tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30965151418314872692024-02-07T17:24:38.044-08:00The Book of LamanWe all have some foolish traditions in our families. It's time to bring them to light, make fun of them then kick them to the curb.DJ Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144262117628748083noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096515141831487269.post-44076992982088460332016-12-22T09:21:00.001-08:002016-12-22T09:21:17.611-08:00Did Gordon Monson write this too?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />DJ Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144262117628748083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096515141831487269.post-39952636377503250512016-11-09T09:50:00.000-08:002016-11-09T09:50:17.924-08:00Elections and Hate<br /><br />Two days ago in my Spanish Classes I had the opportunity to share with my students my feelings on the (then) upcoming election. As students came into class I had them make lists of all the reasons they don't like people. Many students expressed their dislike for this task, saying it was mean. As we compiled a list of undesirable characteristics we wrote down things like liars, cheaters, haters, hypocrites, being mean, jealous and on and on. After reading through the list I asked students what was not on the list. After a few puzzling moments a bright student spoke up, "who we vote for". Other students started to catch the idea and began saying things like, "what religion we are" or "what our political views are". We compiled a list and discussed how it is OK to disagree with someone's political view and still like them. Not surprisingly, almost every student understood and agreed with this point. So why am I sharing this with you? Because I couldn't finish. What I wanted to say isn't allowed.<br /><br />"And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept." Moses 7:28<br /><br />Towards the end of the Book of Moses, we get to see a glimpse into a vision that the Prophet Enoch had. In the vision Enoch see's everything from Adam down to the end of the world. At one point in the vision we see a perfect glorified God of heaven weeping over his creations. We all have the same question that Enoch asked, "How is it that thou canst weep?" <br /><br />As I read the answer that followed, my mind tried to understand. My heart drooped low as I read all the reasons. Then something jumped out at me. I thought to myself, "what is not there?" "Why didn't God weep?" <br /><br />When God answers Enoch he doesn't say "I'm weeping because of who they voted for President", or "Can't you see how many liberals there are?" or even "How can they pass a gun control law like that?" No, what he says is <br /><br />"Behold these thy bretheren, (I have) given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood". <br /><br />What a damning accusation. Apparently what makes the God of the heavens weep is not political affiliation or ignorant voters, but hate. Hatred of your fellow man (or woman) for whatever reason you could imagine. Just think, as a parent you teach your children to love each other, how sad it must be when not only can they not get along but they hate their own blood. <br /><br />So, I am not worked up about who won the election or how will I ever survive this next for years. I am, however, very concerned about how we have treated each other in the moments following the results. Hatred is never OK. Not when someone insults us or disagrees, not when we believe someone to be a terrible person and especially not when they happen to vote for a candidate whom you despise. <br /><br />Martin Luther King Jr. said it best: "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others. In dangerous valleys and hazardous pathways, he will lift some bruised and beaten brother to a higher and more noble life."<br /><br />I believe that this stands especially true when we called to defend those who disagree with us or even those who hate and spew hatred. We will not make change in our neighbor or in our brother by hatred. One can only lift a bruised and beaten and mistaken brother with love, kindness and understanding. One single president cannot change that who we are or who we become. 320 million can.DJ Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144262117628748083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096515141831487269.post-88820434527200094432013-05-12T14:18:00.001-07:002015-03-23T16:44:25.815-07:00A Father and a MotherI wrote this a couple years ago I hope you all enjoy!<div><br></div><div>You wanted rough hands to touch you as the doctors poked you with needles and so God gave you a Father.<br>
You wanted soft skin to cuddle you until you were asleep so God gave you a Mother.<br>
You wanted someone to toss you around and make you giggle so God gave you a Father.<br>
You wanted someone to kiss you better better when daddy tossed you too high and so God gave you a Mother.<br>
You wanted strong arms to hold you at night when you'd had a bad dream so God gave you a Father.<br>
You wanted a pair of hands that could gently carress you back to sleep so God gave you a Mother.<br>
You wanted someone to tell you that you were the best so God gave you a Father.<br>
You wanted someone to hug you and tell you things would get better, when they hadn't been the best. So God gave you a Mother.<br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">You need to know what you can become; God is your Father</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">You need to know how you can get there: You also have a Heavenly Mother</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPBTNw6khyphenhyphenYBcShiHefUI9eGwlTcPFQ-TT_CgvJAnjvAdgmQgU2EZLuysV3DkGW71ylyciEgo91SFgjS7vCjsTmPtcSY555KZdktPnu4co9gWbHwLei-1plDCZcnTp0HPfYKFr3FN_qN7H/s640/blogger-image--1867818807.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPBTNw6khyphenhyphenYBcShiHefUI9eGwlTcPFQ-TT_CgvJAnjvAdgmQgU2EZLuysV3DkGW71ylyciEgo91SFgjS7vCjsTmPtcSY555KZdktPnu4co9gWbHwLei-1plDCZcnTp0HPfYKFr3FN_qN7H/s640/blogger-image--1867818807.jpg"></a></div></div>DJ Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144262117628748083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096515141831487269.post-27292940678554173792013-03-08T07:56:00.001-08:002013-03-08T07:56:24.680-08:00Digging Post Holes and the 11th Hour"Pray always that you may come off conqueror". Especially when you are trying to dig a hole through frozen clay. - Deej & C 10:5<br />
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A few weeks ago we got a letter from our HOA telling us we couldn't have our dog outside without a fence. So we started looking at fences. After shopping around a bit, we decided that our cheapest option was to order the materials and put the fence in ourselves. Lucky for me, my awesome brother Sean, just got a job with best vinyl and knew everything there is to know about putting up a fence.<br />
So last Friday I went to digging post-holes. With a shovel and a mattock. And a hand-post-hole digger. I had hoped that I could knock each hole out in about 30 minutes. 2 hours after I had started I had dug 15 inches into the ground. I went to bed disappointed but hopeful that I could rent a 2 man gas auger in the morning and give it a try again.<br />
