What have I done with Christ's Grace?

Watch this video and then read the rest of the article.

While I was watching this video the question came, "What have I done with His Grace?"

This question prompted part of a BYU devotional given by Brad Wilcox.  He titled his remarks "His Grace is Sufficient".  I would like to quote part of his talk.  "I have born-again Christian friends who say to me, 'You Mormons are trying to hard to earn your way to heaven.' I say, 'No, we are not earning heaven. We are learning heaven.  We are preparing for it.  We are practicing for it.'  They ask me, "Have you been saved by grace?'  I answer, "Yes, Absolutely, totally, completely, thankfully- yes!'  Then I ask them a question they have not fully considered: 'Have you been changed by grace?"  What a great question.  Have you and I been changed by grace?

In the LDS Bible Dictionary under "Grace" it says, "The main idea of the word is divine means of help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ.  It is through the grace of the Lord Jesus that mankind will be raised in immortality, every person receiving his body from the grave in a condition of everlasting life. It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means. This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts."

In reference to the underlined portion, we are all lost without the Grace of God (John 1:8-10; Mosiah 16:4). Grace is the divine power to do everything and anything that is beyond our own power, ability, and capacity.

What am I doing with this gift of potential, love, and endless happiness?  I hope we are using it to better understand our worth.  I hope we are using this priceless gift to try harder the next moment, chance, or day.  I hope we are using this gift to more fully love all around us which includes ourselves. I hope we are using this gift to prepare for heaven.  Because of grace we are never to far away from hope, peace, and joy. Because of Grace the Savior is right there. 
 
In closing Brett Sander's said, "A life impacted by grace eventually begins to look like Christ's life."  I hope we allow and use grace to accomplish just this.  That of our life being a mirror image of Christ's.   

Stumbling Blocks vs. Stepping Stones

 About a week and a half ago I was involved in a lesson where we felt impressed to read and discuss 1 Nephi 14:1.  Here Nephi is being taught by an angel in a vision.  The angel tells Nephi about the Gentiles and how the Lord will manifest himself to the Gentiles in many ways.  One of them being "taking away their stumbling blocks".  We discussed this idea of the Lord taking away our stumbling blocks and how we access this gift.

The spirit taught us it is our decision in any circumstance to make that circumstance a stumbling block or a stepping stone.  The decision is either to go towards or away from Christ.  Christ is the difference. 

Eternities greatest stumbling blocks can be stepping stones only through Christ.

Sin is one of those stumbling blocks that will impede and stop our progression if Christ is not present.  In the scriptures we read, "there cannot any unclean thing enter into the kingdom of God."(1 Nephi 15:34)  Without Christ we would never be able to enter the kingdom of heaven because of our sins.  Another obstacle is death.  Romans 8:2 tells us,"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."  Christ has eliminated the stumbling block of life after death and if we choose He will make it possible for us to overcome the obstacle of sin.  The difference is Christ. 

Let us all have hope and faith in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  For, "there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent." (Mosiah 3:17).

Lessons I learned from Inmates

Before my mission I went to college. While at college I participated in a travelling show choir. One of our shows was at a local prison. There we did two shows with a variety of music from patriotic, to spiritual, to Broadway, and don't forget to throw The Beach Boys in there. I was excited about this opportunity. A group of us arrived early to set up the key boards and sound equipment. We rolled in all of the equipment,  it was checked, and then we passed through some security doors. The music equipment was quickly set up and before we knew it the rest of the choir and inmates were coming through the doors for the performance. Both performances went very well, but there are a couple of moments which I will never forget.

First, we sang an Acapella version of America the Beautiful. As we sang I looked around and saw these tough men crying. They were crying in gratitude for the country which they lived in. I would have thought they would have been a little frustrated, but they were not. They realized the great country that we live in.

Second, I remember the spirit that was present. We sang spiritual songs about Christ's Atoning sacrifice, leaving a good example for our posterity, and forgiveness. Out of all of the performances that we did that year this was the one that will stick in my mind the longest because of what the spirit taught me after.

