The Continuous Atonement

I am reading The Continuous Atonement by Brad Wilcox. I love Brad Wilcox and he is one of my favorite people in the world. He was Robby's mission president as well. I have bought many talks on tapes that he gave to the youth and our kids listened to them over and over again as well as I. There are a few people I stock and he is one of them. Well stock in a good way if there is one. When his book the Continuous Atonement came out I knew it would be a book I would read this year. For a couple of reason, 1. My New Years resolution has to do with understanding the Atonement better and the 2nd reason is it was done by Pres. Wilcox. A friend of mine handed me her fathers copy of the book and she told me that he knew I would like reading it. He got it as well because he was Robby's mission president. I am so glad he thought to send it my way!

Today after church I thought I really need to get this book read. I have enjoyed it and is has given me some new concepts to understand and to think about. I was in the chapter "After all we can do" where he has subheadings with this same scripture but accenting different words in this scripture. This section the word WE is accented. As I read this section it was as if electricity went through my soul. I grabbed my scriptures and quickly did a scripture chain and wrote down the thoughts he shared in his book. I am putting this on here not so much for others to read but to solidify in my mind what he said and to remind myself of the spiritual enlightenment that came to me today.

He says- when WE in the scripture is emphasized it's not we as in you and me but WE as in each of us with Jesus. 2 Nephi 25:23- It is by grace that we (you and I) are saved, after all WE (Christ and each of us) can do (together).

I love this thinking. It makes perfect sense! He then goes to D&C 123:17 which says... "Let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still...to see the salvation of God." Again, the words US, OUR and WE are not referring to you and me but to Christ and us.

C. S. Lewis said- We are now trying to understand, and to separate into water-tight compartments, what exactly God does and what man does when God and man are working together." (Mere Christianity, 149)

Then he takes you to Ephesians 5:22-23 and talks about Christs relationship with the Church as a marriage. "However, Latter-day Saints know there is a difference between a marriage and a sealing. Christ doesn't just intend to marry us he wants to seal us His forever. One of Jesus' names, Emmanuel, means God with us (Matt 1:23-25).

I am a huge grace fan. I have seen grace happen in my life many many times. I have asked for grace and have seen it delivered at the very moment I needed it. Pres. Wilcox shares that we don't reach heaven by seeing Jesus's grace supplementing our works and vice-a-verse. We reach heaven by covenanting, building a relationship and by cooperation and union. We and Christ working together. He being the perfect one thereby making us perfect. When we stand hand in hand with the Savior we stand worthy. He truly does complete me.

"Christ's requirement are not so that we can make the best of the Atonement, but so that - on His generous terms- the Atonement came make the best of us. Such a continuous word requires continuous enabling power. It requires more grace than can neatly be diagrammed, graphed, charted on whiteboards, or found in a concise listing of contractual responsibilities. Such power is found by going beyond defining parts and instead of forging a relationship with God and Christ that is greater than the sum of the parts. When we do finally pass through the veil that separates us and the celestial kingdom, it will not be a individuals who have done our parts. It will be holding hands with Jesus. On that sacred day there will be no Him and me- only we."

"Christ doesn't just make up the difference. He makes ALL the difference."

The Continuous Atonement- By Brad Wilcox

Oh Remember, Remember

I love this short clip. This is a great talk and one worth reading over and over again. It's true! Have you seen the hand of the Lord in your life? I have!

Trials

So today was the trial of a man who was arrested for DUI back in 2008. I was selected to sit on the 7 person jury. I often wonder why one person is chosen over another. Of course sometimes it's obvious like the women who kept shaking and stating that she was nervous and it caused her to have tremors didn't get chosen.

So today was his trial. We heard from 3 police officers all of whom pretty much collaborated each others testimony. It was interesting to see how the defense had nothing to state but to twist the words of those who were testifying. He kept asking the officers why their cars didn't have cameras in their cars. Why didn't they call and ask for someone who did. Anyhow, when we finally were released to go and deliberate we found him guilty quickly.

But all in all I learned today of a great eye Dr. who does Lasik Surgery. Not all men who have gray hair are older than 50. I saw pictures of Jurors children and grandchildren. I saw one of our jury members take another members plate after she was finished eating (she thought he was going to throw it away) and dump left over food on the floor. It was all in all an interesting day. Tomorrow I have plain old work!

What a day! Is it Monday?

So today was a downer of a day for me. We attended the funeral of a young man who was just barely 21. Funerals are always a bag of mixed emotions for me. I feel so sad for the family but yet so happy for the person being able to move onto a better place. It was hard to watch his parents and siblings today. His brother gave an amazing talk about him. He shared stories why Alex was such a great brother. I can't imagine how hard it is to lose a child. I hope I never have to go through that in this life.

Upon leaving the funeral we were told that another family we knew were going to take their son off life support. He was the ripe old age of 20. I received a call in the afternoon that Oren had passed away. Not only is this tragic but his mother lost her father 10 years ago to the same type of auto accident. I hope I never have to go through that in this life.

And I come home from work and discover that I have to attend Jury Duty. What else can go wrong?