I woke up Saturday morning and gave Sean a call. He agreed to come over and help me out. We got right to digging, hoping that the frost line would only be about 6-10 inches and we could finish the Job in less than 30 minutes. I figured that would give me plenty of time to shower up and go to a baptism at noon. Progress was extremely slow. We measured every couple of minutes and saw that we were only moving along at about 1 inch every minute. "No big deal", we thought. After all, only a few inches and we should be through the frost. Wrong. We kept digging. After about 20 minutes of digging, our hole was about 18 inches deep. We kept thinking the next inch would break us through the frost and we could move on to the next hole. At about 20 inches we finally broke the frost line and the auger chewed up the last 4 inches plus an extra 4 in about 3 seconds. There was much rejoicing. Seriously, we started high-fiving each other and whooping and hollering. We excitedly moved on to the next hole (the one that I had dug 15" out already), knowing that we only needed to reach about 18-20 inches and we would be home free. 10 or so minutes later we had busted through another hole the hollering and hi-fiving continued. We took the auger to the third hole and started to work. Our hands were sore and our shoulders ached, but we knew just how far we had to go, and knowing that gave us strength to finish the job. The 3rd hole took another 20 minutes and we pumped our fists as we moved to the last hole. We still had 45 minutes until we needed to return the auger and I had to go to the baptism. Plenty of time to do the last hole. We started digging but we started to hit what felt like cement at about 5 inches. I got down in the mud to see what we were hitting. It was the same frozen clay, but for some reason the auger just wasn't getting deeper. We got back on the auger and started trying to dig. Our hands were killing us but we kept pushing, we had to finish this last whole. We pulled the auger out and measured again after 2 minutes. Still 5 inches. We both felt desperate. After all we had dug for nearly 2 minutes, our hands were stiff and we saw NO progress. I checked my watch. We still had 30 minutes. We kept digging. Another 5 minutes passed and we measured again. 6 inches. Frustrated, we pulled the auger out and tried to think of what to do next. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, we needed to try something different. After resting a minute I checked my watch and saw that we had about 20 minutes left and still at least 20 inches to dig. We had seen almost no progress in the last 10 minutes. I decided it was time for a prayer. We closed our eyes while still holding on to the auger and I quietly asked Heavenly Father to help us dig the rest of the hole out before I had to go to the baptism. After the prayer I felt confident that we would reach our goal. I knew that Sean felt the same way, and so despite our pains we pushed even harder trying to dig the last hole. We tried using a hand drill to break up the ground and it seemed to get us about an inch per minute. We would drill with the hand drill for a few seconds and then put the auger back into the whole. I kept checking my watch and knew that we would be cutting it close. With only 5 or so minutes to go we had dug out 20 inches, only 4 more to go. We kept pushing, hoping that any second we would break through the frost and be finished digging the holes. At 21 inches we still hadn't broken the frost and it seemed like we had stopped moving again. I wondered if we would make the deadline. I though back on our prayer and it had seemed like the digging had actually gotten harder since we prayed! I thought about quitting and finishing later. I had to go to the baptism and the auger had to be returned. We got to 22 inches and still hadn't broken through. I asked Sean if the hole was deep enough to make it work. He said we still needed to get those last two inches. We pushed as hard as we could, putting all our weight on the auger. I grunted. My hands throbbed. "We can't make it", I thought, "I have to go." I looked at Sean and his determined look made me push on. "It's always darkest before the dawn", he said. "We are almost there." 23 inches. Why the heck have we not broken through this stinking permafrost? Suddenly the auger stalled for a split second and it finally broke the frozen clay. We yelled and hollered and then quickly cleaned up. We were finally done.<br />
As I got dressed and ready for the baptism I reflected on our little experience. I wondered why it had taken so long to dig that last hole, even after we had prayed in faith. Shouldn't we have been able to dig it in just a few minutes? Why had it actually gotten harder to dig the hole after we prayed? Shouldn't it get easier? As Sean said, "It's always darkest before the dawn." But why? C.S. Lewis asked the same question,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times; font-size: 14px;">Where is God? </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times; font-size: 14px;">. . . </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times; font-size: 14px;">When you are happy. </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times; font-size: 14px;">. . [you] </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times; font-size: 14px;">turn to Him with gratitude and praise, </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times; font-size: 14px;">[and] </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times; font-size: 14px;">you will be. </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times; font-size: 14px;">. . </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times; font-size: 14px;">welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times; font-size: 14px;">[might] </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times; font-size: 14px;">as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become. There are no lights in the windows. It might be an empty house. </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times; font-size: 14px;">. . . [Yet he was once there.]</span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times; font-size: 14px;">What can this mean? Why is </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times; font-size: 14px;">[God] </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times; font-size: 14px;">so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in time of trouble? </i></blockquote>
Elder Holland explained,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times; font-size: 14px;">God wants us to be stronger than we are—more fixed in our purpose, more certain of our commitments, eventually needing less coddling from him, showing more willingness to shoulder some of the burden of his heavy load. In short, he wants us to be more like he is..."</span></blockquote>
So maybe when it gets dark in our lives, right before we know the dawn should come, maybe God is trying to make us stronger, maybe he is testing our will to continue on. But, why would an omniscient being need to test our strength, he knows whether or not we will stay the course when the going gets tough. Why does it get harder when it should get easier? I think it is because I don't know how strong I can be. I guess, looking back, that I never knew I could wait more than 2 years to have my little girl. But now I know. Now I know how strong I can be when a trial comes. Now I know that God does come through, even if it is in the last hour. He will be there. "<span style="background-color: #f9f6ed; color: #2f393a; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">For he will fulfil all his </span><a class="footnote" href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/37?lang=eng#" id="footnote32" rel="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/footnote?lang=eng&volumeUri=bofm&bookUri=alma&chapterUri=37&noteID=17a" style="background-color: #f9f6ed; border: 0px; color: #486fae; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">promises</a><span style="background-color: #f9f6ed; color: #2f393a; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"> which he shall make unto you, for he has fulfilled his promises which he has made unto our fathers" </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2f393a; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"> In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.</span>DJ Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144262117628748083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096515141831487269.post-79711542496054144532013-02-06T09:16:00.003-08:002013-02-06T09:16:51.800-08:00Taking Responsibility<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> "<a href="http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/presidents/controllers/potcController.jsp?leader=9&topic=quotes" target="_blank">No other success can compensate for failure in the home.