I Can Hear You Now

I attended a stake Youth Conference one year, and a part of that involved a service project. We helped to clean up the church buildings that resided in our stake boundaries. The Youth Conference was a two day event and the Saturday night portion was a youth testimony meeting where we could share our feelings about the events that we were a part.

The meeting was to be held out back of the large piece of property, behind the stake center. A man who was a member of the stake high council assigned to help with the youth brought a portable microphone/amplifier combination to help so that the speaker could be heard. I still remember the first girl standing in front of all of her peers to share her feelings of youth conference. The sound was great. About a minute into her speaking, the microphone went silent and the young girl could no longer be heard clearly. The man stood up and attempted to wriggle the cords to try to get the setup to work. To no availe. He grabbed the amplifier and walked out into the long grass until he disappeared from sight. I thought that he was walking back to the church to change out for another one. The meeting continued and those who stood to speak were asked to speak loudly so that everybody would be able to hear what they were saying. The man was gone for about ten minutes.

My dad was serving as a counselor to the stake president, at this time. I arrived home that evening after a very nice evening. He asked me how the night had gone. I told him about how spiritual and uplifting the testimony meeting was. I also told him about the microphone problems that we had encountered.

The man came back a short time later and plugged the microphone into the amplifier and it worked perfectly throughout the entire meeting. It was nice to be able to hear each of the kids as they shared personal feelings about youth conference.

A couple of days later, my dad arrived home, one evening, following a church meeting he had attended. He asked me if he could speak with me, in private. He began to share with me an experience I will never forget. The high councilor had told my dad that he had enjoyed a spiritual experience at youth conference. He talked about the trouble he had experienced with the microphone and amp. He then said that he wanted so badly for the youth of our stake to have an enjoyable experience. He had grabbed the amplifier and walked out into the tall grass, where he could be alone. He placed his hands on top of the amplifier and pleaded with God to allow it to work during the testimony meeting. He ended his prayer and excercised faith that God would hear and answer his prayer. As soon as he plugged the microphone in and it worked, he knew that God had indeed heard and answered his prayer.

I am trying to live my life so that I know that when I pray, I will be heard. He does hear and answer our prayers. Of these things, I have no doubt.

Self-Classification

Okay, you need to bear with me while I share a personal belief with you.
This is not intended to be a 'pass judgment on somebody else' blog post.  My intention is to give you something to think about.
Most people believe that financial status dictates whether a person has class.  I don't believe that.  I suggest that we break out the CLASSOMETER.
What is a classometer, you are asking yourself?  It is our personal measurement device that we can use to know how and who we really are.
For instance, will somebody please tell me how many people were taught that when one's mouth is full of food you should chew so that the mouth is closed and the rest of us don't have to enjoy the sight of that food?  By observation, there are not a lot who remember.
Also, Becky has a hilarious saying that states that just because the clothing manufacturer makes it in your size, doesn't mean that it is right for a person to wear it.
How about just being soft-spoken, gentle, easy to get along with, calm, pleasant, teachable, slow to anger, a person that is okay with being second in line, open the door for your neighbor (either man or woman), accepting, tolerant of all people.  You get the idea.
I'm talking about taking the lead by demonstrating that you have some class. Taking the time to look presentable, even if you're  just going to the store.  The pajamas and slippers can stay home.  The small details show that you care about yourself.
My grandma has always stated and firmly believes that, "birds of a feather, flock together."  Look at yourself and you'll see that this is true.
From today on, I will be a frequent classometer user.  I am going to try to measure the way that I live--without being an overly critical nut job.  I plan on taking a couple of small facets of my own life and measuring myself to make sure that I am being someone that people can look to and be positively lifted up.
It's up to each of us whether we want to be someone with class or if we're content with less than our potential dictates.  If there is room for improvement then take this as a challenge.  If you're satisfied with your efforts, then you are probably somebody who I already look up to. 
I want to be somebody that possesses a little class. 

I Know

On Monday evening, our family went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to watch the movie, Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration.  The movie is produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It is a movie that highlights several parts of the life of Joseph Smith the Prophet.
Becky and I had gone to see it the week before on a day date.  I want to share some feelings that I had during that production.
I must first tell you, that the testimony that I gained of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was received with the knowledge of Joseph Smith as a true prophet of God as told to me by the Holy Spirit.  I know that the things that he said he saw are true.  I feel like it is important to gain the full understanding of his own efforts as a young fourteen year-old boy searching for sincere answers from God.