Today the thought of "Life is Precious" keeps rolling in my head. Hold your children close and teach them to stay out of trouble so we can put the court system out of business!!!

Happy Birthday Mike-

Tomorrow is Mike's Birthday and I wanted to say, Happy Birthday to the love of my life. We celebrated his birthday yesterday since there was a ton of stuff going on today and tomorrow as well. I get to celebrate with him all by myself tomorrow night and I am looking forward to that!

Mike, when I think about how blessed I am to have you in my life I think about all the decisions that had to go right in order for us to meet. I'm glad everything did and the rest is history. I hope we get to spend a zillion more birthday's together. You are my best friend, the love of my life and the best father in the world.

Happy Birthday Darlin`

I'm proud to be an American!

On Thursday I had the honor of attending a friend's Naturalization Ceremony. It was wonderful experience. I met Sana when she came to interview for a job I was hiring for. She was hired and has worked for me this past year. The day finally arrived for Sana and we all left our work duties behind. We walked about 5 minutes away from work and watched as she embarked upon this new part of her life. We weren't a small group but we came armed with flags, pins and cheers! Sana was born in Tunisia (ya I had to look it up too).

After we all passed security we took the elevator to the 5th floor we walked into the courtroom. We were handed a program of the events I began to look it over. I hadn't ever seen or been apart of a naturalization ceremony before so I didn't know what to expect.

I turned to the center portion of the program and found the names of all the people taking the oath this day. I believe there were 75 people but what is even more remarkable to me is where they all came from. Of course Sana is from Tunisia but there were 3 people from China, 2 from the United Kingdom. 5 from Palestine, 2 from Iran, 3 from Turkey. Some from Jordan, Barbados, South Africa, France, Trinidad and Tobago, India, Korea, Nigeria, Romania, Philippines, Nigeria, Cuba, Belize, Haiti, Mexico, Egypt, Moldova, Uganda, Lebanon, Ethiopia, St. Kitts-Nevis, Vietnam, Croatia, Canada, Jamaica, Spain, Brazil, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Liberia, Dominican Republic, Italy, El Salvador, Ghana, Syria, Dominica. It was a mighty melting pot this day.

The colors were posted by a young Marine who did an outstanding job. A Rabbi gave both the invocation and benediction. That caused me to pause as I listened to his words and thought of those in the room that might have a disagreement with him because he was a Jew but today we all sat in the same room as Americans.

My favorite part of the ceremony was when they had each person stand, state their name and the country from which they came from. They all remained standing as the oath was read and they repeated it. You are not a citizen until you have stated this oath and this is the oath to which they swear by-

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the Untied States when required by the law; that I will preform noncombatant service in the Armed forces of the United States when required by the law; and I that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

The judge welcomed them into the arms of the United States. They had another speaker who welcomed them as well and then we all stood to say the Pledge of Allegiance. The colors were retired with a Benediction to end the marvelous day.

I stood in the back and watched as the camera flashes went wild. The new citizens were eager to get their picture taken with the Seal of the USA hanging on the wall. They waited in line to get a picture with the Judge. It was touching as I watched all of the people I work with stand in a single line and hug Sana and congratulate her and welcome her to the USA. There were about 15 of us so this was no small reception. A few pictures later I was walking back to finish the days work.

As I replayed the days events in my mind I felt such great pride in what had just happened. I was thankful I was asked and allowed to share this important day with her. Her husband told me how excited he was for her because when he took the oath he had no one with him to celebrate with. I noticed that was the same for some of the other new American's. I wanted to say to them, welcome to the USA!!!

I ran across this short prose written by George Mardikian - an Armenian born, naturalized citizen who became a successful businessman and author, and who was awarded the US Medal of Freedom for his service to US servicemen during the Korean war.

You who have been born in America, I wish I could make you understand what it is like not to be an American -- not to have been an American all your life -- and then suddenly with the words of a judge in flowing robes to be one, for that moment and forever after. One moment, you belong with your fathers to a million dead yesterdays -- the next you belong with America to a million unborn tomorrows.

I am thankful I am an AMERICAN!

Giving Talks

Tomorrow is Sunday and I have to give a talk. I guess have to give isn't really right. I agreed to give a talk. I really hate giving talks. But I am always glad that I did when it is over with. I just gave a talk about a month half ago. I used that to justify why I shouldn't have to do it but that didn't work. When I heard the topic I said... I gave that talk about 4 years ago.

While complaining to my sis-in-law about it we came up with a great way to start... "I gave a talk on this subject 4 years ago and since most of you are new and haven't heard it I will just give that same talk again." (the problem with that talk is I was asked to speak for 3 years on this same topic at the local FH fair. After doing this 1 time I quickly added Mike and it became a team effort. Last year we told them... we are folding up our tent and going home.

When we lived in Ca I became the holiday speaker. I talked on every holiday there was possible. I have talked many times on Mother's Day. Each and every time I talk I tell them that one day the Prophet is going to make it illegal for moms to talk on Mother's Day or talk after the Primary children sing.

Ugh... the only good thing about giving the talk tomorrow (I was originally scheduled to give it on the 31st but was asked to speak early) is I'm hoping most people will be out of town. I wonder if we have to give talks after we die?