</a>" Some how in the last 30 years, this morphed into, "There is no failure in the home that can't be blamed on someone else, or that shouldn't be compensated for by the government." I know, it takes a community to raise a child, but here's the caveat, a community can only help raise a child IF real reaching is taking place in the home. It is not anyone's responsibility but your own to make sure your kid graduates high school and leaves your house knowing at least how to be a productive member of society. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Yesterday I had a new teacher meeting during my lunch break. I have these meetings every month and I usually just quietly eat my lunch as my thoughts wander off into space. I leave having learned almost nothing. Luckily my lunch break is only 34 minutes long, so I only wasted 34 minutes of my life. Something was said in yesterday's meeting that upset me. Another first year teacher asked the group how she could help a group of students that would not turn their homework in. Most of the ideas went something like this: "remind them everyday to turn it in so that they know you care". My first instinctive solution is this, "Fail them, so that they know you care." I don't know where other teachers stand on this issue but here is where I stand. It's not my responsibility to make sure your kid succeeds. In fact no matter what I do or how often I remind your child to turn their homework in, I can't make them succeed. I can only give them great opportunities to learn how to succeed. I think that by reminding them every day to turn their homework in, I'm enabling them to be lazy. I'm enabling their parents to not do their job. There is not much I can do if you chose to work 80 hours a week between the two spouses and only left 30 minutes a day to spend with your 3 or 4 kids. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> So here is where I'm going with this. People love to gripe and complain about our educational system. There are too many lazy teachers who are only doing it for the job security. There are not enough teachers and too many kids. Teachers shouldn't have guaranteed salaries, they should be performance based. Guess what gripers and complainers! Your child's education isn't the public school system's responsibility. It is yours! Spend a little less time working and watching TV and take a little more time to explain to your child the importance of personal accountability. Teach your children that their success or failure in school has little to do with who their teacher is or where they go to school, but has everything to do with their ability to push themselves and with their desire to learn. Kids turning not turning their homework in and being disruptive in class isn't the problem, it's the symptom. The problem is the erosion of the family unit in society and the slow shift of responsibility from the individual to the group. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I don't believe that this problem is going to go away. The prophets and apostles have warned us for years that this would happen. They have told us how we can avoid these problems ourselves. I just want to give one piece of advice: Follow the council of the prophets as outlined in The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Event the parts you think are outdated and old fashioned. Here are a few of my favorites: </span></span><br />
<span class="dominant" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #39362d; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="dominant" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #39362d; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">HUSBAND AND WIFE</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #39362d; line-height: 22px;"> have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. </span><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #39362d; line-height: 22px;">Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #39362d; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #39362d; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="dominant" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">WE WARN</span> that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="dominant" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">WE CALL UPON</span> responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we heed these warnings, we will be successful in our families. I know it, I have seen it. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>DJ Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144262117628748083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096515141831487269.post-86174811193329534142013-02-06T08:45:00.001-08:002013-02-06T08:45:14.162-08:00Laman's 10 things you need to know to be a guyNeed a crash course on being a guy? Whether you're just a girl trying to understanding the male psyche or just David looking add a little testosterone this is your list.<br />
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10. Two words: Automatic Iron aka the dryer. Just throw your wrinkled Sunday shirt that you forgot to hang up last Sunday into the dryer and 15 minutes later, vuala your shirt looks perfectly pressed.<br />
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9. College football is not a season, it's a 5 month long religious holiday. Sort of like Hanukkah but it's only celebrated on Saturdays.<br />
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8. Phone conversations should be over in less than 30 seconds flat. The only exception is when talking to females and then your own side of the conversation should be kept to a minimum. Example:<br />
Caller 1: Hey caller 2 did you see that hit?<br />
Caller 2: Yeah that was sweet.<br />
Caller 1: OK, well, I'll talk to you later<br />
Caller 2: OK talk to you later.<br />
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7. If it takes you longer than 10 minutes to get ready then there's something wrong. You need to fix it. "Manscara" and "Guyliner" are not acceptable. If your eyelashes are not long enough then just deal with it.<br />
PS - If it takes you a full minute to put your pants on, they are too tight, they're not yours, they're your sister's.<br />
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6. There is always a game on somewhere. August through December is Football season, November through March is Basketball season and April through October is baseball season. The NBA can fill in the only 2 weeks of desolation at the end of March after your team is eliminated from play.<br />
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5. Stop Flopping. In life and in sports. Don't pretend like you got knocked over when everyone knows you just fell down.<br />
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4. Your wife will let you watch as much baseball as you want if you're just nice to her. Treat her like you should and you can enjoy 164 games a year.<br />
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3. Sorry guys but a beer gut (or Dr. Pepper gut) is not acceptable under any circumstances. No matter how many sports you watch there's always time to get up off the couch and lose that extra 15.<br />
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Since I wrote this so long ago, it looks like I never finished. So lets go peeps, finish it for me. What are your #2 and #1 things you need to know to be a guy?DJ Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144262117628748083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096515141831487269.post-10390446037406152712012-01-20T09:10:00.000-08:002012-01-20T09:10:10.185-08:00Deer Heavenly FatherSo last night I knelt down with my wife for prayers and she began as most of us do, Dear Heavenly Father. Now sometimes my mind goes off on tangents and surprise surprise, I thought "Deer Heavenly Father" and I imagined a big buck like the one on Bambi.<br />
Can you imagine if we prayed to a "Deer Heavenly Father"? Could you trust such a being? Maybe, but I don't think that I could. How could I trust something that doesn't understand me. How could I trust something or someone I am not familiar with?<br />
