I was scheduled to give a lesson today (lesson 37, NT - more in next post). I tried to prepare for the lesson during the week, but one thing led to another and I was left with only last night for preparation. Actually, I should take it back a few days...
I found out that one of the daughters in one of my Home Teaching families was to be baptized yesterday only in the beginning of last week. This really put me to shame, since I always considered myself as being a good and diligent home Teacher... As soon as I found out - I offered my help, but I was informed that they were "all set".
Despite this, I got a call on Thursday to ask if I could take care of the background entertainment after the baptism, while we waited for the girl and her grandfather to get dried up and return to the chapel. Traditionally, in our ward, we would have a short slideshow depicting her growth, but this time the mother said she did not have time to prepare that and would like for me to download a spiritual song that already had a general slideshow attached to it ("What Heaven Sees In You" by Doug and Sherry Walker). So I downloaded it but I noticed they used to offer a service of inserting custom pictures into the slideshow. I thought to myself - I can do this for my family, if they want it...
So I made the offer and got the pictures emailed to me on Friday. I spent a couple of hours putting it all together, and send a copy of the final thing for review. Worst case, if they didn't like it, we could always go with the original version. 8:30 Saturday morning I get the response: "it looks great, but can you just move the second picture to be the last?". The baptism is at 2 PM... I am on my way to a service project of cleaning up a playground in Worcester, what else could I say but "No problem!".
Finished the service project, got home and updated the slideshow, ran off to the chapel to setup the projector etc... and all was well.
After the baptism (Saturday PM) - I am getting ready to prepare my lesson for today - We get invited by the Bishop's wife to join them for a special dinner... "Trash Can Turkey" (cooking a whole turkey in an outdoor oven made up of an upsidedown trash can covered with hot coals). How could we say no? It was a wonderful evening. Everyone enjoyed it, and, for a blessed change, my dear wife was not in charge of the cooking.
Got home and realized I was too tired to prepare the lesson... What to do? Sacrament Meeting starts at 9:00 AM and my lesson at 10:15... So I went to sleep :-)
Woke up at 4:30 AM and finished preparing the lesson.
At 8:30 I get a phone call asking if I can assist in giving a ride to church to a family without a car... by the time I got to their house and picked them up (they were not as prepared as I was led to believe), it was already 9:00.
As I was rushing to get to the chapel, fully knowing I am missing the sacrament, I noticed a homeless woman standing on the side of the road with a sign asking for money. Someone approached her, handed her some coins and gave her a hug. Then he gave her a bag of potato chips. She seemed much happier and somewhat uplifted. I felt appreciative of the man, who did not appear to be someone I would have associated with that type of kindness. I also was inspired to recognize that despite my delay in getting to the chapel on time, and the importance of partaking of the sacrament, Heavenly father knows that I have been doing my best. I relaxed and trusted Him to take care of me.
When we got to the chapel, twenty minutes late, I was surprised that the Sacrament had not started due to a baby blessing. I got to partake of the sacrament after all and I was very grateful. This was another piece of my growing testimony of how personal the relationship is between everyone of us, specifically me, and our Heavenly Father.
TOTD: He trusts you to do your best, so you can surely trust Him.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Friday, September 2, 2011
What people believe in
Trying to catch up...
We had the missionaries over for dinner and few nights ago and they mentioned their challenge in teaching a particular person. She claims she does not believe in anything. I told them I find that hard to believe.
If you say you don't believe in anything you are deceiving yourself. Hope for tomorrow stems from belief in something. Even if you only believe in yourself you still believe in something. From my perspective, without Hope (which can even manifest itself in the simplistic form of "Tomorrow will not be worse than today") - life loses its meaning and there is no reason to go on.
From here you can make a choice of either believing in yourself ("I can make tomorrow a better day"), or you can choose to believe in God ("God can guide me to make tomorrow a better day"). Whichever way you look at it, you still believe.
To some people, believing in yourself seems the easier of the two: no rituals to perform, no commitments to keep, no guilt trips, etc... But those people will readily agree that it is a long and burdensome trip, with a heavy burden of responsibility, which cannot be shared.
However, for those who tried the other path and recognized God's personal involvement in lives - it is a euphoric drug that elevates the spirit to great heights.
[Despite the negative connotation, I will continue with associating faith with addiction during this post. Pardon me if you are offended by this.]
Just like any other addiction, we tell our friends to try it just once, and pray they get hooked. However, as opposed to material addictions that leave you baffled and confused, faith and the spiritual addiction to the guidance of the Lord leaves you with a new clarity. You know which path you need to go on, and you want more of this magnificent direction.
Another aspect of the addiction which is different between spiritual and physical is Choice. Physical drugs take away most of your ability to make choices. Dependency kicks out the ability to think straight. Spiritual addiction is dependent on choosing the right. You know that the guidance is quiet and you might stray at any time.
I hope we all learn to be content in our spiritual addiction. I pray we all make the right choices as we grow in our dependence on our Heavenly Father.
TOTD: Trust the spirit to guide you home.
We had the missionaries over for dinner and few nights ago and they mentioned their challenge in teaching a particular person. She claims she does not believe in anything. I told them I find that hard to believe.
If you say you don't believe in anything you are deceiving yourself. Hope for tomorrow stems from belief in something. Even if you only believe in yourself you still believe in something. From my perspective, without Hope (which can even manifest itself in the simplistic form of "Tomorrow will not be worse than today") - life loses its meaning and there is no reason to go on.
From here you can make a choice of either believing in yourself ("I can make tomorrow a better day"), or you can choose to believe in God ("God can guide me to make tomorrow a better day"). Whichever way you look at it, you still believe.
To some people, believing in yourself seems the easier of the two: no rituals to perform, no commitments to keep, no guilt trips, etc... But those people will readily agree that it is a long and burdensome trip, with a heavy burden of responsibility, which cannot be shared.
