get on the treadmill, though, because I'll go to basketball instead. I've got to find more referees for the stake season coming up. I don't want them calling too many games on a Saturday.

Only another 55 minutes left until I can eat my pizza. I love Papa John's pizza. Another email. This one's about our lab. Ok, ok! I'm going! Gotta get back to the lab. I should rewrite the ending to that story. It didn't make much sense.

Neither does this entry, I guess, but that's the way I think. Shaking my head won't make it any better, either.

And Kelly wonders why I keep forgetting things. There's just too much going on up there. All the new stuff won't fit.

-----------------

Open Letter

An Open Letter to the President of the United States

9 November 2012

Dear Mr. President...

Let me be honest about this right up front. I didn't vote for you in 2008 and I didn't vote for you in 2012. In fact, I'm a little amazed that ANYONE could vote for you either time. I shake my head and puzzle over it every day. With the economy the way it is, the unemployment rate the way it is, the national debt the way IT is, how could anyone vote for the guy who made it that way? That's you, by the way.

It's just unbelievable to me, frankly, given the fact that we had a very good man ready to take your seat in the Oval Office, who not only has business acumen but experience doing the job. He could have gotten us on the road to recovery. Simply put, Mr. President, if this had been a business you'd have been out on your butt long ago, pounding pavement like the other 20 million people who are out of work. And frankly, I think that's the way it should be.

But alas, here we Republicans are with the post-election blues, licking our wounds and hoping for a better day...soon. But though I do not like the outcome of Tuesday's election, I respect the democratic process and am grateful that we live in a land wherein we can cast our vote and let our voices be heard. If my guy lost (which he did), so be it. More props to the man who didn't.

Honestly, I wish you luck, Mr. President, and Godspeed. I hope you succeed in making this a better place to live. I really, really do. Even if it means electing another Democrat in four years, that's fine, as long as our country is back where it was meant to be...on top.

But doggone it, Mr. President, you work for me. I'm your boss. I, and the millions like me, are the ones to whom you should answer, not China, not Israel, not Iran or Iraq. Me! And though I didn't vote for you (either time), I'm still your boss.

So, accordingly, I'm going to do something I very rarely do. I'm going to give you a direct order.

Fix this economy!

Get people back to work!

Get us out of debt!

Tell the truth about Benghazi!

Work with the Republicans to clean up this fiscal cliff issue!

And when you get finished with all of that, quit bowing to foreign dignitaries! We're the United freaking States! We don't bow to anybody!

Do you understand me?

Now get to work and don't make me tell you again. Otherwise, I'm sure we'll all be seeing what the United States would have looked like had Jimmy Carter gotten a second term.

Very Sincerely,

Your boss
Stefan Schetselaar, et al.

-----------

Turn The Lights Out, The Party's Over

I didn't sleep very well last night. All night long I tossed and turned, nightmares of four more years dancing through my head. Four more like the last four.

Then I awoke and found, to my horror, that it wasn't really a nightmare at all...it was true.

Even the casual reader of my blog will know that I'm no fan of Barack Obama. I didn't vote for him in 2008 and I didn't vote for him in 2012. I've had signs in my yard both times touting the virtues of his opponents, and both times I've been disappointed and saddened by his victory.

Last time I kept my mouth shut.

This time, not so much.

As my good wife said to me this morning, "Did you really think we could get a good, decent, God-fearing man in the White House with the way our country is today?"

Exactly.

I retired last night before the final results were announced, but by 10:15pm it was already pretty apparent what those would be. I didn't see the "celebration" that took place in Chicago nor the disappointment etched on a good man's face. Both of those images were on the news this morning and caused me more pain than I was willing to endure. So I turned them off.

People were, I'm told, dancing in the streets celebrating this "victory". I'm happy that people enjoyed themselves, but let's take a quick look at what they had to be so happy about.

Millions of people are still out of work, many of them so disgusted with their prospects that they have quit looking.

The economy has lately shown signs of life, but it's still awful.

Gas prices are still high and the price of food has skyrocketed.

One in six children is still living in poverty.

Our good country is still $16 trillion dollars in debt and getting further into it every single day.

Same sex marriage became legal in another state, Maryland, as did legalized gambling.

Recreational use of marijuana was passed in Colorado and Washington.

Abortion is still legal in ALL states.

All great reasons to celebrate folks, but let me quote a VERY sage individual when I say that "it's too bad the country can't see that we needed REAL change by electing honest people and passing upstanding laws that are in our best interest and in line with our Maker's commandments."