For that moment I was grateful that I say Dear Heavenly Father and not Deer Heavenly Father. It is great to know that God has a body of flesh and bones just like I do. That he isn't some unknowable spirit, but he is a real, loving Father, who understands all my needs. I am especially grateful for the First Vision of the Prophet Joseph Smith and with it, the restoration of the knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father.DJ Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144262117628748083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096515141831487269.post-86019336538848449802011-11-30T13:32:00.001-08:002011-11-30T13:41:09.701-08:00A little Gratitude.A little gratitude can go a long way. So I'm certainly grateful for answered prayers, the really important ones that allow me to have a baby girl, and the really small ones too. From the time I was a little kid my parents instilled in me the knowledge that God did hear and answer my prayers, no matter how seemingly unimportant they were. He helped me find my shoes when I was late for school and he's helped me find more than one wedding ring. Yesterday I was reminded again of the power of prayer.<br />
I was getting ready to leave for school but I couldn't find a form that I needed for class (I know huge surprise). It was a paper that a cooperating teacher had filled out about my student teaching to a Spanish 101 class. I looked all over but couldn't find it anywhere. Well I was going to be late so I decided to print a new one off and just take it to the teacher and see if he could fill it out again. As I put my backpack on I remembered to pray. I said a quick prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help me remember where I had put the paper. I took one last look around the desk but couldn't find it so I put my shoes on and started to head out the door. Then I remembered that I left my headphones on the nightstand by my bed. I didn't want to walk to class with no music so I went into my room to get them. After I got them, I stepped on a shirt on the floor (sorry mom haha), and noticed a small white corner sticking out. Sure enough it was the paper I had been looking for. I gratefully shoved it in my backpack and left for school, remembering all the other times the Lord had answered my simple prayers, even though the world wouldn't have ended if he hadn't.<br />
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As a bonus I turned my iPod on shuffle and started walking to class, the first song was "Good Life" by One Republic. Good life indeed.DJ Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144262117628748083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096515141831487269.post-45920519789507922442011-05-18T11:49:00.000-07:002011-05-18T11:49:32.415-07:00The flowers on the sideSince as long as I can remember I've always loved riding horses. One of my best memories was a horseback trip south of Yellowstone National park with my cousins Levi and Josh and my brother Sean. We rode for a couple of days in and then we camped out, saddled up and rode back out. We only took one bath the whole week and that lasted about 5 seconds in a near frozen stream. The reason our trip was so enjoyable was because the horses did all the work and we got to enjoy the scenery. There were a lot of rotten things that happened on the trip. To start things off Josh's horse was on it's first trip and still did not like being ridden and so she fell down in the first river we had to cross and got all of Josh's things wet. Then there were bears and the second day in we rode all day in the rain. It was freezing cold and I remember having to pry my hands off the rains when we finally arrived at camp and got off our horses. The pack horse kicked me on the way in because he was being lazy so I had to flip him with my homemade switch. (Sean says I deserved to get kicked but he's wrong). I'm sure I could have left that trip thinking it was the most miserable trip I'd ever been on, but that wouldn't be right. It was enjoyable because there were many more good and fun things that happened than miserable things. First off, all of the miserable things (with the exception of the rain) were all pretty funny at the time. Second, I could go on for quite a while with all the cool things we saw. I'm just going to list them here:<br />
1. I was amazed at the horses sense of smell. He could smell a bear a mile away and I was appreciative of that.<br />
2. The scenery was just amazing. Everything back there was almost untouched by man.<br />
3. When we made camp after finally getting all the way back in, the rain stopped and we enjoyed a warm fire (that was against the law but we all decided that it was worth the risk. If a ranger caught us we decided that we would all split the fine. If Bishop Hyde happens to read this or any other ranger then the statute of limitations is up.)<br />
4. While we were enjoying the campfire a little fawn walked right up to our camp and just stared at us for a few minutes. It obviously hadn't been around humans much. It was really neat to see how it could be so close to us and not fear us.<br />
5. I remember the injured eagle that sat on a limb by our path almost daring us to cross him. His talons here enormous! We were all afraid to admit it but that eagle was pretty darn scary. I got the feeling that if it wasn't injured it could have ripped us to shreds.<br />
When I am driving my car through beautiful country I miss out on some of God's most amazing creations because I have to focus on the road. However on that horseback trip I got to experience all the sights while the horse followed the proper course. I think often in life we have a tendency to drive our cars through life rather than enjoy the scenery on horseback. Even worse we sometimes focus on all the negative things that are happing and let those things shadow all of the beautiful blessings that we have. Take for example the following quote from a talk by Elder Holland:<br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">"If we constantly focus only on the stones in our mortal path, we will</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">almost surely miss the beautiful flower or cool stream provided by the</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">loving Father who outlined our journey. Each day can bring more joy</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">than sorrow when our mortal and spiritual eyes are open to God's</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">goodness. Joy in the gospel is not something that begins only in the</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">next life. It is our privilege now, this very day. We must never allow</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">our burdens to obscure our blessings. There will always be more</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">blessings than burdens--even if some days it doesn't seem so. Jesus</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">more abundantly." Enjoy those blessings right now. They are yours and</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">always will be."