However, for those who tried the other path and recognized God's personal involvement in lives - it is a euphoric drug that elevates the spirit to great heights.
[Despite the negative connotation, I will continue with associating faith with addiction during this post. Pardon me if you are offended by this.]
Just like any other addiction, we tell our friends to try it just once, and pray they get hooked. However, as opposed to material addictions that leave you baffled and confused, faith and the spiritual addiction to the guidance of the Lord leaves you with a new clarity. You know which path you need to go on, and you want more of this magnificent direction.
Another aspect of the addiction which is different between spiritual and physical is Choice. Physical drugs take away most of your ability to make choices. Dependency kicks out the ability to think straight. Spiritual addiction is dependent on choosing the right. You know that the guidance is quiet and you might stray at any time.
I hope we all learn to be content in our spiritual addiction. I pray we all make the right choices as we grow in our dependence on our Heavenly Father.
TOTD: Trust the spirit to guide you home.
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Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Translation
I received an email a couple of weeks ago with a most intriguing request. A person who identified himself as being somewhere between Jewish and LDS asked if I can assist in translating a hymn into Hebrew. The hymn was "Because I have been given much", and I agree this is a great choice, since its message is so universal.
If you are not familiar with this hymn, here are the words:
Because I Have Been Given Much
Because I have been given much, I too must give;
Because of thy great bounty, Lord, each day I live;
I shall divide my gifts from thee
With every brother that I see
Who has the need of help from me.
Because I have been sheltered, fed by thy good care,
I cannot see another’s lack and I not share
My glowing fire, my loaf of bread,
My roof’s safe shelter overhead,
That he too may be comforted.
Because I have been blessed by thy great love, dear Lord,
I’ll share thy love again, according to thy word.
I shall give love to those in need;
I’ll show that love by word and deed:
Thus shall my thanks be thanks indeed.
Obviously, I jumped at the opportunity. It turned out to be quite a challenge. The translation itself, was not difficult. It was everything around it: Maintaining the Meter, the natural rhythm of the language, and the rhyming scheme along with the meaning of the verses - now there's a challenge for you!
I worked through the spirit on this one, with several rewrites, and improvements, until I felt I could rest. The response I got from this person was very rewarding, but the work itself was more important and more gratifying. I miss having a BoM in Hebrew, so any opportunity to add LDS material to the Hebrew repertoire seems important to me.
It is always a blessing to see God's work in action. Be it through myself or through others. I am eager to do more of this kind of work, and welcome any requests.
You can find the end result of "Because I have been given much" here.
If you are not familiar with this hymn, here are the words:
Because I Have Been Given Much
Because I have been given much, I too must give;
Because of thy great bounty, Lord, each day I live;
I shall divide my gifts from thee
With every brother that I see
Who has the need of help from me.
Because I have been sheltered, fed by thy good care,
I cannot see another’s lack and I not share
My glowing fire, my loaf of bread,
My roof’s safe shelter overhead,
That he too may be comforted.
Because I have been blessed by thy great love, dear Lord,
I’ll share thy love again, according to thy word.
I shall give love to those in need;
I’ll show that love by word and deed:
Thus shall my thanks be thanks indeed.
Obviously, I jumped at the opportunity. It turned out to be quite a challenge. The translation itself, was not difficult. It was everything around it: Maintaining the Meter, the natural rhythm of the language, and the rhyming scheme along with the meaning of the verses - now there's a challenge for you!
I worked through the spirit on this one, with several rewrites, and improvements, until I felt I could rest. The response I got from this person was very rewarding, but the work itself was more important and more gratifying. I miss having a BoM in Hebrew, so any opportunity to add LDS material to the Hebrew repertoire seems important to me.
It is always a blessing to see God's work in action. Be it through myself or through others. I am eager to do more of this kind of work, and welcome any requests.
You can find the end result of "Because I have been given much" here.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Honest, Simple, Solid, True
I gave a lesson a week ago Sunday about the lost sheep and the prodigal son. As part of preparing for this lesson, I stumbled across a talk by C. Terry Warner who was a professor of philosophy at BYU when this devotional address was given on 16 January 1996. I wanted to share some notes from this lesson and quote some of the talk (I am doing this without specific permission, but am assuming that the public access over the internet and the proper referenece to the original should be sufficient):
The immediate lesson fron the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:1-7) and the parable of the lost piece of silver (Luke 15:8-10) pertains to the importance of each and every soul to our Heavenly Father as well as to His Son Jesus Christ. Looking at it from a slightly different angle we see that each sheep as well as each coin has a purpose. The shepherd relies on the fact that he has 100 sheep for his general plans and possibly for his survival. Without any one of his sheep - his plan will succeed only in part. The same applies to the Plan of Salvation - without any one of us - our Shepherd's plan will be successful only in part.
As for the prodigal son, allow me to quote Pres. Hinkley: “I ask you to read that story. Every parent ought to read it again and again. It is large enough to encompass every household, and enough larger than that to encompass all mankind, for are we not all prodigal sons and daughters who need to repent and partake of the forgiving mercy of our Heavenly Father and then follow His example?” (excerpt from “Of You It Is Required to Forgive,” Ensign, June 1991, 5).
