Some wonder how to reconcile God’s total power with the fact that we ourselves have power and abilities and are often trying for more.

Some wonder how to reconcile God’s fatherhood with our own parenthood. Whose children are they anyway?

Stewardship is only partially an answer.  It is only a halfway house.

The real answer is similitude.

This has been on my mind for a while, but with recent events, I decided to not wait until we reached that verse in Isaiah. And I doubt any of us need to hear this, but I thought I would write this regardless.

When Assyria was approaching Judah and Jerusalem, the Jews were counseled to take a defensive approach and retreat to Jerusalem. But many refused. They wanted to fight. It was their right and they wanted to defend their rights to their families and property. They were slaughtered. Isaiah warned them, “For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.” Isa. 30:15

(more…)

https://www.givesendgo.com/G9TTA

Is is a fact  (more…)

Your body can be broken but it does not lie to you.

The truth is in the body, the mind tells lies.

This is a follow-up to yesterday’s post on testimony.

Testimony helps us survive trials, a point that was probably made in a million homes last week reading the parable of the sowers about the plants on stony ground that withered in the heat of the day, and very right too.

Less well known is that the relationship between trials and testimony flows both ways.  Trials often create testimony.

Yes, we turn to God more in times of difficulty.  Yes, the help God gives us in trials can often help us believe in him more.  None of those are what I mean.

It is just the way people are made that suffering and sacrificing for a belief is what allows that belief to become truly part of our identity.  You can’t mentally will yourself to value something.  You  have to put in the time and effort.   Holding fast to your beliefs in trouble and trial is a shortcut to making them part of your core.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.

We often confuse testimony as a statement of our confidence level that certain propositions are correct.  It is not.

Even the devils believe, and tremble.

Testimony is a statement of convictions.  Facts are just facts, but testimony is facts that have soaked with meaning into our core and come to define who we are and where we are going.  A testimony belief is something has that become part of your identity and your direction.

That is why no one bears testimony  that their refrigerator cools food to keep it fresh longer, though probably most of us share that belief.

Testimony is beliefs that have got inside you. (more…)

It’s all been downhill since the Y went with the Cougars as their mascot instead of the Danites

(Ducks and runs, giggling  madly)

“Shane Reese’s career sounds like a boyhood dream: full of sports, wildlife, bombs, race cars and space exploration.

“He worked with nuclear weapons and helped the National Academy of Science monitor the demolition of two chemical weapons stockpiles. He consulted for an NFL team and the U.S. Olympic volleyball team. He published original research on baseball legend Babe Ruth and NASCAR icon Jeff Gordon. And he predicts the power of solar storms and helps government scientists understand a shape-shifting mass of energy on the edge of our galaxy.

“For all that, this year he will join the hall of fame for statisticians by being named a fellow of the American Statistical Association.”
–from a BYU news release from July 1, 2013

Dawn is not repose nor movement,

The flame grows like a plant.

Dawn is not melody nor clamor,

but the droning of a chant.

Tranquility is not indifference.

Repose is not lethargy.

They contain that quality we call holiness.

If you experience them, to that degree you have re-enchanted the world.

An ox team moves better together when pulling a load.

An ox team moves better together when it has a destination.

The is a lesson here on what it means to be equally yoked.

On the sweetness

On an impulse you work through the house

Grandma and daughter are baking a cake in the kitchen. They are talking up a storm.

And then you walk outside

Three offspring ages high school to elementary are on the tire swing.

You have a revelation. Watching people you love be happy under your umbrella is one of the most exquisite pleasures known to God or man.

“Daddy, twist the swing!”

You do.

The previous section (ch. 13—27) was about the Fall of Babylon. But that is only important insomuch as there is something to replace it. Otherwise, Babylon would reestablish itself in short order.

This section is about how God will establish Zion and in particular, how the Word of God will transform the world. If I summarized this next section (28-35), it would be with this quote from Spencer W Kimball

“I am convinced that each of us, at some time in our lives, must discover the scriptures for ourselves—and not just discover them once, but rediscover them again and again.” 
How Rare a Possession – The Scriptures! The Ensign Sept. 1976, 2, 4

And not merely learn the scriptures, but how they will transform society, individually and collectively. We must rediscover the power in the Word of God. Chapter 29 is attributed to the Book of Mormon, and this is true, but I wonder if it is broader than that. I suspect that when the Ten Tribes Return, they will see this as applicable to themselves as well.

Chapters 28 & 29 are the Doctrine and we see the Application in chapters 30-35.

Word of God Rejected, yet Taught: Doctrine (28), Application (30)

A Marvelous Work & a Wonder: Doctrine (29:1-14), Application (31-32)

Society Transformed: Doctrine (29:15-24), Application (33-35)

The doings at the Drones Club are as sprightly as ever.  Rolls whizzing to and from, young blood distinctly young and bloodish, bon mots of the bonest.  Rep. “Reppie” Thomas H. Massie had a good one that he shared with all and sundry to general acclaim.

.@repthomasmassie on his #RawMilk Bill and the lactose lobby in #DC pic.twitter.com/RI97JEY766

— Free the People (@freethepeople) March 12, 2023

Although still a frolicsome life of the party and whatnot, your Bertie has had to return a dashed nolle prosequi when viands and potations are pressed upon him.  I’m in training.  The boys have signed me up for a bank run.