</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">—</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a class="authorName" href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/158936.Jeffrey_R_Holland" style="color: #666600; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Jeffrey R. Holland</a></span></blockquote>As Elder Holland says, "there will always be more blessings than burdens". In our hardest days it certainly doesn't seem to be true, but if our spiritual eyes are open then we will see that it really is. I believe that when we let the negative overcome us that we are disobeying an important commandment of the Saviour. "Be of good cheer". When our lives and burdens seem too much to bare and we lose focus of the blessings let us do as the Saviour asks when he said "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #494949; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="highlight" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f6f2c3; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Come</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #494949; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #494949; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="highlight" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f6f2c3; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">unto</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #494949; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #494949; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="highlight" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f6f2c3; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">me</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #494949; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #494949; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="highlight" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f6f2c3; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">all</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #494949; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> ye that labour and are </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #494949; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="highlight" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f6f2c3; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">heavy</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #494949; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> laden, and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #494949; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="highlight" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f6f2c3; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #494949; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">If we do this, Jesus will take our load, our spiritual eyes will be opened and we will be able to see the wonderful things that God has prepared for us to be happy in this life.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">I think back to that day we rode in the rain. I wasn't smiling the whole time and I wasn't happy always either, but if I would have let the rain become my whole focus I would have missed out on some amazing views. </span></span>DJ Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144262117628748083noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096515141831487269.post-19186677762853375052011-04-08T11:32:00.000-07:002011-04-08T11:32:03.916-07:00Peter went out, and wept bitterly.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4lfOhkkcd8dXsMF76s1tbNquDD-wtEuHrsVwRxWbySZED81AFtTjl2wabI_EdFKBsE41Vpc5CP7V4WaLwyQu6V3QV2tYjGNONz5sThO3_LCqFihEoA6DhFA_JcLZ3YpfxiTdvKd_czJHv/s1600/resurrection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4lfOhkkcd8dXsMF76s1tbNquDD-wtEuHrsVwRxWbySZED81AFtTjl2wabI_EdFKBsE41Vpc5CP7V4WaLwyQu6V3QV2tYjGNONz5sThO3_LCqFihEoA6DhFA_JcLZ3YpfxiTdvKd_czJHv/s320/resurrection.jpg" width="239" /></a>Today as I watched the <a href="http://lds.org/pages/his-sacred-name-an-easter-declaration?lang=eng">Easter Video</a> on LDS.org something stood out to me and I started asking myself some questions. What brought Peter, the future leader of The Lord's Church, to deny his master? How am I the same?<br />
When Jesus told Peter that he would deny Him three times that same evening, Peter adamantly said he would not. In his mind he could not betray his Savior. He believed, as do we all at times, that it would be near impossible for him to fall. I won't drink that beer, I won't break the law of chastity, I won't betray my family. Peter's fallacy wasn't in believing that he would be faithful to the end, it was in over estimating his own strength to the point of openly testing it. He went where he should not have been.<br />
His plight was similar to Alma's son, Corianton. To Corianton Alma said, "Now this is what I have against thee; thou didst go on unto boasting in thy strength and thy wisdom." Corianton was so sure of his own strength that he went all the way over to the land of Siron to test it out. If he had stayed and tended to the ministry like he was supposed to than he could have avoided his problem.<br />
Peter, as strong as he was, didn't believe the Lord's warning and so he went out to test his strength. Surely he just wanted to be close to the Lord in his final hours, but had he known how weak he truely was, he might have chosen a different course of action. Maybe he would have stayed home until he heard the cock crow. He wouldn't have put himself in a position to deny the Savior.<br />
Being where you are supposed to be and not venturing out side the guidelines of the gospel is a good lesson to be learned, but it is not what I wanted to learn from Peter in this case. After Peter heard the cock crow, he "went out, and wept bitterly ". If this were the end of Peter's story it would be a sad one indeed. But it was not. What Peter did after this is what is amazing. He got up and proceeded to become the man that Jesus wanted him to be. It seams that he was no longer the boastful Peter who thought too much of his own strengths. Now he was the unquestioned leader of the Savior's Church. <br />
Perhaps at times we too have wandered towards Siron, boasting in our own strength as we go along thinking, "I won't do this or that", but then we end up in some place where we should have never been in the first place, "weeping bitterly". But that should not be the end of our story. Just like Peter we must get up and with the help of the Savior, become the men and women that we ought to be. This coming Easter, let us remember that even as we cry the tears of sin that Christ died and rose again to wipe them away. Let us come unto Him and let Him carry the burden of our mistakes. He will make us whole and he will show us who we need to be. I know this to be true, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.DJ Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144262117628748083noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096515141831487269.post-62406152705517859312011-02-17T10:33:00.000-08:002011-02-17T10:33:30.640-08:00The Rest of the StoryA lot of you read my wife's blog post this week and I wanted to thank everyone for the response she has gotten. As her husband you can imagine that the hardest times for me were watching how sad my wife was. To see all the love and support that friends and family have given her in the last few days is nothing short of amazing and I guess I can only credit it to the love of Christ. Thank you all so much!<br />
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Now the title of this blog is "the rest of the story". Certainly this will not cover the rest of the story but I wanted to give a little insight for those of you who read her post, through my eyes.<br />
<br />
As I mentioned earlier, the hardest part for me was watching my wife struggle with this trial. There have been many times in my life when I've had to wait for something that I thought I wanted right then and I have learned that God always fulfills his promises to me in better time than I could have chosen. So for me waiting for a baby almost seemed like waiting for a package to come in the mail (forgive my poor choice of a metaphor). I knew that when the time was right God would send us a child. But it is so much harder for me to watch my wife not receive something that she deserves and wants. <br />