"...Brother Douglas, seemed unable to shed his particular burden of self-concern because of an unreconciled conflict with a man in his ward. He had tried for years to resolve their differences but to no avail... Preparing to relocate to another state, Brother Douglas knew he had to make reconciliation, but try as he might he could not discover where he had been at fault. How could he rectify a wrong he could not identify? ...in his own words:
"I had intended to go over to this man's house between church meetings but was detained. Suddenly I saw this brother walk out of the church and cross the parking lot to his car. I cut short the conversation I was in and almost ran after him. When I caught up with him I put my hand on his shoulder from behind, turned him around, entwined our forearms, then pulled him close to me. When you pounce on someone like that it usually means that you have something important to say. But what was I supposed to say? I still wasn't sure what my offense was. It was not until the very moment I looked directly and deeply into this man's eyes for the first time in years that I could see my sin. At that moment I no longer saw him, I saw myself reflected! Where there had been no words to say, I found myself asking this good man for his forgiveness. "Why?" he asked. I heard myself reply, "Because I have loved you less. That is my sin: I have loved you less." Tears filled our eyes as I told him then that I loved him. He knew that I loved him. Whatever else I said after that really didn't matter much. I left him to return to the church. I glanced back once to see this good brother still standing where I had left him, his head down, and his shoulders gently rolling with his sobs."
"I received a while ago a letter from a woman whose father had been emotionally neglectful and whose husband turned out to be much the same way. When she tried to talk about why he was distant, he said it was because she was always angry. This angered her more, and she told him she was only angry because of his lack of love, which made him more inclined to withdraw. They had got themselves encircled in the bands of death and the chains of hell. She went to the mountains alone, intent upon reading one of the contemporary self-help books. She wrote later:
"As the writer began describing the intense need we each have for love, I began to feel more and more deprived until I felt such a huge longing that I could barely breathe. I decided to write all of this down for my husband to read, and enumerate the many times I had felt emotionally deprived. I began to write furiously, to pour it all out onto the paper. The longer I wrote, the more I began to have a feeling come over me that what I was writing was false. The feeling continued growing until I could no longer squelch it, and I knew intuitively that the feeling was coming from God, that He was telling me that what I was writing was false. "How could it be false?" I asked angrily. "I lived it. I know it was there because I saw and felt it. How could it be false?" But the feeling became so powerful and overwhelming that I could no longer deny it or fight against it. So I tore up the pages I had written, threw myself down on my knees, and began to pray, saying, "If it is false, show me how it could be false." And then a voice spoke to my mind and said, "If you had come unto Me, it all would have been different."
"I was astounded. I went to church. I read the scriptures often, I prayed pretty regularly, I tried to obey the commandments. "What do you mean, 'Come unto You?'" I wondered. And then into my mind flashed pictures of me wanting to do things my own way, of holding grudges, of not
forgiving, of not loving as God had loved us. I had wanted my husband to "pay" for my emotional suffering. I had not let go of the past and had not loved God with all my heart. I loved my own willful self more.
"I was aghast. I suddenly realized that I was responsible for my own suffering, for if I had really come unto Him, as I outwardly thought I had done, it all would have been different. As that horrible truth settled over me, I realized why the pages I had written of my suffering had been false. I had allowed it to happen by not truly coming unto God. That day I repented of not loving God, of not loving my husband, of blaming, of finding fault, of thinking that others were responsible for my misery.
"I returned home but did not mention to my husband anything of what had transpired. But I gave up blaming, knowing that I was in large part responsible for the state of our relationship. And I tried to come unto God with full purpose of heart. I prayed more earnestly and listened to His Spirit. I read my scriptures and tried to come to know Him better. Two months passed, and one morning my husband awoke and turned to me in bed and said, "You know, we find fault too much with each other. I am never going to find fault with my wife again." I was flabbergasted, for he had never admitted he had done anything wrong in our relationship. He did stop finding fault, and he began to compliment me and show sweet kindness. It was as if an icy glass wall between us had melted away. Almost overnight our relationship became warm and sweet. Three years have passed, and still it continues warmer and happier. We care deeply about one another and share ideas and thoughts and feelings, something we had not done for the first 16 years of marriage."
"How then shall we come unto Christ so that everything will be different from what it could possibly be otherwise? By sacrificing all taking of offense. By giving up criticism, impatience, and contempt, for they accuse the sisters and brothers for whom Christ died. By forswearing vulgarity and pornography, which diminish both the user and the used. By putting aside, in short, every practice that bears the image of murder, obliteration of souls, discord, and death. By giving these practices their true name, violence, and abhorring even their first appearance. By renouncing war in every form and proclaiming peace (see D&C 98:16).
"This requires us to look upon interruption and frustration and insubordination and disrespect and scorn and even abuse--all the treatment from others that we must renounce for ourselves--as opportunities for choosing good over evil. Do not love and do good only to those who will reciprocate, the Savior taught; it takes no particular righteousness to do that (see Luke 6:32-33). Listen attentively to the teacher whose lectures may be a little dry. Read with particular care the papers of students who struggle to write. Befriend the one who feels different, lost, or lonely. Embrace the child who seems to resist you. Take seriously the ad vice of parents who have trouble following that advice themselves. Invite to dinner those who lack the graciousness or the means to invite you back. Even "love your enemies, do good to them which hate you" (Luke 6:27). Like the Father, let your warming sun and nourishing rain fall on the just and unjust alike. Jesus intimated that this kind of love is who we really are--the very perfection, completeness, and fullness we came here to attain (see Matthew 5:45-48). And anything less--judging others and withholding our favor from them--capitulates to Satan. After all, it is with us as it was with the Redeemer: Satan does not need to overpower us in order to win the war. He only needs to get us to adopt his way of fighting it."
TOTD: Every minute of every day we have a choice to make: Are we going to be sad, angry, frustrated, jealous or any other bad emotion you can name OR are we going to choose happiness, forgiveness, gratitude, and love...
The immediate lesson fron the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:1-7) and the parable of the lost piece of silver (Luke 15:8-10) pertains to the importance of each and every soul to our Heavenly Father as well as to His Son Jesus Christ. Looking at it from a slightly different angle we see that each sheep as well as each coin has a purpose. The shepherd relies on the fact that he has 100 sheep for his general plans and possibly for his survival. Without any one of his sheep - his plan will succeed only in part. The same applies to the Plan of Salvation - without any one of us - our Shepherd's plan will be successful only in part.