Amen, brotha.

There are a couple of verses in the Book of Mormon that I think are very applicable to our current situation. They're located in the book of Mosiah, 29th chapter, 26th and 27th verses. It reads thus:

"Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser part of the people to desire that which is not right; therefore this shall ye observe and make it your law—to do your business by the voice of the people.
And if the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of God will come upon you; yea, then is the time he will visit you with great destruction even as he has hitherto visited this land."

Let me make myself perfectly clear here. I do not believe Barack Obama to be a wicked man. I think he really believes in what he's doing. Heck, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he even believes he's the answer to all of our problems. But good man or not, our country is in TERRIBLE shape right now, worse than it was 4 years ago and worse than it's been in a long time. We needed that "REAL change" NOW, not in four years when he's brought us to our collective knees. The way our country is headed, who knows if we will even be here in 4 more years?

Let's be honest. This country, as a whole, does not keep the commandments of the Lord. There are good people out there to be sure, even great people, who do keep them. But by and large, we do what we want to do and say what we want to say no matter what the Lord thinks about it. In fact, we've relegated the Almighty to something we do on Sunday morning, if we feel like it, and then forget about the rest of the week.

Well, now is the time to be frank. There's a storm gathering out there. Not a storm of wind and rain and snow, though I imagine He might use nature to prove His point as well as anything else. Rather, it's a storm of wrath and destruction.

I know. I sound like a neocon Bible-thumper. I sound like a guy standing out in the street in a robe with a long beard and a sign that reads, "The End Is Near!". Believe me, I get it, but as it turns out, I also embrace it.

See, the Book of Mormon also talks about that, stating that in the last days people will say, "Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die and it shall be well with us." I see that all around me...today. Legal marijuana, trillions of dollars spent every year, a ruler that fiddles while Rome burns.

All I have to say to that is this:

Better end the celebration a little early tonight, fellas, 'cause the Father of this family is on His way home and he's going to be pretty ticked off that you threw a party while He was away!

-----------------------

Sandy

The Lord has been very good to me.

Despite being blown around like a rag doll, soaked to the very bone, and pelted with rain and sleet by Sandy and her unforgiving wrath, my home, my trees, my cars and most importantly my family are all no worse for the wear.

Make no mistake about it. This was the Lord's doing.

Not dumb luck.

Not storm degradation.

Not just a sturdy house.

This was the Lord's doing. Period.

All around us there are trees that have fallen. Our next door neighbor had a relatively tall one fall in his yard (thankfully, not on his house). He was out there yesterday with his yard crew cutting it up and hauling it away.

Along my way to work this morning I saw a lot of trees that had been felled by Sandy's icy, uncaring hand. Shingles ripped from roofs. Streams terribly overflowing their banks. Debris littering the roads. Even a car or two stuck in the mud she left behind.

But we are fine.

Don't misunderstand. We were not totally spared. A leak in our living room window allowed quite a bit of water to seep in and get into the carpet. Thankfully, Jacob spotted it before it could do any damage to our computers, which sit right next that window. We laid plastic garbage bags down on the floor and then spread some towels over those in the particularly wet areas.

I went outside during the height of the storm and tried to stem the tide, so to speak, by putting some silicone caulking around the trim. It seemed to help a little, but I was freezing cold, caked with caulking and soaked to the bone.

But that was it. Literally. No other damage whatsoever.

With 60+ mph sustained winds, 80+ mph gusts and four and a half inches of rain at my house, you'd have thought there would be something more drastic.

A flooded basement.

A downed tree.

A cut or a scrape, maybe.

But no. Nothing but an easily remedied leak in a window, while all around us there was damage beyond belief costing in the tens of billions of dollars.

Why? I don't know. But what I do know is that it was the Lord that spared us.

There were times during the storm when I thought the house was going to blow off of its foundation. I thought for sure that one of our giant oaks in the backyard was

going to blow over on our house, or on one of our neighbors. I could vividly imagine our basement being flooded and having to spend thousands of dollars to get it cleaned up and repaired.

But as awful as it all was, a new day dawned (beautifully, see picture at left), the house is still standing, we are all fine, and we are still VERY blessed of the Lord.

All I can say is "Thank You."

-----------------

NOBAMA!!

I'm really ticked off.

I'll get to the reason in just a minute.