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Now let me step back a bit in time with a couple of experiences so that you can know how I knew. As Ashleigh said in her post our "plan" before we got married was to wait a year before we started to have children. A couple of months after we had been married I was blessed with a dream. Now before you call me crazy I had never had a dream before that I had considered "revelation". Probably because I wasn't very open to the idea of having something revealed to me in a dream. That's Book of Mormon stuff I thought. So back to my dream; one night I woke up after having a very vivid dream. In the dream a little girl with long dark hair came up to me and said "Don't you want me daddy?" I almost started crying it touched me so much. When I woke up I was a little bit shaken, I wanted to think that it was just a strange dream and so I didn't mention it to Ash. After a couple of days the dream still weighed on me so I finally decided to do what I ought to have done in the first place. I knelt down and asked Heavenly Father if it was revelation or "just a dream". I felt strongly that it was indeed a revelation that we shouldn't wait any longer to try and have kids. That night I told Ashleigh about the dream and my prayers and as you can guess you couldn't have seen a happier wife. (As it turned out I was looking for a spot to bring it up because I wondered if she wanted to still wait and then we saw the episode of the Office where Jim and Pam find out they are prego, who knew?) So Ashleigh told you that she went off birth control so now lets fast forward a few months.<br />
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Ashleigh also mentioned a blessing that I gave her that helped her receive some comfort. Before I gave that blessing I decided to go to my bedroom and pray for a bit so that when I gave the blessing I would say what the Lord wanted said and not what I wanted to happen. I hadn't really ever done this because I hadn't ever been in a situation to give a blessing where my will played strongly into the situation. As I prayed I felt comforted and I knew that the Lord would put words into my mouth. As I laid my hands on my wife's head I felt the Spirit come over me very strongly. I can only remember a few things from the blessing besides that feeling. First I remember I told her to be strong and have faith, the Lord loved her and really was looking down on her and was the only one who really knew how she felt. Second I advised her to continue keeping the commandments even when things got hard. Last I remember I told her that she could be comforted because "we would have a baby soon". As I took my hands off her head I wondered what it meant to "have a baby soon". Soon for me would be next month but soon for the Lord could mean a few years. It didn't really matter though because I knew it would happen, I had felt the Spirit testify on multiple occasions now and so now I was only waiting for a package to be delivered. I do know that it will come when the Lord sees it best to come. He has always blessed me with what he has promised.<br />
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Again I want to thank all of you for your love and support. The Spirit has comforted me when I read your comments to my wife and I know that she is blessed with lots of support and in way that takes a lot of worry off of my shoulders. So thank you again and may we all continue to show Christ's love to those around us!DJ Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144262117628748083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096515141831487269.post-88215527552404685922010-10-14T16:45:00.000-07:002010-10-14T16:45:09.817-07:00Facebook in the Bible<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS0stUPxZjLksTrTl_dDxw_iahzNngjNo1U3MemGIh0HyA5xTM32cvzLxoOwSACMA1gFC9OzUVETkVIOjRq8lfiJOXIL9eDVNHuEjDXAGpPVov8gk5oWUBSNiHim0Uk2RqALKo7UtL3_Fi/s1600/fakebook2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="489" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS0stUPxZjLksTrTl_dDxw_iahzNngjNo1U3MemGIh0HyA5xTM32cvzLxoOwSACMA1gFC9OzUVETkVIOjRq8lfiJOXIL9eDVNHuEjDXAGpPVov8gk5oWUBSNiHim0Uk2RqALKo7UtL3_Fi/s640/fakebook2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>DJ Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144262117628748083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096515141831487269.post-65336189956914973262010-10-14T13:18:00.000-07:002010-10-14T13:18:19.461-07:00If Facebook was a time machine...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRmmkmZ8LD7L0N8Mq32RwuE98ZZwiQK2wd-Bjm_WUkqAET7Hmu3eXhzHL_DHZIFvXtedkYo5pKszg3jpYz9qL72b3_jXdXmvjsYqlBv6in118arvUSbMskPDBRHT8JjkUfeWym5a7SEfWh/s1600/fakebook1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="532" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRmmkmZ8LD7L0N8Mq32RwuE98ZZwiQK2wd-Bjm_WUkqAET7Hmu3eXhzHL_DHZIFvXtedkYo5pKszg3jpYz9qL72b3_jXdXmvjsYqlBv6in118arvUSbMskPDBRHT8JjkUfeWym5a7SEfWh/s640/fakebook1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>DJ Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144262117628748083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096515141831487269.post-16179250204740284112010-10-10T13:26:00.000-07:002010-10-10T13:27:49.876-07:00Focus on the Savior<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin_kXHEzHq7moLc41kjOG3_m6M6PkzKWOA1MoK-V__mFtup6ksDH4GWW5UDQREjlX1iV3PXlm6RP2qtzzo9k4mIphQFx-fsXXmh-0SQtelxRmCSpDeSLIY1HfUuIoZZjX7o1HF1a-B9no1/s1600/christus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin_kXHEzHq7moLc41kjOG3_m6M6PkzKWOA1MoK-V__mFtup6ksDH4GWW5UDQREjlX1iV3PXlm6RP2qtzzo9k4mIphQFx-fsXXmh-0SQtelxRmCSpDeSLIY1HfUuIoZZjX7o1HF1a-B9no1/s320/christus.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I just wanted to share something really quick on this wonderful Sunday afternoon. Today in Sunday School our lesson talked a little bit about building our foundation on Christ. The teacher asked us the question of how do we get rid of confusion in our lives or what do we do when the spiritual storms come to our lives? Believe it or not the first thing that I thought of was a song on the new Zac Brown Band CD. It's a song called "Quiet your Mind". The basis of the song is that with everything going so fast in life sometimes you just need to quiet your mind because "if you're too busy talking you're not busy listening to hear what the land (I thought it said "Lamb" the first time I heard it and it would fit here) has to say. The fact is that sometimes we have so much going on in our lives that we forget to quiet our minds so we can hear what the Lord has to say. Often he tries to speak to us through the still small voice of the Holy Ghost but our minds are so cluttered and so loud that we drown out what the spirit is saying. We need to quiet our minds so that we can focus on the Savior. This point was brought home to me in a dream I had a few weeks ago. Some of you are probably thinking, "A dream? Is this one of DJ's crazy action packed dreams?" Well actually this is one of a very few dreams where I woke up and immediately knew it was from God and had an actual meaning. In the dream I was in a room filled with my immediate and extended family. Everyone was talking and having a good time but I was very confused. Everyone was loud and having their own conversation. Yeah I know this sounds like family home evening right? Well then the room started to swirl back and forth and I couldn't focus on anything. I began to be worried and wasn't sure what to do to relievethe confusion. I caught a glimpse of a picture on the wall of Jesus. I knew right away that if I wished to get rid of the confusion I had to put all my energy into focusing on that picture. As soon as I did this the confusion left and the room stopped swaying. I woke up soon after but the message was clear to me. I had so much going on in my life that I was forgetting to focus on the Lord. I knew what I needed to do and as soon as I did that I literally felt the confusion leave my life. I still had the same tasks that needed to be performed and still had the same amount of time to do them but now my focus was in the right place and the confusion was gone. Sometimes we just need to quiet our minds and listen to the Lord and place our focus and our trust in him. If we do this then Satan will not be able to confuse us.<br />