As for the prodigal son, allow me to quote Pres. Hinkley: “I ask you to read that story. Every parent ought to read it again and again. It is large enough to encompass every household, and enough larger than that to encompass all mankind, for are we not all prodigal sons and daughters who need to repent and partake of the forgiving mercy of our Heavenly Father and then follow His example?” (excerpt from “Of You It Is Required to Forgive,” Ensign, June 1991, 5).
- From here I will refer to the talk by C. Terry Warner, with reference to the worth of souls and repentance (if you cant wait to read the following stories and wish to get straight to the punchline, jump to the last quote at the end of this post):
"...Brother Douglas, seemed unable to shed his particular burden of self-concern because of an unreconciled conflict with a man in his ward. He had tried for years to resolve their differences but to no avail... Preparing to relocate to another state, Brother Douglas knew he had to make reconciliation, but try as he might he could not discover where he had been at fault. How could he rectify a wrong he could not identify? ...in his own words:
"I had intended to go over to this man's house between church meetings but was detained. Suddenly I saw this brother walk out of the church and cross the parking lot to his car. I cut short the conversation I was in and almost ran after him. When I caught up with him I put my hand on his shoulder from behind, turned him around, entwined our forearms, then pulled him close to me. When you pounce on someone like that it usually means that you have something important to say. But what was I supposed to say? I still wasn't sure what my offense was. It was not until the very moment I looked directly and deeply into this man's eyes for the first time in years that I could see my sin. At that moment I no longer saw him, I saw myself reflected! Where there had been no words to say, I found myself asking this good man for his forgiveness. "Why?" he asked. I heard myself reply, "Because I have loved you less. That is my sin: I have loved you less." Tears filled our eyes as I told him then that I loved him. He knew that I loved him. Whatever else I said after that really didn't matter much. I left him to return to the church. I glanced back once to see this good brother still standing where I had left him, his head down, and his shoulders gently rolling with his sobs."
- Another story from this great talk, this time of a married woman:
"I received a while ago a letter from a woman whose father had been emotionally neglectful and whose husband turned out to be much the same way. When she tried to talk about why he was distant, he said it was because she was always angry. This angered her more, and she told him she was only angry because of his lack of love, which made him more inclined to withdraw. They had got themselves encircled in the bands of death and the chains of hell. She went to the mountains alone, intent upon reading one of the contemporary self-help books. She wrote later:
"As the writer began describing the intense need we each have for love, I began to feel more and more deprived until I felt such a huge longing that I could barely breathe. I decided to write all of this down for my husband to read, and enumerate the many times I had felt emotionally deprived. I began to write furiously, to pour it all out onto the paper. The longer I wrote, the more I began to have a feeling come over me that what I was writing was false. The feeling continued growing until I could no longer squelch it, and I knew intuitively that the feeling was coming from God, that He was telling me that what I was writing was false. "How could it be false?" I asked angrily. "I lived it. I know it was there because I saw and felt it. How could it be false?" But the feeling became so powerful and overwhelming that I could no longer deny it or fight against it. So I tore up the pages I had written, threw myself down on my knees, and began to pray, saying, "If it is false, show me how it could be false." And then a voice spoke to my mind and said, "If you had come unto Me, it all would have been different."
"I was astounded. I went to church. I read the scriptures often, I prayed pretty regularly, I tried to obey the commandments. "What do you mean, 'Come unto You?'" I wondered. And then into my mind flashed pictures of me wanting to do things my own way, of holding grudges, of not
forgiving, of not loving as God had loved us. I had wanted my husband to "pay" for my emotional suffering. I had not let go of the past and had not loved God with all my heart. I loved my own willful self more.
"I was aghast. I suddenly realized that I was responsible for my own suffering, for if I had really come unto Him, as I outwardly thought I had done, it all would have been different. As that horrible truth settled over me, I realized why the pages I had written of my suffering had been false. I had allowed it to happen by not truly coming unto God. That day I repented of not loving God, of not loving my husband, of blaming, of finding fault, of thinking that others were responsible for my misery.
"I returned home but did not mention to my husband anything of what had transpired. But I gave up blaming, knowing that I was in large part responsible for the state of our relationship. And I tried to come unto God with full purpose of heart. I prayed more earnestly and listened to His Spirit. I read my scriptures and tried to come to know Him better. Two months passed, and one morning my husband awoke and turned to me in bed and said, "You know, we find fault too much with each other. I am never going to find fault with my wife again." I was flabbergasted, for he had never admitted he had done anything wrong in our relationship. He did stop finding fault, and he began to compliment me and show sweet kindness. It was as if an icy glass wall between us had melted away. Almost overnight our relationship became warm and sweet. Three years have passed, and still it continues warmer and happier. We care deeply about one another and share ideas and thoughts and feelings, something we had not done for the first 16 years of marriage."
"How then shall we come unto Christ so that everything will be different from what it could possibly be otherwise? By sacrificing all taking of offense. By giving up criticism, impatience, and contempt, for they accuse the sisters and brothers for whom Christ died. By forswearing vulgarity and pornography, which diminish both the user and the used. By putting aside, in short, every practice that bears the image of murder, obliteration of souls, discord, and death. By giving these practices their true name, violence, and abhorring even their first appearance. By renouncing war in every form and proclaiming peace (see D&C 98:16).
