Scripture - Malachi 4

I have been excited to complete the Old Testament again this year. Each time I read it, I love it again and more than I did before.

Today I finished it!

I have looked for verses to put here, but have not done so with intent I suppose. So I have skipped many good and worthy verses that could have blessed me.

However, today I found what I wanted - something that I have had some experience with this past week or two. The very last two verses of the Old Testament.

We use this verse to talk about the sealing power that was restored when Elijah came to Joseph Smith at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. The power to seal families together.

So Craig and I signed up a bit ago to do sealing at the temple. It is a "fun" time to go and remember the beginning of us, to feel the Spirit in the temple, and to recommit to our future forever.

When we were there, our friend from our ward was there to get sealed to his parents. He asked us to be proxy for them. We found out a little more about him. He joined the Church after his brother did when he was 19. He is now in his 60s and has waited this whole time to be sealed to his family. It was a tender time and I am grateful that we were there and were able to be a part of his moment.

Last week, my friend told me she was going to the temple to be sealed to her parents. She is my visiting teaching companion and I have gotten to know her better over this past year. She has been a member for about 3 - 4 years. Her husband brought her in, and then he died of cancer. She came to the Family Search Library when I first started there and we looked into her family. Last week she was ready to get them sealed together and then be sealed to them. She asked me if I could attend - absolutly! Again, I was honored to be part of her moment and share her great happiness.

And then yesterday I was invited to the sealing of a couple in our ward. She is mid-seventies and has found love again. She glowed as she entered the sealing room. The sealer gave a lovely message and I sat in that room with friends from the ward and remembered the importance - the critical nature - of what we were gathered to witness. In less than five minutes their eternity changed course for the better. 

I am reminded of President Hinckley when he talked about railroad switch points. The lever was activated and the rails realigned and a new destination is engaged.

The most important five minutes of life happens in the temples.

How grateful I am to Elijah for returning the sealing power. How grateful I am to be sealed in the temple to my family. How grateful I am to be walking the path home with Craig.

What I do when Josh runs.

Josh runs. He runs fast. He runs far. Sometimes I am with Josh when he runs. I don't run fast or far, so I have to find other things to do.

For example, he had a night meet last night. Craig and I wandered the course a bit. Craig figured out he course and made a plan on how to see him run the best. At Cross Country meets, there really isn't a way for spectators to see the whole race, so a plan must be had.

We also watched the Harvest moon rise. My little camera in my phone doesn't have the capability to take pictures of celestial bodies, although I tried my best. I zoomed in as much as possible and then I cropped it almost to nothing.

This is what I got. A glowing, orangish, hazy ball of light. 

This is what I saw. The picture is courtesy of the Internet. The moon was spectacular.

Josh ran a new personal best by 40 seconds. I timed him at 17:40. I'm not sure what his official time was, but I'm sure I was pretty close.

This morning the team did a beach run. We got up and drove to Corona del Mar. Josh ran 6 miles with the "fast kids." He said it was fun. Yeah for him.

Craig and I enjoyed the beach. We found ourselves across from the Wedge at the end of Newport Beach. There is a similiar sea wall (I'm showing my ignorance because I don't know if it's called a jetty - I really don't think so or what.) 

From inspiration point across the little inlet. First Craig and I watched the waves wash over the rocks. I love seeing the spray as a wave engulfs the rocks.

Looking further south.

Somebody put a sculpture of a momma sea lion and her pup on the rock. I tried to get the spray, but got the aftermath. Still fun.

Then we walked down to the beach and wandered across to the sea wall (?). We marveled at the size and opulence of the houses on the cliff. I mean really, who can afford to live in a place like that? They were amazing.

We wandered out a ways on the huge granite boulders. I was fascinated by the coroding rebar in the concrete that protected the the water way. There were a few sedimentary rocks boulders in, but most were granite. They reminded me of Wisconsin. I'm not too sure where the granite came from, but I was grateful for it.

The rocks were a favorite hang out of birds. My favorite was the Pelicans.