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<object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VPbDZnrxBLM?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VPbDZnrxBLM?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>DJ Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144262117628748083noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096515141831487269.post-10206712193524118442010-09-22T13:31:00.000-07:002010-09-22T13:31:32.659-07:00Avoiding the curse of LamanOK so some of you are probably thinking one of two things: RACIST! or Why in the world would I want to be any whiter than I already am? Let me just say that if having perfect olive dark skin is a curse then it's one I guess I'll live with the rest of my life! (Don't hate). So what curse am I talking about? Let me just throw a scripture in here to illustrate it for you:<br />
<blockquote>And after the <sup>a</sup><a href="http://scriptures.lds.org/en/1_ne/3" mark="a" title="1 Ne. 4: 3; 1 Ne. 16: 38." type="A">angel</a> had spoken unto us, he departed. And after the angel had departed, Laman and Lemuel again began to <sup>a</sup><a href="http://scriptures.lds.org/en/1_ne/3/31a" mark="a" title="TG Murmuring." type="B">murmur</a>, saying: How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands? Behold, he is a mighty man, and he can command fifty, yea, even he can slay fifty; then why not us? (1 Nephi 3:30-31)</blockquote>Seriously Laman? My mom always told me I had a disease called selective hearing (My wife would argue that I still do) and selective memory but this is bad! One minute you have an angel come down from heaven, lay down the law as you are beating you younger brothers with sticks and then literally a few seconds later you are already murmuring. How can you faith be so weak? I mean c'mon! Right? I'm sure we're all thinking the same thing: There is no way my memory is that bad or that my faith is that weak! Well in the words of Lee Corso let me just say "not so fast my friend". To convince you that you probably experience the curse of Laman just let me share a personal experience from my life.<br />
Before I get into the story I will share a brief background: Prior to this semester I was an Exercise Science major looking to get into the Teaching Physical Education/Coaching program. Since I had only taken the prerequisite classes the semester before, I had planned on applying for and entering the program in the Winter of 2011. Longer than I wanted to take but it looked like the best I could do. After dabbling around in college for a few years it was time for me to get finished with my major so I could support a family. So lets jump right in then. <br />
Monday: First day of classes at BYU. I had my class schedule all worked out and my work schedule was perfectly placed around it. It was shaping up to be a pretty good semester with most of my classes in my program. The only problem was that I wasn't actually in the program so there was a slight possibility that I would have to retake a couple of them. Here was where the Lord stepped in and started working miracles. When I arrived at my second class of the day I spoke with one of my teachers and explained my situation and asked if I should take the class I was in and if it would count for my major when I got accepted. She told me that it would not, but she told me that the program head was in her office and I should talk to her because they had already admitted someone into the program that same day. I went straight to her office and spoke with her. She simply handed me an application and told me to fill it out. Then she sent me to another professor to get some other stuff straight. I was in the program! It was amazing actually. Everything seemed to be falling into place. It was quite obvious that the Lord was indeed on my side and preparing the way for me. Then there was the hang up: I had to had a couple of classes to my schedule that conflicted with my work schedule. I began praying and decided that if this was what the Lord wanted me to do then he would continue to prepare the way.<br />
Tuesday: I went into work on Tuesday and explained my situation to the people in charge of scheduling. I told them how I had to add a couple of classes and that I needed to change my work schedule. I wasn't really worried about it because this company is usually very good at working around school schedules. To make a long story short they were "unable" to make the changes and I was forced to quit my job in order to continue my schooling. As I sat at home wondering about the future I began to doubt if I had indeed made the correct decision. "What if it was a mistake to quit,"I asked myself. Maybe I should have just dropped the classes to continue working. Did we really have a sufficient enough income to pull this off? Like Satan always does he began to introduce doubt into my heart. As the doubt crept in my faith crept out and I started to waiver in my convictions. How soon had I forgotten the feelings of the spirit in guiding me to the direction I had come. Now here is how you avoid Laman's curse and forgetting altogether. You may murmur for a moment but there is only one way to nip the curse in the bud. I got down on my knees and began praying for faith. I asked my Father in Heaven to reassure me that I was indeed doing what he wanted. I asked that the way would be prepared so I would know that it was the right path. As I got up off my knees my memory was restored. I began again to remember how good the Lord had been to me and how he had already prepared the way. Because Ashleigh and I had been faithful at paying our tithing I was not worried that we would not meet our financial needs. Soon I remembered that even before I had lost my job the Lord had already helped us. Just a few weeks earlier Ashleigh had been given a promotion at her job and her new income would be more than the combined income of both of our jobs before I had to quit. How amazing and loving is the foresight of the Lord? I wonder at how quickly any of us can forget all of the good things the our Savior has already done for us! We should all look at our own lives and see where we have let Laman's curse destroy our faith and then get down on our knees and ask God to renew our faith in him. I promise if you do this you will, like me be allowed to remember again "the greatness of the Holy One of Israel".DJ Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144262117628748083noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096515141831487269.post-84738635208940644382010-07-31T12:59:00.000-07:002010-07-31T12:59:37.348-07:00Entropy and the EternitiesHave you ever asked yourself how time works? Why do we keep time on earth but God does not? I ask myself these questions quite frequently and I ponder them often. So why am I telling you this? Well today I was at the mall exchanging a pair of jeans that I bought yesterday for a pair a bit larger. (Marriage is starting to take it's toll) While I was walking out of the mall I noticed a book signing just outside the bookstore and the book they were selling just happened to catch my eye. I wasn't that interested though so I moved on but as fate would have it I was walking the wrong way so I had to turn around and walk past the book again. I was feeling a bit sorry for the guy doing the book signing because there was no one there and he was sitting alone just waiting for someone to want his book. So being the softy that I am I stopped to ask him about his book. I can't remember what the title was but the topic struck something inside me. It had something to do with traveling to other places in the universe through light. The young Prince in the book inherits a space ship made of gold that allows him to travel to different places as long as he is a "faithful knight". Sounds like a good fantasy book so I prod him on a bit and ask him if he does scientific research before he writes or if it is pure fantasy. Of course he does lots of research before he writes and so he shares an idea with me. He rhetorically asks me, what is time? As I'm thinking he responds that he believes time does not exist with out entropy. That became the center of my considerings for the next hour or so until I arrived at somewhat of a concrete conclusion.