"This requires us to look upon interruption and frustration and insubordination and disrespect and scorn and even abuse--all the treatment from others that we must renounce for ourselves--as opportunities for choosing good over evil. Do not love and do good only to those who will reciprocate, the Savior taught; it takes no particular righteousness to do that (see Luke 6:32-33). Listen attentively to the teacher whose lectures may be a little dry. Read with particular care the papers of students who struggle to write. Befriend the one who feels different, lost, or lonely. Embrace the child who seems to resist you. Take seriously the ad vice of parents who have trouble following that advice themselves. Invite to dinner those who lack the graciousness or the means to invite you back. Even "love your enemies, do good to them which hate you" (Luke 6:27). Like the Father, let your warming sun and nourishing rain fall on the just and unjust alike. Jesus intimated that this kind of love is who we really are--the very perfection, completeness, and fullness we came here to attain (see Matthew 5:45-48). And anything less--judging others and withholding our favor from them--capitulates to Satan. After all, it is with us as it was with the Redeemer: Satan does not need to overpower us in order to win the war. He only needs to get us to adopt his way of fighting it."
TOTD: Every minute of every day we have a choice to make: Are we going to be sad, angry, frustrated, jealous or any other bad emotion you can name OR are we going to choose happiness, forgiveness, gratitude, and love...
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Passover continued
Now...
That morning we were planning to meet up with an old friend who moved to Atlanta. The Atlanta temple had an open house during that week, as a precursor to its rededication. We had planned to quietly sneek away and visit with her.
However, after I confessed tony cousin that we were members of the CoJCoLDS, I couldn't help but add that there was an open house in the local temple for that entire week and that this would be a very rare opportunity to visit a place outsiders can't enter after the dedication.
I suggested he visit there if he had the chance and added that we were headed that way ourselves. To my surprise, he suggested he join us for the open house.
It was great. We had a great time with our friend, who almost collapsed when she heard my wife was called as RSP, and my cousin got a glimpse into the Temple.
I must confess that I had been warned, but did not understand the message... What do I mean? Observe:
As I was thinking and praying about the trip (prior to deciding to go), I got a strong prompting that I should go and I should keep myself open for a new opportunity. Silly me thought it was related to a job opportunity. Now I know it was an opportunity to share the Gospel.
I know my cousin is a man who knows and does choose the right. I know he qualifies as a Saint in all but his faith in the path of our Savior. All I can do is praise the man, and praise God for allowing us to reconnect in such a wonderful fashion.
TOTD: We each choose a path, and even wrong choices can show us the right path.
That morning we were planning to meet up with an old friend who moved to Atlanta. The Atlanta temple had an open house during that week, as a precursor to its rededication. We had planned to quietly sneek away and visit with her.
However, after I confessed tony cousin that we were members of the CoJCoLDS, I couldn't help but add that there was an open house in the local temple for that entire week and that this would be a very rare opportunity to visit a place outsiders can't enter after the dedication.
I suggested he visit there if he had the chance and added that we were headed that way ourselves. To my surprise, he suggested he join us for the open house.
It was great. We had a great time with our friend, who almost collapsed when she heard my wife was called as RSP, and my cousin got a glimpse into the Temple.
I must confess that I had been warned, but did not understand the message... What do I mean? Observe:
As I was thinking and praying about the trip (prior to deciding to go), I got a strong prompting that I should go and I should keep myself open for a new opportunity. Silly me thought it was related to a job opportunity. Now I know it was an opportunity to share the Gospel.
I know my cousin is a man who knows and does choose the right. I know he qualifies as a Saint in all but his faith in the path of our Savior. All I can do is praise the man, and praise God for allowing us to reconnect in such a wonderful fashion.
TOTD: We each choose a path, and even wrong choices can show us the right path.
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Friday, May 6, 2011
Passover trip
A couple of months ago, I was surprised by a phone call from a distant cousin. My third cousin on my mother's side, to be exact... We have practically lost touch for the past 7 years, and I only met him a couple of times prior.
He was calling to reconnect with my parents and getting some input from them, as part of planning for a trip to Poland.
It was great talking with him, and I soon found out he and his other 2 brothers now live in the Atlanta, GA area.
By and by, my wife and I decided it would be good to use the kid's spring break to travel to Atlanta for a family visit. Once my cousins heard this, they immediately invited us to join in on the Passover Seder. The timing correlated perfectly.
We decided to drive from MA. I will skip the hassle of describing the roads, the traffic, the weather and the construction... Enough to say that we had one day that in the 5 hours we were on the road, we managed to get through 150 miles...
One thing that was exciting was that in the DC area, as we came round the bend in the road, the DC Temple came floating at us out of the mist. We could not avoid from stopping and entering the visitors' center.
We had agreed, out of respect, that we will not mention our LDS connection. We also instructed the kids to focus on the Passover story, rather than any other.
The oldest brother, who was managing the show is a very deep diving person. He pulled various stories and commentaries on the whole Exodus storyline, and was planning a very thought provoking evening. I had to request he lowers the bar a little, since our kids are somewhat behind.
Despite this, the evening was wonderful. We discussed and lot and our kids participated more than I expected.
One of his comments revolved around the meaning of "Mitzvah", and about the fact that, according to Jewish tradition, it is both a duty and a privilege. He mentioned "Good deeds", to which I countered with my preferred phrase: "Acts of Service". Unbeknownst to me, thus phrase drew the attention of the youngest brother. Since we were staying at his house, he sought me out later that night, to ask me more about my philosophy of life.
We ended up revisiting the topic the following night and talking for over 3 hours. He told me about his perspective, and I about mine. His life philosophy rotates very much around Service, but not due to any theological reasons, but simply due to good conscience drive. I, in turn, shared as much of the plan of salvation as I could, without mentioning Jesus Christ.
When I finally hit the hey that night, as I was going through my bedtime prayer, it became clear that I should come clean. So, in the morning, despite hesitations, I followed the inspiration of the spirit. I mentioned that if he wanted to know about an organization that is world renowned for its service projects, he should check out the LDS church. I added that we are members, and that when he reviews our conversation from the previous night and finds holes in the theory - he can fill those holes with Jesus Christ.
