Obedience

When I was younger and my mom wanted us to do something she would start singing the primary song, "When my mother calls me, quickly I obey..." And ya know, we would always come running. At least that's how I remember it...  She might recall things differently.

Obedience is the first law of heaven and therefore is an important concept for us to understand. There are many reasons people choose to obey God and few of them are:

1) Obedience out of fear.
2) Obedience in hopes of a reward.
3) Obedience out of love.

The way in which we obey is perhaps more important than obedience itself. Moroni quotes his father, saying, "a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift ... unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing." Take Laman and Lemuel, for example, they did many of the same things as Nephi but with a completely different attitude and we see how that turned out..

To finish off my thoughts, I really like what Nephi writes as he finishes his record in the Book of Mormon, "for thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey." Ultimately, being obedient to God should be a part of who we are, not because are afraid of Him or the persuasions of man but because of our gratitude and love for Him.

Without Sail or Anchor

Let me start off by saying that I am not a sailor, nor have I ever even been sailing. I have, however, watched movies where people do and it actually seems like a lot of fun.

In the last chapters of the Book of Mormon, Mormon casts before us an awful scene of blood and carnage. The Nephites and Lamanites are at war (which by this point in the book is a regular occurrence) and to say the least, things are not looking good. But as bad as the war is, Mormon is more concerned about their spiritual welfare. Because of his people's wickedness he knows that we too will sorrow for the destruction of this people as we read his account. And he's right.

In verse 18 of Mormon chapter 5 we read that the people were as though they were, "upon the waves, without sail, or anchor, or without anything wherewith to steer..." Like I said before, I'm no sailor but I think it is safe to say that those three things are essential. They give us control of the boat. With them we can stop, change direction, and return to our proper course should we stray. Without them we are simply at the will of the ocean. And after watching Shark Week that is not something I desire...

So as we set sail today and tomorrow lets not forget that we have power to stop and to change our course. Hopefully if we make minor adjustments (See President Uchtdorf's talk: A Matter of a Few Degrees) along the way we'll make it home to our Heavenly Father without being entirely lost at sea or eaten by a shark.

"We've got nothin' to hide.."

Ever been patted down by a police officer and checked for drugs or weapons? Well... now I can say that I have. The other night, we were on our way back from a little campfire when we passed by a car that had been pulled over. We joked, "Who gets pulled over in a state park??" Well, we do. A few minutes later we we saw the flashing lights of a policeman behind us. We slowed to the side of the road and the Texas officer came to the driver side window and did his whole little speech, "Do you know why I pulled you over?" etc..

He asked the driver to exit, then he asked me and the other passenger to come out of the car as well. We put our hands behind our heads and he frisked us. I can't say I was afraid or even mad. It was kinda cool actually. Unlike him, I knew that we were just a couple of Mormon boys from Utah. He wouldn't find any drugs or booze in our car.

On the drive home we laughed and talked about how fun that little escapade was. I realized that it would've have likely been a different story had we been drinking or using drugs like perhaps other kids our age would've been doing around a campfire.

When you are doing what's right you've got nothing to worry about, you can enjoy life!