<div>For those of you who it's been a while since your last science course, entropy is this: Randomness and disorganization. The second law of thermodynamic states that as you move "forward" in time the entropy of the universe is always increasing. In other words things become more disorganized as you move forward in time. Even when you organize something your self (such as baking a cake assembling a computer) you are putting in more energy than what is given out and so the net effect is negative. So time does not exist without entropy. Let that sink in for a minute. If things do not become more disorganized (they remain in the same perfected state) then time does not exist. Time for humans is a simply a sequence of events IE the sun comes up and the sun goes down and we have one day. But from an eternal perspective time is measured in terms of entropy. The older your body gets the more it decays and experiences entropy and thus time passes. The three nephites for example don't experience time in this sense. Their body's do not decay and so the only time they experience is in sequences of events. They see decay and entropy around them and so they can measure those events as a sequence in time. </div><div>When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden there was no decay and no entropy in their isolated system and so there was no time. There were only sequences, one thing obviously happens after another but because nothing changes there is no time. This would lead one to believe that the closer man (or the earth) gets to perfection the less you would experience time. A perfect celestial body and earth would, like God, not experience entropy and therefore would not experience time. </div><div>We also learn from Abraham that Kolob is the closest planet to God. On Kolob one day is 1000 years on our earth. According to the above theory, Kolob would be in a more perfect state then our world and that would explain why time moves slower on that planet. Another explanation could be that our earth is decaying at a rate 365,000 times that of Kolob. It would a appear once again that the closer you get to God and perfection that "time" or entropy seems to slow down. </div><div>This is all interesting and I hope it leaves you pondering but it's all really useless if there is not practical application. Maybe you will find your own and thus better you life. Here is my application and you can use it if you want.</div><div>Sin and death decay the body. They are spiritual entropy. Christ suffered and died to overcome these two obstacles that we obviously could not overcome on our own. We will all experience death but because of the resurrection we will all live again with an immortal body. In order to overcome sin we need to come unto Christ and let him guide us to perfection. Every time we sin our spirits decay. They move farther away from our Heavenly Father. But because of the atonement we can actually overcome entropy! Sin does not have to move us away from our Father. If we come unto Christ he will help us turn our weaknesses and sin into strength and righteousness. We will move closer to God, perfection and Eternal life. I know this because I can read it in the scriptures and I can see it in my own life. I know this may not make perfect sense but I hope I did a descent enough job that at least you may take something from it.</div>DJ Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144262117628748083noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3096515141831487269.post-16418446317211691382010-04-26T11:01:00.000-07:002010-04-26T13:44:52.304-07:00The Story of the First Foolish Tradition.As the sole write and creator of The Book of Laman, I am posed with the almost impossible task of choosing the first foolish tradition that shall be eradicated. In future posts I will rely on my readers keen ability to spot foolish traditions and report them. Today, however I will be forced to rely on my own dry whit and wisdom.<br />The first tradition had to be good. Like the picture in my title it had to be monumental, funny and touching (but in a different way). And so the tradition was chosen: The Monthly Histomony.<br />Definition: This tradition actually has nothing to do with your allergy medication. (If you do hear of a monthly histomony for allergy I would be in the market though) Histomony is a combination of couple of words. History and Testimony. Hence a monthly histomony is the recitation of the history of a certain month given during fast and testimony meeting.<br />History: The histomony actually has it's origins in the "thanktemony". Thanketmony is the combination of thank yous and testimonies that we learn in primary. The thanktemony is not inherently wrong and should not be discouraged in younger children. It did however develop into the histomony that we know today.<br />Why is this a foolish tradition: Well there is nothing wrong with a histomony if it were given during fast and histomony meeting. Unfortunately for the histomony givers there is not such meeting in the LDS church. Histomonies should be discouraged during fast and TESTIMONY meeting because they are not TESTIMONIES. Giving a true testimony in front fellow worshipers strengthens ones testimony of the gospel. Giving a monthly update of your personal history does not strengthen your testimony but does few a negative things. First off it detracts from the overall spirit of the meeting. Second it takes the opportunity from someone else to give a meaningful testimony. Lastly it is as a wise person once said, "putting icing on crap". The giver of the histomony believes he or she is giving a testimony and that they are consequently growing in the gospel. When in reality there is either a lack of knowledge about what a testimony is or the actual lack of testimony and so no growth is occurring.<br />Possible solutions:<br />1. Call out the histomony givers during Sunday School.<br />2. Set an example by cultivating your own testimony and setting the example on fast Sundays by sharing your own testimony with your ward or branch<br />3. Shout down thanktemonies and testimonies during your own "lecturemony".<br />4. Befriend the histomony giver and find out if he/she either lacks a testimony or lacks the understanding of what a testimony is. Try and lovingly help that person gain a testimony of the gospel.<br />Lastly if you are a histimony giver and are covering your own crap with icing or if you know someone with that tendency then I've got some serious advice. Ask yourself if you really desire to have a testimony strong enough that it will give rise to a new desire: to share your testimony. If the answer is yes (or if you were one of the group who simply "knows" someone who's covering the crap) then grab the nearest copy of the Book of Mormon. Go to your room/study/grove or equivalent. Turn to 3 Nephi Chapter 11. Before reading say a prayer in your heart and let your Heavenly Father know your desires. Read Chapter 11. Read Moroni 10:3-5. Follow the instruction given in those verses. Now go share your testimony. It doesn't have to be in sacrament meeting but it does need to be shared. If you don't see immediate results then repeat the process and choose different chapters in the Book of Mormon each time.<br />And thus ended the First chapter of The Book of Laman.<br /><br />Quote of the day: "A testimony is what we know to be true in our minds and in our hearts by the witness of the Holy Ghost (see <a class="scriptureRef" onclick="newWindow('http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/8//2#2')" href="http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/8/2#2" target="contentWindow">D&C 8:2</a>). As we profess truth rather than admonish, exhort, or simply share interesting experiences, we invite the Holy Ghost to confirm the verity of our words. The power of pure testimony (see <a class="scriptureRef" onclick="newWindow('http://scriptures.lds.org/alma/4//19#19')" href="http://scriptures.lds.org/alma/4/19#19" target="contentWindow">Alma 4:19</a>) does not come from sophisticated language or effective presentation; rather, it is the result of revelation conveyed by the third member of the Godhead, even the Holy Ghost." -Elder David A. BednarDJ Savagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07144262117628748083noreply@blogger.com1