The Ten Virgins and Parenting

Ivy was recently watching a child’s video before church on Sunday. In the video, ten children were standing outside waiting for a bus to take them on a field trip. The children were going to a zoo and the ten children each listed what animal they were excited to see. In the animated video, 5

Possessions in America

*Note – I wrote this in 2021 when video games hadn’t yet become a completely abstract concept. When my roommate moved out after living together for 10 years, he left his Wii, controllers, games, fit board, all of it. Not an exorbitant amount of value in the gaming device and equipment. Maybe a couple hundred bucks. I’ve since

Leedy Wedding

I wrote this at the hotel, a couple hours before officiating Matt Leedy and Sam Simpson’s wedding. It was such an honor being asked to do this.  For me, it’s a bit symbolic of how far I’ve come and transitioned from what I used to be.  When did I become the religious friend trusted to

Beth’s Talk on Mosiah 3:19 (January)

This is a talk, exactly as written, by Beth, that she gave in church in January. She rehearsed the talk verbally to me multiple times before I heard it in church. Of course, through hearing it I knew it was a great talk, but it wasn’t until proofreading and preparing to post this that I

At Peace in the Light

By Dannion Brinkley with Paul Perry Copyright 1995 _________________________________ I don’t recommend books to people often.  This book I recommended directly to a cousin.  This was a great book. I wonder if I say that about every book I read… At Peace in the Light is a true story of a man who has died

Listen, Learn, Love

I recently listened to an episode from a podcast called Listen, Learn Love.  This podcast has opened up my ways of thinking on a few topics.  The episode I listened to recently I basically want to summarize (steal) because the points made are so simple, so well-said, and so true.  Here is a link to

Sunday Meditation and Basketball

In November of 2019 I started meditating every morning.  I’m not doing anything real impressive.  I spend the first 10 minutes of every day laying on my back on the ground.  I started by listening to guided meditations on YouTube.  Now I have the Calm App on my phone which I highly recommend.  I rotate

Book Review: The Joseph Smith Translation. Precious Truths Restored

The Joseph Smith Translation.  Precious Truths Restored by W. Jeffrey Marsh Copyright 2002 ______________________ There are multiple ways I judge a book.  It can be so entertaining I can’t put it down.  I can feel enlightened by it, like I’m learning constantly through its pages.  Ideally a book does both.  I think this book more

My Coincidences

Have you ever noticed how easily we forget?  It’s a cliché statement on human nature – “humans have short memories,” but It’s so true.  Have you ever walked into work on Monday and been asked what you did over the weekend… and not be able to think of anything?  Sometimes it takes me 5-10 minutes

Policy

I want to write about what I learned when I struggled with something at church.  I apologize for not going into specifics because I don’t want that to be the point.  I want to write about what I learned from my struggle.  To be clear, it was not a faith crisis.  It was a policy/decision