Burning a hole in my pocket

Wally called.  A distribution of Mom & Dad's estate is coming.  I'm thinking of using it for a "gathering" of the entire family.  Top choices would be...
1) Hawaii (Maui or the Big Island)
2) Disney World / Disneyland
3) Aruba- or another island in the Caribbean
4) A cruise (Alaska? Caribbean? Hawaii?)

I'm thinking that the Beach gatherings would be held in June or July 2012 and that the Disney gatherings would be Christmas 2012.

Any thoughts or further suggestions?

Building Faith in Christ Part 3.0 to 3.2

Learn of Me

As the Savior prepared His apostles for the final sacrifice, he prayed, “Father, hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:1-3)

     This is a most important concept, that the Atonement is to reconcile as men and women to God, so that Father may grant eternal life as a gift to His faithful sons and daughters.  But in order for the atonement to be effective, we need to come to know God. We come to know Him, by becoming acquainted with the Savior. So then the question is, what must we do to become acquainted with the Savior?

     The first thing is to study the scriptures, especially the New Testament and the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Christ.  These two collections teach us about the life and mission of Christ, about the things he endured for our sake, and about the life He asks us to live.  Early in his earthly ministry, he taught, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” (John 5:39)

     The people wanted a Savior to free them from bondage. Jesus promised deliverance, but not from the political bondage of Rome, but from the spiritual bondage of sin, and from the bondage of the “traditions of their fathers.” When they refused to recognize Him as the promised Messiah, he told them to read the scriptures, and if they truly searched, they would find that the scriptures testified of Jesus of Nazareth. Eternal Life, as promised in the Scriptures, can only be realized when we know who are Savior is. So first we study the scriptures to find out who Jesus Christ is and what we need to do.

     The study also includes the words of the modern apostles and prophets. These words teach us about what Jesus has on His mind for us now, the things we need to know and do in order to survive the current temptations, trials and conditions in our days.

     Many people have searched the scriptures before we have.  Same have written books and papers on their studies, sharing insights and epiphanies gleaned from their studies.  It is okay for us to read and understand some of their insights. But for us to come to know the Savior truly, we need to personally engage in the study process and gain our knowledge of the scriptures. Moroni promised us that as we read and engage the scriptures, we will come to know of their truthfulness, that is, to know of the Divinity of the Risen Lord.  The spiritual witness of the Holy Ghost is the knowledge we seek first.  That spirit lets us know that our hope is not in vain, and that Jesus has prepared the Way for us. Personal scripture study provides the basic doctrines and witness, a stake in the ground for us to always return to when times become turbulent.  

     The second thing is to obey the commandments. The commandments are not harsh restrictions merely to prove that He is our master.  Rather obedience teaches and disciplines us to chip away the imperfections of our character and to build the strength of spirit needed to control the knowledge, power and responsibilities that Father wants us to receive.

     The great artist Michelangelo was asked how he was able to create the amazing statue of David from an imperfect, discarded piece of marble.  He replied that he visualized the statue inside the rough rock, and chipped away and polished everything that did not belong.  The commandments of the Lord are to help us visualize the ideal, the person we want to be, and to begin to remove those characteristics that do not belong. 

     Obedience is not optional, if we desire to truly seek to know the Savior.  Jesus was obedient in all things. In order to understand His character and nature, we too must strive for obedience in all things. As mortal men, total, complete obedience is not possible.  The striving for obedience and the repentance process moves us closer to the Savior. Not only do we understand His Character, we also come to rely upon Him to help us overcome these weaknesses, transgressions or outright sins.

     At times we seek for selective obedience. We justify a little sin, telling ourselves that since we are working on some bigger sins, these little things won’t matter much. We must come to realize that the “little sins” will keep us away from the promises of Eternal Life as much as major transgressions. As Elder Neal Maxwell used to say, we cannot seek our mansion in Heaven while keeping our summer cottage in Babylon.

Building Faith in Christ Part 1.2 to 1.3

 The Substance As the spark of Hope begins to build in us, we realize that in order to receive salvation, we must fulfill the requirements of the Savior.  He said, “come, unto Me.” (John 6:35, 3 Nephi 9:13-14) In Matthew, He told us that when we are burdened or heavy laden, we should come to Himand he will give us rest. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me,” He said, “and ye shall find rest to your souls.” 

We all become burdened in some way in this fallen and mortal world.  We carry the weight of mistakes we have made, or things we have should have done. We remember the words said in anger or the pain of sin. We watch others go astray and wonder what we could have done differently.  The burdens weigh us done to a point that we feel we cannot go on without something to lift the weight and to set us free.

The answer is to turn and face the Savior and to come to Him.  We study about Him and His life. We learn of His miracles of healing and of forgiving.  We strive to keep His commandments. He said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”  We change our behavior and try to change the way we live. 