 "So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.

After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.

But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"

Joseph Smith received an answer to the desires of his heart.

We are children of our Heavenly Father.  He loves us and will give us answers to our prayers.

As our family watched the film, my heart was moved, once more, by the outpouring of the Holy Ghost.  I know that Joseph Smith is a chosen prophet of God.  I know that we are currently led by a prophet of God.  Thomas S. Monson is that prophet who does the will of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.  The Book of Mormon is a book of God.  Each one of us can gain a witness of its truthfulness by prayer to our Father, in the name of Christ.  We will grow closer to God by studying from its pages. 

I thank heaven for the personal knowledge I have gained.  I challenge all who read this to do the same thing.

When I was in the missionfield, Elder L. Tom Perry, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, challenged us missionaries to ask God for a confirmation of the truthfulness of the Gospel many times throughout our lives.  That confirmation keeps the converting knowledge fresh. 

I am thankful for divine knowledge.  It keeps me focused in my life.

Now Is The Time

I rarely remember my dreams of the night.  This morning, I awakened and my dream of last night was clear.  I want to share some of what I got from that dream.
I spent the night with my mom.  I am blessed that she is still alive, today.  The entire dream was just her and I.  She said something in my dream that resonates in my head.  "The time you spend with your children, now, is more important than anything else you can do."  Now let me clarify to you that the thing of greatest import to my mom is the relationship she has with my dad.  If that is healthy and strong then everything that follows, will be too.  So what she told me in my dream comes after her relationship with my dad but I already knew that beforehand.
I have spent some time thinking about my dream.  When I was a kid my parents did a really good job at rendering support.  I remember a time in junior high when I received an academic award.  That award was given to me in front of all of my piers, in a school assembly.  My name was called to receive the award.  I accepted it from the school principal and as I looked out into the audience, I saw my mom sitting in the back of the gymnasium with all of the other parents.  I wasn't aware that she knew about the award.  I was overjoyed.  My heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest. 
That is only one instance of the support I received.
There are many things that can occupy our time.  You can begin to list them one by one.  I must say that when it comes to the support that our kids need, right now, those other things seem very insignificant.
I read an article that stated one of the greatest heartaches that teenagers currently feel.  They don't feel like their mom and dad are really there.  There is a lack of support because everything else in life has pushed parenting to the background.
I have long held out the opinion that while our kids are at home, I need to take every opportunity to attend their various functions to lend my support.
Our youngest daughter, Laurel, and I walked down the Jr. High School hallway, this week, and visited with each of her school teachers.  It was parent/teacher conference time at the school.  Becky and I alternate going to parent/teacher conferences.  It give us both the chance to visit with and get to know them better.  It also shows the teachers that we have something invested in our kids education.  I was so grateful for Laurel's efforts to be a great student.  I felt a great deal of gratitude for the teacher's efforts in teaching Laurel.
Becky and I believe that the support we give to our children will instill in them the belief and confidence that they can achieve anything if they want it bad enough.
So back to my dream.  My mom said to me, in my dream, that she was proud of the efforts that I was making in teaching my(our) children by the example they were seeing. 
Let me say this.  There isn't a project in this world that is important enough to overshadow the desire to support your children.  Another professional sporting event will be on the television tomorrow.  Turn off the T.V. and spend some time with your son or daughter.  The PlayStation can wait for another time.  Grab your bikes and a ball or two and make your way over to the elementary school playground.  When school is out, there is no one there.  The playground awaits you!  A Big Gulp is in your future.  Ask your teenage son to go for a ride with you in the car.  He's got a lot on his mind.  Take some time, today, to listen to him.  He needs a listening ear not a talking mouth.  Although it may not interest you, your teenage daughter wants to tell you of her future aspirations.  Take the time to hear all about today's cutest boy. 
The key is time.  Throw aside all of the worthwhile distractions and spend the time that is the most needed, right now.
There aren't any of us that have perfected what my mom taught me in my dream of the night.  She doesn't even know how important her insight is to me--and that was in a dream.  I love her so much and I have and will always value her opinion.
We need to give a special concerted effort to using the 'now' time.  I will do it and I hope you will too.

