Elias anyone?

So I was reading Luke 1:13-17 today and wondered about Elias.  Then I took all of the scripture references and put them in one file, including information from the Guide to the Scriptures and the Bible Dictionary.  I then sorted the scriptures based on whom they referred to (the Guide to the Scriptures gives four categories). There are some which do not directly fit or are not particularly relevant at the bottom of the document.

Anyway, should you care to review this document as a study aid for your own scripture study, it can be found  here.

October 2010

Okay, so when you look at your blog and see that you haven't posted in four months, it's clearly time for an update.  I am not an avid blogger. (I'm probably not even a blogger.)  Life is crazy busy.  However, I did feel like today would be a good chance to take some time to talk about what has been going on lately.

October was full of lots of adventures.  Lex was gone for a weekend to visit her dad for his birthday.  I had a trip out to CO and UT later in the month to do some recruiting for my law school.  It was fun to get to see family and friends.  I had some free time in Colorado and got to watch a lot of football with my family, do leaf rubbings with Ashley, play pool and Super Mario Bros. on the Wii with Ryan and Todd. Mom got some cute new clothes, including a hoodie, for E.  I didn't get to see much of my family in UT as I had three law fairs to go to and had to get right back to DC for school.  I loved being on BYU's campus again. It was great running into and meeting up with friends and seeing how they are doing. I even picked up a cute cheerleader outfit for E.  (I can't let Lex's enthusiasm for U of M go unchallenged :P  )

My favorite night in October was when Hyrum and Tristen took care of E so Lex and I could have a date night.  After some yummy food at Noodles & Co., we went to a local law fundraiser that featured GMU's Jazz Ensemble and some other jazz musicians.  It was wonderful to be able to have that time together.  Within a day or two, I got to see Lex play the trumpet for the first time.  She even let me have a go.  Needless to say, my embouchure is severely lacking.  I think it's great that she can play the trumpet and the piano.  I have great hopes that our kids will take to music like she has.

Good Things to Come

Stumbled across this from Elder Holland just now.  Really enjoyed reading it.  I love being a dad.

Good Things to Come

 Elder Jeffrey R. Holland recalls his days as a young father and testifies that for those who embrace the gospel, there are good things to come.

________________________________________

Every one of us has times when we need to know things will get better. My declaration is that that is precisely what the gospel of Jesus Christ offers us, especially in times of need.

Thirty years ago last month, a little family set out to cross the United States, every earthly possession they owned packed into the smallest trailer available. No money, an old car, they drove exactly 34 miles up the highway, at which point their beleaguered car erupted.

The young father surveyed the steam, matched it with his own, then left his trusting wife and two innocent children—the youngest just three months old—to wait in the car while he walked the three miles or so to the southern Utah metropolis of Kanarraville, population then, I suppose, 65. Some water was secured at the edge of town, and a very kind citizen offered to drive back to the stranded family. The car was attended to and slowly—very slowly—driven back to St. George for inspection.

After more than two hours of checking and rechecking, no immediate problem could be detected, so once again the journey was begun. In exactly the same amount of elapsed time at exactly the same location on that highway with exactly the same pyrotechnics from under the hood, the car exploded again. Now feeling more foolish than angry, the chagrined young father once more left his trusting loved ones and started the long walk for help once again. This time the man providing the water said, "Either you or that fellow who looks just like you ought to get a new radiator for that car." He didn't know whether to laugh or to cry at the plight of this young family.

"How far have you come?" he said. "Thirty-four miles," I answered. "How much farther do you have to go?" "Twenty-six hundred miles," I said. "Well, you might make that trip, and your wife and those two little kiddies might make that trip, but none of you are going to make that trip in that car." He proved to be prophetic on all counts.

Just two weeks ago, I drove by that exact spot. For just an instant I thought perhaps I saw on that side road an old car with a devoted young wife and two little children. Just ahead of them I imagined that I saw a young fellow walking toward Kanarraville, the weight of a young father's fear evident in his pace.

In that imaginary instant, I couldn't help calling out to him: "Don't you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead." Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don't come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come.

"Need to find a job? Stop looking so hard"

Saw this on a friends status. It's definitely worth reading!!

"Need to find a job? Stop looking so hard" by Peter Bregman on the Harvard Business Review blog.

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2009/02/need_to_find_a_job_stop_lookin.html

Tebow's Super Bowl Commercial and Freedom of Speech

Tebow's Super Bowl ad isn't intolerant; its critics are

By Sally Jenkins
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 2, 2010

"Let me be clear again: I couldn't disagree with Tebow more. It's my own belief that the state has no business putting its hand under skirts. But I don't care that we differ. Some people will care that the ad is paid for by Focus on the Family, a group whose former spokesman, James Dobson, says loathsome things about gays. Some will care that Tebow is a creationist. Some will care that CBS has rejected a gay dating service ad. None of this is the point. CBS owns its broadcast and can run whatever advertising it wants, and Tebow has a right to express his beliefs publicly. Just as I have the right to reject or accept them after listening -- or think a little more deeply about the issues. If the pro-choice stance is so precarious that a story about someone who chose to carry a risky pregnancy to term undermines it, then CBS is not the problem." (italics added)

In particular, I liked this paragraph where she makes it clear that she disagrees with Tim Tebow, but supports his right to express his beliefs publicly.