This guy watched us for a long time. He didn't move much. I think he's beautiful.

Here he got a little shy.

Of course lots of seagulls too.

We watched the waves curl the dance with the seaweed. Everyonce in a while, we saw a flash of orange. On our walk back, I asked a fisherman on the beach. He seemed to know what he was doing. We were seeing girabaldi, the California State Marine fish, they can be found from Monterray down to Baja. They are protected, and beautiful. Of course no good picture to be had, so I copied one from the Internet.

I told Craig we should come and do this more often. And I want to be there someday when the Wedge is firing. I heard the spray is incredible.

We wandered in the edge of the water, I even got the bottoms of my shorts wet. Next time I'll have to be better dressed and get in.

I've decided that Heavenly Father loves the water too. He created so many things that only he can see. The fish are amazing and give such delight with all their different colors and shapes. Surely they are the joyful creation of an artist who loves them.

Scripture - Jonah

I have written about Jonah before. But I seem to be fascinated with him. Something caught my eye today again. 

This reminded me of when the winds were boisterous upon the Sea of Galilee and the Savior slept. He had to be awakened also. 

In both cases, everyone else was up and frantic. They did what they could. 

In both cases the storm stilled immediately, in Jonah's case after he was thrown over-board. 

I am still humbled that we know the weakness of Jonah more than his strengths. That Jesus referred to the sign of Jonah to help explain His mission. 

That the most human of prophets was instrumental in the saving of the wickedest of cities; while the Son of Man was condemned and killed in the City of God. 

There are all kinds of comparisons and contrasts between the two. 

I think I would like to look up Jonah when I pass and learn the rest of his story. 

Scripture - Daniel 2

Daniel is a fairly well known book of the Old Testament. We know and love the story of Daniel interpreting the king's dream. We love the story of the fiery furnace. We especially love the story of the lion's den. Those three stories are a bit like the stories of Genesis. Impressive main characters and full of action and faith.

I want to talk about a few verses of a prayer Daniel offers after he saves his life by interpreting the dream.

When Karly was here, we were talking about Astronomy. I took an Astronomy class when I was at Dixie and loved it. I am still easily irritated when people think Astrology is the same. Astronomy is the science; Astrology is the superstition, prognostication, and fortune telling.

Somehow we got to why there is a Leap Year. That extra 1/4 of a day each year that needs to be accounted for. I explained the importance of the Gregorian Calendar. Why the Zodiac is important for the science, and why it is silly in the superstition. I talked about the wobble of the Earth's rotation and the fact that the North Star hasn't always been in the North.

Karly asked an interesting question. Did God create the Earth with intentional imperfections? And why would He do that?

Those are good questions. I have never really thought about it that way before. My answer was something like, 'Because we, as humans, will ask questions and the questions will lead to discovery and knowledge.' Honestly, I'm not sure that is the reason, but I still like it for now. As we notice the little irregularities, we search for reasons.

With the knowledge gained, we have made huge leaps forward in science. However, I wonder if we haven't lost something precious.

We understand Newton's Laws that begin to define the physical world and we forget, or dismiss, what was once common knowledge. God holds the Earth in its orbit and rotation. He controls the seasons and the climate. He is the ultimate holder of knowledge. 

We have discovered a fraction of the Natural Laws that He uses in His work, and we forget that He is the Lawgiver.

We are curious about the creation and ignore the Creator.

We have dismissed the Master Scientist in favor of imperfect scientific theories.

There is so much that we have learned. But in the learning, we have turned our back on the Master Teacher.

A challenge - keep knowledge in perspective and to seek to walk in the Light.

Crazy August

I spent half of the month of August away from home. The last of August we spent moving. In between we had Josh's birthday, the first day of school and family visitors.

I felt good just surviving the month.

But now we are in our new house (rental) and school is in session. We have internet hooked up again and now I need to acknowledge some fun times.