To be continued in the next post...
He was calling to reconnect with my parents and getting some input from them, as part of planning for a trip to Poland.
It was great talking with him, and I soon found out he and his other 2 brothers now live in the Atlanta, GA area.
By and by, my wife and I decided it would be good to use the kid's spring break to travel to Atlanta for a family visit. Once my cousins heard this, they immediately invited us to join in on the Passover Seder. The timing correlated perfectly.
We decided to drive from MA. I will skip the hassle of describing the roads, the traffic, the weather and the construction... Enough to say that we had one day that in the 5 hours we were on the road, we managed to get through 150 miles...
One thing that was exciting was that in the DC area, as we came round the bend in the road, the DC Temple came floating at us out of the mist. We could not avoid from stopping and entering the visitors' center.
We had agreed, out of respect, that we will not mention our LDS connection. We also instructed the kids to focus on the Passover story, rather than any other.
The oldest brother, who was managing the show is a very deep diving person. He pulled various stories and commentaries on the whole Exodus storyline, and was planning a very thought provoking evening. I had to request he lowers the bar a little, since our kids are somewhat behind.
Despite this, the evening was wonderful. We discussed and lot and our kids participated more than I expected.
One of his comments revolved around the meaning of "Mitzvah", and about the fact that, according to Jewish tradition, it is both a duty and a privilege. He mentioned "Good deeds", to which I countered with my preferred phrase: "Acts of Service". Unbeknownst to me, thus phrase drew the attention of the youngest brother. Since we were staying at his house, he sought me out later that night, to ask me more about my philosophy of life.
We ended up revisiting the topic the following night and talking for over 3 hours. He told me about his perspective, and I about mine. His life philosophy rotates very much around Service, but not due to any theological reasons, but simply due to good conscience drive. I, in turn, shared as much of the plan of salvation as I could, without mentioning Jesus Christ.
When I finally hit the hey that night, as I was going through my bedtime prayer, it became clear that I should come clean. So, in the morning, despite hesitations, I followed the inspiration of the spirit. I mentioned that if he wanted to know about an organization that is world renowned for its service projects, he should check out the LDS church. I added that we are members, and that when he reviews our conversation from the previous night and finds holes in the theory - he can fill those holes with Jesus Christ.
To be continued in the next post...
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Thursday, April 21, 2011
New calling
So, a couple of weeks ago, the Bishop called to ask if he can come for a visit. We knew it was going to be a visit related to a calling but was not sure exactly which. I really liked my calling as GD teacher, and my wife was just getting used to teaching the 10-11 year old girls. We expected that I would be asked to take on some other role...
You can just imagine our surprise when the Bishop turned to my wife and told her that the bishopric was inspired to call her as the new Relief Society President.
For someone who has always been in the background, this new and very visible position was a great surprise and challenge. However, she quickly dove into the role and selected her presidency as well as a compassionate service coordinator.
So, there we were on Fast & Testimony Sunday when they sustained her in Sacrament meeting. I knew there was a small chance she will stand up to bear her testimony, however I also knew I had to share mine.
I shared how I knew this was no simple calling and that the challenge was not only hers. However, I knew this was directed from the Lord. I concluded my remarks by addressing the sisters in the ward with a warning: "Sisters, if you ask her for help - you will get it!"
To my surprise, she got up after me and got on that stage. As I always knew she could, she gave a very inspiring testimony about her background and how she grew through her own adversity. She told the sisters that she is following in her father's footsteps who always told her that "Giving is an addiction" - once you start, you can't stop.
She concluded by saying that the ward should remember the UPS slogan when considering the new RS presidency: "What can Brown do for you?" - What can this presidency do for you?
The next few weeks are definitely going to be interesting...
TOTD: Giving is an addiction - I believe it.
You can just imagine our surprise when the Bishop turned to my wife and told her that the bishopric was inspired to call her as the new Relief Society President.
For someone who has always been in the background, this new and very visible position was a great surprise and challenge. However, she quickly dove into the role and selected her presidency as well as a compassionate service coordinator.
So, there we were on Fast & Testimony Sunday when they sustained her in Sacrament meeting. I knew there was a small chance she will stand up to bear her testimony, however I also knew I had to share mine.
I shared how I knew this was no simple calling and that the challenge was not only hers. However, I knew this was directed from the Lord. I concluded my remarks by addressing the sisters in the ward with a warning: "Sisters, if you ask her for help - you will get it!"
To my surprise, she got up after me and got on that stage. As I always knew she could, she gave a very inspiring testimony about her background and how she grew through her own adversity. She told the sisters that she is following in her father's footsteps who always told her that "Giving is an addiction" - once you start, you can't stop.
She concluded by saying that the ward should remember the UPS slogan when considering the new RS presidency: "What can Brown do for you?" - What can this presidency do for you?
The next few weeks are definitely going to be interesting...
TOTD: Giving is an addiction - I believe it.
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Thursday, March 24, 2011
Competitiveness and Respect
I had a long chat with my wife the other day.
Our oldest son (9) has always been a relatively mild boy. He is not shy, nor is he unlikable, just not part of the popular gang. We have always encouraged him to choose the right and be respectful. However, this seems to translate into a service oriented mentally where he places others needs ahead of himself.
On one hand you try to teach them that loosing a game is not the end of the world. On the other, you want him to understand that winning is important, as long as it's not at the expense of others and you play by the rules.
We are somewhat frustrated with trying to figure out how to motivate him to be more competitive. He does not seem to care if he wins or loses, but rather help the others, usually at the expense of his own success.