First, let me say that I am no fan of Mr. Obama (or is it Osama?), nor his failed policies. I did not vote for him in 2008 and I will not vote for him in 2012. Nor would I EVER vote for him. Tie me to a greased pig and let him run through a briar patch filled with black widow spiders and black mamba snakes and I would still vote for Pee Wee Herman before him. In my opinion he has been one of the worst presidents to ever "grace" the Oval Office. Therefore, you can take what I say with a pinch of salt.

One of my biggest pet peaves with this joker is that our wonderful country is now four TRILLION dollars further in debt than we were when he took over the watch, despite his promises otherwise. Because of him, and other greedy politicians in Washington, we are going to be repaying this debt until the cows come home, and their calves and then their grand-calves, and maybe more. None of them (politicians) know anything about the meaning of the phrase "living within your means".

Don't get me wrong. It's not totally his fault, though I fear that when he reads of Harry Truman he thinks that the phrase "the buck stops here" refers to antlers and venison. No, he's had plenty of help with spending my retirement and that of my kids and grandkids. Four TRILLION dollars further in debt, and in four years we'll be four TRILLION dollars deeper, and my great-grandkids won't have two dimes to rub together.

Do you realize how much four TRILLION dollar is? Let me put it this way. The average dollar bill is 0.010922 centimeters thick. If you piled four TRILLION of those Georges on top of each other (not length-wise or width-wise, but on top of each other like they used to be in your wallet before he stuck his fingers in there), you'd have a stack that was 43,688,000,000 centimeters high, or 271,464 miles high! The mileage from earth to the moon is only 238,857 miles, a relative cake walk compared to our debt. In other words, with that stack you would get to the moon and still have 32,607 MILES left over! Now, tell me, how am I, my kids, my grandkids and on and on and on (ad infinitum) going to pay that money back? You tell me, Mr. Obama!

When you mix in the abysmal unemployment rate, our troubles with the Middle East, lower take-home pay, the staggering economy, Syria, Libya, Russia and our constantly weakening military, not to mention a lot of other troubles we now face, this country is in a world of hurt. I honestly don't think this country has been in this bad of a situation since the Founding Fathers took their own lives in their hands and signed the Declaration of Independence.

But as bad as all that is, it's not the reason I'm so ticked off today. No, the reason for that is that, in my opinion, we have a President who is one of the most condescending individuals I have ever listened to. After watching last night's debate, which I am unbiased enough to call a draw, I am of the firm resolution that he thinks he's A LOT better than anyone else, especially Mitt Romney.

Here's why.

After telling the world that the United States Navy is smaller than it's been since 1917, Governor Romney was forced to listen to the following from our illustrious leader (and I use both of those terms VERY loosely):

"Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go under water, nuclear submarines."

Seriously? Is that the way you treat other people, Mr. Obama? If it is, it explains the awful mess our country is in right now. No wonder no one has any respect for us these days.

I've been thinking about it and I believe that if someone had said that to my face in front of the world, I might have entertained the notion of punching him in the nose. Thank goodness Governor Romney is a better man than me. My utmost respect goes to him for not losing his cool when baited that way by The Community Organizer. I, as hot-headed as I can be sometimes, might not have followed protocol and smiled like he did (and before you get any ideas, NO, I would not his the president, no matter how much I dislike him or his policies).

A few choice words come to mind to describe how I feel about this man. Suffice it to say that I literally feel physically ill when the thought comes to mind that he could possibly win another four years in office.

Please America, wake up! Join the other 47% who are voting with their children and grandchildren in mind. Join the 47% who value America and the standards that were set 200+ years ago. Turn your back on greed and incompetence and raise your voices high in the night with shouts of

NOBAMA!! ----------

Rain in Due Season

I think I've discovered the cure to most of the ills that are paralyzing this world, but I'll get to that in just a second.

Yesterday, as I sat in sacrament meeting, I listened to the speakers talk about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. It was a great meeting, but as I listened to the three speakers, all of whom referenced the same quotes and some of the same scriptures, I found myself wondering how many times I'd heard that particular topic spoken of in sacrament meeting or in Sunday School in my lifetime. Hundreds? Thousands maybe?

Then one of them quoted the 26th chapter of Leviticus.

Now, for those of you who don't know, one of my "hobbies", if you want to call it that, is memorizing scriptures. It just so happens that he was quoting verses 3 through 6, which I have studied relatively recently. The thing that struck me, though, was that he also added the second verse, which I have not yet memorized and which added a lot of new context to what I had already contemplated. Let me quote all of those verses for you.