Cody brought some friends to our old house and they played at the beach. I didn't get any pictures - silly me, but we had fun hosting some college boys. While they were here, Cody mentioned that Devon was here in Southern California. Since the cat was out of the bag, Devon brought his friends over so I could say hi. Again no pictures. I have no idea why I didn't get the camera out. I was happy to see them.

Our housing contract ran out, and we just happened into a new rental. Our friends in the ward bought a new house and wanted to rent the old one out. Timing was perfect and this new house has more room for guests and cars. It is a very nice house. We are lucky to be living here. Since the house was empty, we moved over in stages. I'd pack some boxes and take them over and unpack. I moved most of the kitchen and the closets during the week. On the last Saturday of August Craig got a truck and we moved the big stuff. Josh was a huge help. We wore him out. Monday and Tuesday we finished up the little stuff and I cleaned. Just like that, we are in a new house.

Karly came out the first weekend in September. Friday she and I went to Sea World. I did take a few pictures this time.

At the entrance.

We focused on seeing the shows. First up was the dolphin show. They are amazing. We sat in the soak zone and loved being up close. We got wet, so I had my camera away during the show.

We peeked in at the feeding the sea lions. They are so loud and the egrets hang out for the occasional fish as well.

Karly taking pictures of the Bay.

We caught the Seymore and Clyde show. But we were so far away, I didn't take any pictures. The otter was darling and I love sea lions. It is always a fun show.

We wandered through the shark exhibit and the smaller aquariums. 

Of course the highlight was the Orca show.

They are amazing and beautiful.

I hope they like showing off for the crowds. We certainly loved watching them.k

They were enthusiastic splashers.  I thought is was so interesting how they curled their tails to get the huge splashes.

Last time I was here, years ago, the trainers actually got in the water with the whales. But then a trainer was killed. I think during a show. So the trainers stay on the side lines and do what they can from the safety of the dock. 

I wonder if the orcas miss thier friends. They seem so aware and full of personality. I can't imagine that they hate doing the tricks and interacting one on one with the trainers.

At the same time I know it's not like being in the wild. I'm torn on the animals in captivity thing. I love seeing them close up. I know the money raised is used for animal rescue - Sea World is quick to point out they rescue tens of thousands of animals a year. And being able to see them in action raises awareness for conservation and protection.

The entire zoo/aquarium dilemma.

Saturday we went to the beach. It was a perfect day. The water was warm, the waves mild. We all got in and danced with the tide.

The boys were the first to go, of course. Then I put away my camera and joined in. It was fabulous.

Happy in the sun.

Happy in the sand.

Karly actually able to get in the Pacific Ocean. It's way too cold in Oregon.

Drying off. It's too cold in Oregon for this too.

It was sad to see her go on Sunday. Hopefully she had enough fun to come back.

Ponderize - Ezekiel 36 part two

My offering for the Relief Sociery Presidency message. 

For those attending school, September is a new beginning. New classes, new classmates, new teachers. For others, September is the time of the harvest.  A time to reap what has been sown. Both of those leads to a bit of reflection.

 

I have recently read a verse in Ezekiel that I have been pondering. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." (36:26)

 

I have been thinking about the times my heart is stony; about the times I let stress, worry or anger warp my perception. 

 

In the chapters before this verse, Ezekiel talks of the destruction of the wicked; those who mock, lie and look to other sources for their happiness.

 

And then the miracle verse, God will change our hearts. The scriptures are revealed, the wicked are destroyed and then Ezekiel sees and understands or measures the temple.

 

There must be a pattern there for our lives.

 

We must work for a new heart: it is a gift from God, but surely we must seek it. And in order to seek it, we must examine our heart to find the stony patches and the places where doubt and fear live.

 

As we turn over our weaknesses to Him who will strengthen us, we will understand His word and will in our lives to a greater degree. As we give up our individual wickedness, our hearts will turn to the temple and we will be prepared to meet Him when he comes. 

 

May we take this time of new beginnings and the harvest and ponder on our relationship with the Savior. May we make more space in our hearts and our lives for Him who would heal us. And in so doing, may we find more peace, faith and joy.