Time to Wake Up!

"And now, knowing the time, that it is now high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than we believed." (Romans 13:11)

When I was young, my dad used to wake me up in the morning by coming downstairs to my room, wiggling my big toe, and telling me kindly that it was time to get up.  This was much better than a blaring alarm clock or anything else for me.  He probably doesn't know it, but many of those mornings I woke up as he came down the noisy staircase or even a few minutes earlier, but waited in bed with my eyes closed for him to come wiggle my toe.  I was quick to obey, and was usually one of the first ones upstairs at the table for breakfast.  I've been a morning person ever since.

Christi also rises quite early we have found :) Most of the time, when she wakes up (between 4:30 and 5:30 in the morning) she cries or yells out a little as she awakes.  Just a little usually, but enough to alert her parents and sometimes her siblings.  That's my cue. I'm the keeper of the morning routine around our house, and have found that the way Christi is first greeted makes a big difference for her.  If she is shushed or controlled she gets angry.  So for the last while the greeting of choice has been, "Hi Princess!! How did you sleep?" - spoken with as much enthusiasm as I can muster.  She always responds, "Good."

In the scriptures, awakening has to do with coming to see things as they really are.  President Packer taught, "True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior...That is why we stress so forcefully the study of the doctrines of the gospel."  In that sense, we all should have patterns of awakenings, big and small, as God teaches us true doctrine through scriptures, prophets, promptings, and life experiences.  The whole experience of this last week has been an awakening to me I guess also.  There are a number of sacred and personal things that I have learned.  As I have come to understand each of them more clearly and fully, I have felt each time a great desire and motivation to act on them.  The Lord is such a great teacher and motivator!  The way He awakens me to what I should know and do to become more like Him is sometimes a sharp change (like waking up can be), but His call is always filled with love and kindness.  Do I always "awake and arise" as I should when he 'wiggles my toe'?  Do I make the changes I need to make when I am shown them?  He promises us, "If men come unto me, I will show unto them their weakness." (Ether 12:27)  That may sound harsh if I forget his kindness and love for me. He loves me enough to teach me.  That is one of the reasons he asks us to study His gospel.  He continues, "...I give unto men weakness that they may be humble, and my grace is sufficient for all those that humble themselves before me, for if they humble themselves before me and have faith then will I make weak things become strong unto them."  That is the hopeful promise that those who "awake and arise."
          
A little over 2 hours ago a doctor, then a team of doctors, entered my Christi's room here at Phoenix Children's hospital.  They announced a dramatic change in plans for Christi's path toward waking from her coma.  Instead of taking from five days to a week, they are going to wean her off the drugs that are keeping her in a coma today! This means she could wake up as soon as tonight! I can hardly wait to hear her cry out and greet my princess again!  Mustering enthusiasm will not be a problem, containing it might be :)

There are a number of possibilities that we are preparing for as she awakes.  She may linger under the effects of her medication or her long sleep for a while; she may come back as lively as she has ever been; or she may exhibit a new baseline from any damage that has been sustained to her brain.  Whatever the case, we are excited for whatever this new morning brings.

I'll try to do my best now that the stairs have symbolically creaked, to close my eyes and hold still waiting with great anticipation for our toes to be wiggled.  With any possible changes or teachings that the future holds - it's going to be a great morning for us both!   Its almost time to wake up!!