Service With A Smile

When I was a young boy, our family planned an evening when we could go help an elderly woman in town.  She was Aunt Jessie to everyone who knew her.
She was in her early nineties and still drove her car.  She was blessed with strength and a great amount of determination to press forward in life.
We got to her house and we were each given an assignment of what to do in her yard.  We were there to clean things up a bit in her yard.
My parents always taught us the importance of hard work.  It was fun to work together to accomplish a project, especially one that would help someone else.
I can remember the feeling I had as we worked together.  We were able to pull weeds from the flower beds.  The lawns needed to be mowed and my dad took care of that including edging the grass next to the sidewalk.  It was a memorable project.  Aunt Jessie was pleased with our efforts and she wasn't shy about letting us know how thankful she was for all that we did.
I enjoy helping other people out.  The feeling that I get while serving someone else is a special one.
Service is the sure way to bring a smile on someone's face.  It puts a smile on the face of the one rendering the kind act. 
You can't ever serve too much.  Give it a try today.  Your day will be brighter, guaranteed!

Follow The Sign

I was driving down the freeway today and I passed many different signs with various directional information for all drivers.  I thought about the importance of the signs but because I drive the same exact way to and from work, I never pay attention to the signs.
I have thought about this same scenario when it comes to every day life.  I thought about the many signs in my own life that point to various things that are important to a happy and safe life.
Let's talk, for a minute, about a few of those signs that should be important to me and maybe will be of benefit to you.
Because my family is extremely important to me, I automatically think about the signs that keep me grounded and headed in the direction that will keep us together, happily.  I make a concerted effort to always be where I say I am.  That means that if I am going to late home from work that I inform Becky and then I am either at work finishing some last minute things or I am somewhere else.  But being anywhere else than where I say I am going to be, is not an option.  That 'sign' keeps trust fully intact with no wondering questions to be asked.
In our home, we have a standing rule that when anyone is on the computer they have to be out in the open.  There are never any questions about the content being viewed.  Following that sign keeps our spirits healthy and strong.
I talk a lot about our marriage.  It is extremely important to me in my life.  The signs that are influential in creating and maintaining a great marriage state words on them such as, "Speak kindly to each other all of the time."  "Compliment Regularly."  "Be Positive."  "Have a Great Time."  Liking each other is as important as Loving."  "Date. Date. Date"  These things are just a few of the keys to a successful recipe of a happy marriage.
The signs in our lives will keep us focused on the things that are the most important.  I am committed to doing these things, and more to make life the best that it can be.

Give Him The Ball

You know by now that I love good stories that motivate.  I love this one and it seems appropriate for today.

CBS) It was the stuff of Hollywood, but it was real.

Senior Jason McElwain had been the manager of the varsity basketball team of Greece Athena High School in Rochester, N.Y.

McElwain, who's autistic, was added to the roster by coach Jim Johnson so he could be given a jersey and get to sit on the bench in the team's last game of the year.

Johnson hoped the situation would even enable him to get McElwain onto the floor a little playing time.

He got the chance, with Greece Athena up by double-digits with four minutes go to.

And, in his first action of the year, McElwain missed his first two shots, but then sank six three-pointers and another shot (video), for a total of 20 points in three minutes.

"My first shot was an air ball (missing the hoop), by a lot, then I missed a lay-up," McElwain recalls. "As the first shot went in, and then the second shot, as soon as that went in, I just started to catch fire."

"I've had a lot of thrills in coaching," Johnson says. "I've coached a lot of wonderful kids. But I've never experienced such a thrill."

The crowd went wild, and his teammates carried the excited McElwain off the court.

"I felt like a celebrity!" he beamed.

McElwain's mother sees it as a milestone for her son.

"This is the first moment Jason has ever succeeded (and could be) proud of himself," reflects Debbie McElwain. "I look at autism as the Berlin Wall, and he cracked it."

His teammates couldn't be happier.

"He's a cool kid," says guard Levar Goff. "You just get to know him, get used to being around him. A couple of weeks ago, he missed practice because he was sick. You feel different when he's not around. He brings humor and life to the team."

Jason's next goal: to graduate.


We can do anything we want to do, no matter how impossible it may seem.  I love real life stories that illustrate one's hope to conquer the world.

It's every day life and we are all a part of it!