One of the only places I have noticed competitiveness on his part is between himself and his younger brother. Despite the fact that we generally try to discourage that, sometimes I let it ride for a while - just to provide him with the experience.
Still, the same question resounds: How do you encourage competitiveness while still maintaining humility and respect?
Perhaps it's just an age thing, that he will get as he grows older...
Our oldest son (9) has always been a relatively mild boy. He is not shy, nor is he unlikable, just not part of the popular gang. We have always encouraged him to choose the right and be respectful. However, this seems to translate into a service oriented mentally where he places others needs ahead of himself.
On one hand you try to teach them that loosing a game is not the end of the world. On the other, you want him to understand that winning is important, as long as it's not at the expense of others and you play by the rules.
We are somewhat frustrated with trying to figure out how to motivate him to be more competitive. He does not seem to care if he wins or loses, but rather help the others, usually at the expense of his own success.
One of the only places I have noticed competitiveness on his part is between himself and his younger brother. Despite the fact that we generally try to discourage that, sometimes I let it ride for a while - just to provide him with the experience.
Still, the same question resounds: How do you encourage competitiveness while still maintaining humility and respect?
Perhaps it's just an age thing, that he will get as he grows older...
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Saturday, March 12, 2011
Blessing
Yesterday I had a unique experience.
My wife has a dear friend, a wonderful woman who comes from a humble background in another country. She married well to a local man, who had committed to care for all her needs.
Despite various attempts, her relationship with her husband and two teenage kids has grown to have serious issues.
Her story would be completely unknown to us, except for the fact that this friend has found emotional refuge in our home. She had opened up to my wife and sees her as a great comfort.
This led to a suggestion from my wife to her friend, a non-member, that she may wish to receive a priesthood blessing. I do not know what went through her head as she was thinking of the offer. All I know is that she came back with a resounding Yes.
We asked one of our home teachers to assist me in her blessing... At first, I was hesitant that my personal familiarity with her story may impact my ability to discern the voice of the Spirit. Then I realized that my familiarity will actually as a lens to focus the message Heavenly Father wants to share with her, through me.
We gave her a blessing, which was very different than what she had expected. However I know she felt the spirit for the tears were in her eyes when we were done.
I have looked back on this instance and thought of other people that have opened up to us in the past. I feel the spirit that resides in our home opens up people's hearts. Our home is our temple and offers a sanctuary for those who need it. I am always humbled by an opportunity to provide emotional support in the service of our Lord.
TOTD: Keep your heart open for service opportunities. You will not be disappointed.
My wife has a dear friend, a wonderful woman who comes from a humble background in another country. She married well to a local man, who had committed to care for all her needs.
Despite various attempts, her relationship with her husband and two teenage kids has grown to have serious issues.
Her story would be completely unknown to us, except for the fact that this friend has found emotional refuge in our home. She had opened up to my wife and sees her as a great comfort.
This led to a suggestion from my wife to her friend, a non-member, that she may wish to receive a priesthood blessing. I do not know what went through her head as she was thinking of the offer. All I know is that she came back with a resounding Yes.
We asked one of our home teachers to assist me in her blessing... At first, I was hesitant that my personal familiarity with her story may impact my ability to discern the voice of the Spirit. Then I realized that my familiarity will actually as a lens to focus the message Heavenly Father wants to share with her, through me.
We gave her a blessing, which was very different than what she had expected. However I know she felt the spirit for the tears were in her eyes when we were done.
I have looked back on this instance and thought of other people that have opened up to us in the past. I feel the spirit that resides in our home opens up people's hearts. Our home is our temple and offers a sanctuary for those who need it. I am always humbled by an opportunity to provide emotional support in the service of our Lord.
TOTD: Keep your heart open for service opportunities. You will not be disappointed.
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Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Behind the Veggie
I. Know, I know... I am behind on my blogging...
So many things to write about and share, so little time left to write in.
One of the major things in our lives in these days is... you'll never guess... Veggie-Tales. And just to prove how relevant this can be, here is a little story:
Our 8 year old son is a very sweet boy. However, he is somewhat challenged when it comes to social skills. He has had a problem with a group of girl bullies on his bus since the beginning of the school year. It went as far as them ripping his jacket on one occasion.
Following that event, he was moved to the front of the bus, to sit closer to the driver. At some point after this we watched an episode of Veggie-Tales called "VeggieTales: Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Samson's Hairbrush". A few days later our son came home with some trinkets he received on the bus...
When we asked about the gifts, he told us that he approached the girls on the bus and told them that you should "love your enemy", and that he loves them. Apparently, they did not know what to do about it, so they agreed to be friends.
We were very impressed with this story and we couldn't help but recognize its origins: Veggie-Tales... If you are not familiar - check them out.
If you do watch any of the shows, I should only note that there is a general religious theme to most of the shows, but nothing specifically Christian (or Jewish for that matter). Just a general sense that God is looking out for you, and wants what's best for you. One of the chorus lines in a song is "God is bigger than the Boogie-Man" - depicting how we can rely on Him to protect us when needed.
Just to clear up any missed expectations, a couple of weeks later, the girls were at it again, and got suspended from school...
TOTD: Brotherly love can go a long way if we are not afraid to show it.
So many things to write about and share, so little time left to write in.
One of the major things in our lives in these days is... you'll never guess... Veggie-Tales. And just to prove how relevant this can be, here is a little story:
Our 8 year old son is a very sweet boy. However, he is somewhat challenged when it comes to social skills. He has had a problem with a group of girl bullies on his bus since the beginning of the school year. It went as far as them ripping his jacket on one occasion.
Following that event, he was moved to the front of the bus, to sit closer to the driver. At some point after this we watched an episode of Veggie-Tales called "VeggieTales: Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Samson's Hairbrush". A few days later our son came home with some trinkets he received on the bus...