The trial of my faith

I have always felt that what Moroni was referring to in Ether 12:6 about the trial of a person's faith was referring to difficult times.  He certainly was going through them!  He had seen his entire people destroyed and even his father killed by the enemies that now sought him.  He was in hiding, and yet the things that he records in hiding and on the run include a discourse of his father on faith, hope, and charity. While he certainly had hope for the future of the record he bore, what hope did he hold onto for himself in his own personal situation?
He testifies that if one holds on faithful through those difficult times, through the trial of ones faith - times when doubt may threaten, or when despair or fear seem to pursue - that they will be blessed with the "witness."  He wrote, "I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."  Specifically, this was his own editorial comment on the Jaredites that would not believe the prophecies of Ether because they could not see them. He continues, with the example of the Nephites faith that brought them a visit from their Savior. He writes, "Wherefore, ye may also have hope, and be partakers of the gift, if ye will but have faith...for if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them."  What is the witness?  And how then do we exercise faith?
The last one first. Joseph Smith taught that "faith is the principle of action in all intelligent beings." (Lectures on Faith:1)  Faith is a cause of action then. James taught, "Faith without works is dead being alone."  Elder Richard G. Scott taught, "Every time you act in faith, that is, act in worthiness on an impression, you will receive the confirming evidence of the Spirit." (GC Apr. 2003)
Moroni had difficulties, but he also had a responsibility - a direction that he had been given by God - to finish the record and hide it up unto the Lord.  He performed his responsibility marvelously and among the last words he wrote included the witness he has received that "I soon go to rest in the paradise of my God."
Perhaps exercising faith has more to do with how well we serve the Lord in the midst of our difficulties then how well we can grit our teeth and be stoic.  Certainly there are times when we must be still and know that He is God. There are also times (maybe more than not) that require us to believe and go forward doing the will of God with the attitude of Daniel's friends who after testifying of the power of God to deliver them from death, reply to the angry king, "But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."  Their unrelenting firmness to act in in faith and worthiness on direction given from God eventually leads the king to exclaim (after the furnace) "there is no other God that can deliver after this sort." (Daniel 3:29).
A little over seven years ago I found a little piece of a wall in Phoenix Children's Hospital where people could attach messages of hope and inspiration on little slips of paper.  Feeling immense gratitude for the miracle that was the birth of my Christi I wrote those simple words from Daniel 3:29, "there is no other God that can deliver after this sort."  We had been delivered too.  Delivered from fear and doubt as often as they had come, and delivered from the expectations of the medical experts who had delivered woeful prognoses.
Time and time again over the last seven years we were delivered again and again, and to me it became maybe a little bit too common.  That is until this Tuesday.
So tonight, after so much good and positive news about Christi's improving situation, she had a setback. The sedative they were about to wean her off of, instead of cutting the dose, the doctors 5x'd it.  The seizures had returned.  So to suppress the electrical storm within the brain they were going to take her back down to the depths of her medically induced coma. No she hadn't awakened, but moving that direction had brought the seizures back.  The news was almost paralyzing.
But if to exercise faith is to act, then it can't be. There is STILL no other God that can deliver after this sort.  His plan is STILL perfect, and doing His will and accepting His plan is STILL the choice that will bring the most peace and happiness to anyone and everyone.  Maybe there is a double message in the phrase "Be 'still' and know that I am God."  I will be still, by seeking still, by serving still, still standing for truth, and still seeking to act on what He directs me to do.
The witness will come.    

Scrappers

With the help of some loyal friends, my wife and I have taken over the responsibilities of the youth wrestling club here. To our surprise and delight over 90 kids have signed up and are participating with us - nearly double what it has been in past years!  What a great group of kids too!  I genuinely love the sport like kids love cake :).  We are the Silver Creek Scrappers.
This week especially, in practice we have discussed what it means to be a scrapper. We have developed drills around and worked hard to develop this attribute in our wrestlers.  For what it is worth, here is my definition - A scrapper is someone who recognizes, seizes and takes full advantage of the opportunities they are given.  Scrappers work hard, are opportunistic, and filled with a positive hopeful attitude.  They anxiously await, even expect, each coming opportunity and know that hard work and hustle will help them take full advantage of it.    
I aspire not just to be a "scrappy" wrestler I guess, but a scrappy person overall.  We each have so many opportunities to do good.  Many more than we are ever able to handle.  Some of them feel different than others though.  They seem to bear heaven's recommendation.  Those are the ones that need to be seized immediately and magnified.  Each time that I have done so, I have found joy and fulfillment in increasing measure.  Each time I have hesitated or neglected to take such an opportunity I have missed out.  Just because it s right though, doesn't mean that it will be easy.  Like with our wrestling club - it will, more often than not, be a scrap. 