That change of conduct becomes the substance of the Hope in Christ.  The Hope motivates us to change certain things in our life.  It compels us to look to Him in our adversities and in our triumphs.  It helps us to maintain a proper balance among the various roles we must play in our lives.  The confidence and increased hope that comes from the change in behaviors becomes a leading light in our lives. It directs our motivations and our desires. We truly become a new creature. Heleman summarized it thus,

“Yea, thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto ball, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God.

Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—

And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go no more out.” (Hel 3:28-30)

Things Not Seen   Throughout history of the Christian Church, one of the most frequent complaints, is that we must worship a God who is invisible to us. Why can’t He just show Himself to the world, and prove that He is God? Why can’t he appear to everybody as He did to Moses, to Isiah, to Lehi and to Joseph Smith?  Why are they allowed to have the absolute knowledge when we are forced to walk in faith?  Like Alma, I do not know all things, nevertheless I do know that there is a God, and that He loves His children. I also know that the evidence of “things not seen”  is very real and very obvious to those who would have the hope and desire to believe.  He who hath eyes to see, let him see.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth. We do not remember the creative process, though we were there and probably helped in some manner.  He has not shown us how he accomplished the feat, or ever exactly how long it took.  We do not need to know all things now.  The earth is here, now, with a perfect environment for mankind to live and to procreate.  We can accept that God created the earth for us as He told us and be blessed by the knowledge. 

Joseph Smith walked into the woods in the spring of 1820 and experienced a vision of God the Father and His Divine Son. He said it, and never recanted that testimony.  From that first vision, we have received the Book of Mormon.  The Priesthood of God has been restored, along with the life-saving covenants and the organization called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  We do not have a video of the first vision.  We do not know the exact words that Father and Son said to the boy prophet.  We only have his testimony and the works that have followed in the wake of that day. 

Though we do not have the golden plates to show interested observers or investigators, we do have the Book of Mormon and the promise in Moroni 10.  Though we do see sparks fly when the priesthood of God is used to bless the sick or to confer the Holy Ghost, yet the effects of peace, of healing and of the Gifts of the Spirit follow in their wake.  Though we cannot touch the “mantle” of a Bishop, a Stake President or the Prophet, yet the revelations of God that come through these men are real and we are blessed when we follow their counsel.

Perhaps the greatest “thing not seen” is and was the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. Bruce R McKonckie, an Apostle during the mid-twentieth century, said of the atonement, that it was the most central, important event in all eternity, and yet, perhaps, the least understood. Jesus of Nazereth walked into the Garden of the Press, initially accompanied by his 12 trusted disciples.  One of His apostles would sell Him for 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave. Another would deny him three times over the course of the next few hours. 

Truly He was left alone.  No one would be left to witness of the Event. During the course of the next 18 hours he would experience our lives and our guilt. He would then be betrayed, scourged, convicted for our guilt, and punished with infinite physical, spiritual and emotional pain. After suffering more than any man could suffer, He declared that it was finished. He gave up His life, and His body was laid in a new tomb.      

Some 36 hours, 3 days as measured by the Jews, he took up His body again and returned to His Father to report on His stewardship.  He appeared to His apostles, and we have their witness of His resurrection in the New Testament. He then appeared to the survivors on the American Continents. We have their witnesses in the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Christ.  In 1820, he appeared to Joseph Smith in a grove of trees, to Oliver Cowdry and Joseph in February 1932. On April 3, 1836, the Savior appeared to the boy prophet and Oliver, to accept the Kirtland Temple.

The documented appearances now seem to be far and few between. For the most part, He is not seen in person.  We have been told that He is no stranger to His Prophet and to His Apostles. Until we can show that we are willing to be totally obedient, and that we will not allow anything to take us away from the blessings of the Gospel, we are asked to walk by Faith.  We must accept that the Atonement is very real and that we can receive a remission of our sins, despite not having had a personal appearance by the Risen Lord.  Our faith, our obedience endures in spite of our not having seen the vision that Joseph had. 

Jesus told Thomas, “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)  The evidence of things not seen remains first in the witnesses of those who have gone on before including The Church, the Book of Mormon and other fruits brought about by the restoration, and especially by the results of the efforts put forth by the church as whole.  Paul exhorted, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” (Heb 12:1)

The faith in things not seen is also evidenced in the individual lives of those who continue to contribute to and serve in the restored Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. We continue to have people read the Book of Mormon and declare that they understand Jesus and His Salvation better, because of the restoration. They make covenants to take upon themselves the Name of the Savior and to be His disciples. They continue to attend and perform sacred ordinances in temples around the world.  We see young men and women sacrifice time and money to spread the message of the restored gospel.  The evidence is the lives that are consecrated and dedicated to reach out to help those around the world less fortunate than themselves.