When we asked about the gifts, he told us that he approached the girls on the bus and told them that you should "love your enemy", and that he loves them. Apparently, they did not know what to do about it, so they agreed to be friends.
We were very impressed with this story and we couldn't help but recognize its origins: Veggie-Tales... If you are not familiar - check them out.
If you do watch any of the shows, I should only note that there is a general religious theme to most of the shows, but nothing specifically Christian (or Jewish for that matter). Just a general sense that God is looking out for you, and wants what's best for you. One of the chorus lines in a song is "God is bigger than the Boogie-Man" - depicting how we can rely on Him to protect us when needed.
Just to clear up any missed expectations, a couple of weeks later, the girls were at it again, and got suspended from school...
TOTD: Brotherly love can go a long way if we are not afraid to show it.
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Washington, D. C.
'Twas The week before New Year's,
and all through our home -
the kids were outrageous,
no fault of their own...
Their winter vacation
was on in full force,
and kids are just kids
(we knew that, of course).
So I took off Thursday
and Friday as well,
To spend with my family,
Give the missis a spell.
Come Thursday lunchtime
I puzzled the thought:
A family trip
Would be nice, would it not?
And where would we go
this late in the game?
No matter the time -
D. C. Has the fame...
So deep in the night
I hatched up a plan
(In hindsight I know
That it wasn't so grand).
We woke Friday morning
And quick as a mouse
Packed up all the kiddies
And most of the house
And left for a drive
That would take all day long...
The weather was perfect
Our Hearts full of song...
When we finally got there
Late Friday eve
We found there's much more
Than we could achieve...
Up Washington's Post
We climbed the next morn
And then two Smithsonians
Got us all worn.
The next day was geared
For the home driving race,
But first: a short stop
At the Big Lincoln place.
We also did manage
To squeeze in a walk
Around that old White House
Where presidents talk.
We finally headed
For home with one thought:
We have to come back -
We missed such a lot.
--------------------------------
TOTD: Jump while you still can.
and all through our home -
the kids were outrageous,
no fault of their own...
Their winter vacation
was on in full force,
and kids are just kids
(we knew that, of course).
So I took off Thursday
and Friday as well,
To spend with my family,
Give the missis a spell.
Come Thursday lunchtime
I puzzled the thought:
A family trip
Would be nice, would it not?
And where would we go
this late in the game?
No matter the time -
D. C. Has the fame...
So deep in the night
I hatched up a plan
(In hindsight I know
That it wasn't so grand).
We woke Friday morning
And quick as a mouse
Packed up all the kiddies
And most of the house
And left for a drive
That would take all day long...
The weather was perfect
Our Hearts full of song...
When we finally got there
Late Friday eve
We found there's much more
Than we could achieve...
Up Washington's Post
We climbed the next morn
And then two Smithsonians
Got us all worn.
The next day was geared
For the home driving race,
But first: a short stop
At the Big Lincoln place.
We also did manage
To squeeze in a walk
Around that old White House
Where presidents talk.
We finally headed
For home with one thought:
We have to come back -
We missed such a lot.
--------------------------------
TOTD: Jump while you still can.
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Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Born "from above"
So I was preparing to give the GD lesson this past Sunday. The lesson was #5 in the NT: "Born Again" (John 3-4): all about why we need to be baptized and the symbolism of water etc, as well as the story of the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well.
Greek: "ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ, Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν, οὐ δύναται ἰδεῖν τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ."
As part of the preparation, I reviewed the chapters in my copy of the NT in Hebrew. This translation was done directly from Greek into Hebrew and therefore contains some interesting insights into the original text. A couple of things were interesting about the Hebrew version of John 3:3, such that I looked up the text in the Greek version:
KJV: "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Hebrew: "ויען ישוע ויאמר אליו אמן אמן אני אֺמֵר לך אם-לא יוָלד איש מלמעלה לא-יוכל לראות מלכות האלוהים"
Greek: "ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ, Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν, οὐ δύναται ἰδεῖν τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ."
- The first thing that caught me by surprise was the Hebrew translation of "Verily, Verily". This is such a common term in the NT that I never even bothered to think about it. In Hebrew it is written as "אמן אמן" which is literally translated into "Amen, Amen". Now the Greek version has "Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν", and for those who do not remember their high school math Greek alphabet: Ἀ=A; μ=m; ὴ=e; ν=n... You got it: "Amen, Amen". Why the KJV authors decided to use "verily", I can only guess at based on the Hebrew meaning:
- In Hebrew the word Amen comes from the root .א.מ.נ which is the root of the word for "belief". In essence, Amen in Hebrew is used to show belief in the truthfulness of what you are hearing, or, in other words: "I believe you". When you turn this around and the speaker uses the word it conveys a call for belief in his words. In other words the speaker uses Amen instead of saying: "in truth", or "believe me, since this is the truth".
- However, in English most of these meanings are lost when the word Amen is used. It seems to convey only a humble response to divine instruction. Something along the lines of "I will follow what you tell me to do" - very different from anything truth related, as it goes... So I'm guessing the translating body for the KJV of the NT chose "verily" since it conveys "in truth" exactly.
- The second thing was the translation of "born again", which in Hebrew was "יוָלד מלמעלה" - literally translated into "born from above". Again I reviewed the Greek version and it uses the word "ἄνωθεν", which has the following optional definitions in an online Greek-English dictionary:
- From above, from a higher place.
- Of things which come from heaven or God.
- From the first, from the beginning, from the very first.
- Anew, over again.
- It seems as though the Hebrew version put its stress on being born of God, where the English version put the stress on being reborn. I say they are both relevant and should not be taken one without the other...
BTW, the complete lesson (NT #5) can be found on my GD website: www.tudtuu.info
TOTD: The obvious isn't obvious when information gets in the way.
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