To missionary work

I've decided that missionary work is right up there with my favorite things to do.  Yep, right next to bouncing around with an upside down sleeping bag on my head with my kids on the trampoline.  Okay, okay -- even better than that  (hard to believe, ..I know). 
In all honesty, I have coveted at times the great opportunity it would be to raise my family out in the mission field as a mission president.  I have wanted my kids to be there - young enough to be  in the home and around the Elders and Sisters from time to time.  I have imagined fondly what a great mission mother Deana would be, and the great need she would fill as more and more sister missionaries hit the mission field and mission 'mother' responsibilities increase.
What a time to be alive too!  The Lord is hastening His work, gathering His elect with increasing speed and efficiency and we get to be part of it all!  As the prophet lowered the missionary eligibility age for both males and females the Church saw a jump from 700 to 4000 new missionary accounts being opened online in the weeks following the announcement!  I'm not certain that can continue at such a pace, but imagine -- even if it is just double continuously at 1400.  What that would mean for the world and for the harvest...
Our stake has made Preach My Gospel the 2013 FHE curriculum -- the youth, Church wide, are also going to be taught in a new more engaged and interactive way with their new curriculum.  MTC stays will be shorter, and more missionary training will be required of wards, and more specifically families beforehand.  Temples have been dotting the earth at an elevated pace for years now as we push toward the incredible 170 mark!  Seminaries and institutes are also unveiling a new retooled curriculum for teaching the Book of Mormon for the next school year to match their newly drafted objective and points of emphasis.
All this happening now means that the field is whiter than ever!  It is time to stand up and help move this work forward like never before!
I remember hearing when I was in the MTC that this stone - the one seen by Daniel in vision would roll forth to fill the earth, but only if it went forward by the hands of the members.  I see this announcement and moving missionary training back into the home to some degree infusing the joy of the missionary service back into the homes of members as well.  How can they help but share as they teach their children to do that very thing?!  I am so grateful to be able to be a part of it in a small way.  What a neat thing thing it is to share the gospel with those you love and care about.  As great as it is in the mission field, sharing the gospel at home in your community is to me even better.  My family can now be part of this wonderful experience and feel the great blessings of it!  Being able to link arms with those you love and live with in a community and seek together to try to be like Jesus is such a great blessing!  So here's to the increasing momentum of that rolling and growing stone and the thrill it is to be along for the ride with the people I love very most in all the world!
       

Something for Everyone

 
 
Something for Everyone Video Link

Sharing General Conference

Faith Always Faces Forward

In the midst of studying and teaching about Abraham I found myself dissatisfied and even a little depressed that I am not a more effective teacher.  I desire the ability to make a difference in their lives for good so much that my impotence to do so is very painful at times.  Isaiah and Jeremiah must have had such incredible personal struggles in their efforts with a people much more difficult than the youth I teach.  They are good here - just distracted and reckless sometimes.  I worry sometimes that they are not being prepared the way they need to be for the challenges that certainly lurk up ahead.
I found hope in a great devotional message and a subtle reminder.  The devotional was given by Jeffrey R. Holland at BYU in 2009.  It's title, "Remember Lot's Wife"  Among the many great lines was found the one I chose for the title of this post. 
Abram has been promised that he will be a father -- his name even means "exalted father."  This is obviously what he desires most.  The power, wealth, and land he has obtained leave him empty and still crying to his Father in Heaven for a son.  God promises and Abram believes him.  That's that...simple faith.  Yet Abraham must still wait nearly 15 years for its fulfillment - for the birth of his covenant son Isaac.  The name Isaac denotes both laughter and rejoicing in the Hebrew.  In my estimation, it must the laughter and rejoicing that comes as one stands speechless both amazed and overwhelmed at the great blessings that the Lord pours out upon them.  This is the emotion of Isaac - the lesson of the covenant son.  Sarah and Abraham share it nearly in disbelief.  They had hoped against hope, and now it was truly coming to pass - truly and solely through the power of the Only Begotten of the Father.  The reminder was simple - a scene from a dream that has brought me to teaching - a new understanding of the dream and it's message that have made me both grateful and have given me faith in the future.  Of a truth, it is as bright as my faith.  I see more clearly now the vision that is placed before me, and rejoice in He who wiped away the tears that obscured my vision.