2 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;

4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

5 And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.

6 And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.

Let me go back and start at verse 4. There, the Lord promises that He will give us rain when we need it, fruits and vegetables from the ground and from the trees. In verse 5 He says that our harvest will last until we harvest again and we will have plenty to eat. Finally, in verse 6 He says that He will give us peace, we'll be able to sleep safely, and we won't have to go to war.

Pretty good blessings, if you ask me.

And what do we have to do to get them?

The answer lies in verses 2 and 3. Keep the Sabbath Day holy, go to the temple, keep the commandments.

But, (and this is a big but) I'd also venture to say, without fear of reprisal, that the opposite of those verses is true, too. If we do NOT do these things, the Lord will NOT give us those blessings.

Frankly, I think we're in great need of every single one of those blessings right now.

Just look at some of the things going on in this country, and for that matter, in this world.

- Record-breaking drought in the United States
- People getting killed while watching a movie in Denver
- Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
- Twenty-five million people out of work in the US
- The Euro at the brink of collapse
- Famine in Niger and Somalia
- Earthquake in Indonesia
- Wildfires in California, Idaho and Washington
- Civil war in Syria
- Nuclear proliferation in Iran

Do I really need to go on?

Back in ancient days, the Sabbath was a serious thing. No businesses were open, there were laws that governed its observance, and if someone violated the Sabbath, they were stoned. Today the Sabbath has become just another day off, a holiday, a time to get caught up on our yard work.

Disagree with me if you want, but I think that if the world were to revert to a remembrance and observance of the commandments, and specifically of the Sabbath Day, a lot of the world's ills would "magically" disappear. The heavens would open up on our crops, the hungry would be filled, wars would cease and men's anger would abate. The Spirit of the Lord would again be poured out without measure on this chosen country, and on the world.

In D&C 82, verse 10, the Lord states that, "I am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." Couple that verse with the verses from Leviticus and you have a perfect cure for this world's ills. A righteous world receiving blessings from the Lord on a daily basis. Constant communication with our Heavenly Father. Inspiration and revelation being poured out without mixture.

I mean, it's worth a try, right? Nothing else seems to be working. As long as we continue to rely on the arm of man, we're going to remain exactly how we are now, and maybe worse. If we turn to the Lord, we have His promise that He'll help us.

And who better to have over a barrel than the Lord?

King's Dominion II

King's Dominion is my kind of place.

Especially when it's overcast, slightly rainy, and humid.

The reason for that is because that kind of weather scares off a lot of people.

Such was the case on Saturday when we packed up the car, braved I-95 (crawling), and went down to Richmond.

Usually I don't like Richmond much, though my nephew Michael seemed to like it on his mission. It's too hot for me, and way too humid. But if you're going to ride the Intimidator, you've got to take Mohammad to the mountain.

I didn't take a lot of pictures this weekend, as I was too busy riding the rides. Besides, it was sprinkling just a tad for some of the day, and I didn't want my camera getting all messed up. Suffice it to say that the picture of my sweet wife above (on The Avalanche) was my assessment of the day, too.

We rode all of the biggies. The Dominator, The Intimidator, The WindSeeker, The Grizzly, The Hurler, The Avalanche, Flight of Fear, The Shockwave, The Anaconda, The Berserker and yes, The Crypt. All fabulous rides. Just above is a video of Jacob's car going by on The Avalanche. You can get an idea of how fast it goes from that.

To the left is a shot I took from about the same place, of Hannah and Gammy's car going by. If you blow it up so you can see them really well (second car, from Germany), you'll see that Gammy's eyes are shut tight. The thing I noticed about the rides on Saturday is that they go the same speed and go to the same place whether you close your eyes or not. Sorry Gammy.

For those of you who don't know, Sofia is back living with us now. She's staying until August 23rd, when she'll go home to Spain. She came and lived with us last summer as a foreign exchange student. This summer she just decided to come back and spend some time with us. She went with us to King's Dominion, too. I think that by the end of the day she was pretty worn out...just like the rest of us.

All good things must come to an end, I guess, and all in all it was a great day. My favorite ride was either The Intimidator (steep ascent, 85 degree fall, 2G's and then zero-G's made me see stars, literally) or The Dominator (which I wrote about last time). I also liked Flight of Fear (0-60 in about two seconds and the whole ride is in the dark). But I think if you asked Hannah which one she liked the best, it would either be The Avalanche or the one pictured at the left. It was called The Scrambler...a family ride...and yes, it was one of the best. Those oldies but goodies are always some of the best, aren't they?