After the performances we packed up and left. It was a spiritual feast where I saw men cry, pray, and give thanks to God while we sang about their Savior and Redeemer. As I was thinking about the experience after the spirit taught me why the spirit was so strong there. It was because the Atonement was in use. These inmates were actively repenting, changing, and pouring their lives through the strainer of the Atonement and allowing Christ to remove the impurities. We went into a building with bars, walls, and security cameras ,but while we were performing all of those things went away. We all felt free and close to our Savior. The Savior has figuratively spent many long, sleepless nights there with some of those inmates helping them through whatever they were going through. Christ never left them. Neither will he leave us.  Bars nor high security buildings will keep him out.  Only a closed and hardened heart.

I hope that I will actively use the Atonement always like those inmates were. They showed heroic faith in their relationship with which they had with their Savior. Christ is there ready to help us on condition that we let him. I pray and hope that we do, and in the process the chains of the adversary are shattered

Hidden Blessings

The other day Elder Trout and myself were walking down a street.  We saw a rough looking man with a beard, long hair, and his leather on out in his front yard clipping his bushes.  We decided to go over and talk to him.  When he saw us coming he rolled his eyes.  We still went up and talked to him.  After a little while of talking to him a lady from an upstairs apartment came out on the balcony and started to tell us that she had a really old Book of Mormon.  The second we started talking to this women the man went inside.  We continued to talk about this Book of Mormon that she had, and at the end she said we could come back. 

I was taught a lot through this experience.  By opening up our mouths to this man the lord guided us to someone else who was ready to hear the gospel.  That is sometimes how it works.  Once we are obedient the Lord then proceeds to bless us in the best way possible.

Nephi was asked by God to go with his brothers back to the city Jerusalem and some how get some records from a man named Laban. When Nephi was told this commandment he said, "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

I love how Nephi writes this before he goes to get the brass plates.  He did not write it after the miracle and trial of his faith.

The Lord does provide a way that everything he commands us will happen if we have faith.  The Lord only asks that which will help us to become a more joyful  son or daughter of him.

Impossible! I think Not!`

Let me share two examples in the which two groups of people were placed in circumstances where their dreams looked impossible.  They did not however allow that to slow them down or stop them, and because of that they accomplished their dreams. 

First, have you ever heard of Panyee?  Me neather until I watched this movie about some boys on their small floating village who had a dream.  Circumstance tried to destroy their dream before it even began, but dreams are not made when circumstances are perfect. 

Second, Carl Joseph was a boy that did not let his circumstances limit his dreams. He was born with one leg into a single parent household and in poverty. He was the fourth of ten children. He grew up on a tabacoo farm in Florida. Carl with these circumstances could have thrown away his dreams of playing sports, but he would not allow himself to. Carl played basketball, football, and track. He excelled in all of them. In basketball he could dunk the ball even thou he was only 6'1" tall. He was known for swatting the opponenets ball into the stands. In football he was the team captian and a starter. While playing nose tackle he would hop to make tackles.  In his greatest game he made over 11 tackles and blocked a punt. He went on to play college football at Bethune Cookman College.   In track Carl jumped 5'10" in the high jump. Carl still made honor role with all of these activities.

Carl accomplished all of this on 1 leg.

Former NFL star Dan Dieford said this in reference to Carl, "the most amazing athlete I’ve ever seen.” Here is a video of Carl playing football.

The only one that makes something impossible is ourselves.

The Dream

Growing up I dreamed, slept, ate, and bled running. The more the merrier. I created schedules and entered races. I ran track and cross country.

It was my senior year in high school. Region was a week away and then state was two weeks after that. I had just achieved my fasting time. I was excited and pumped for the upcoming race. After school one day we headed out on our daily afternoon run. We headed towards a park behind the high school. I felt great! Today was going to be awesome. The concrete road we were on quickly turned into a dirt path about the same width. The trail slowly slimmed down to produce a single file line of runners. It disappeared into a group of trees on the side of a hill and turned immediately right and then down. As I started running down the hill I found myself alone with no one in sight in front of me or behind me. As I got closer to the bottom of the hill, I picked up speed. I got going faster and faster. At the bottom of the hill I planted my right foot on what I thought was the ground. The second I put all of my weight on that foot the rock, not ground which my foot was resting on, moved and my ankle with it. I felt a tear and pop. I staggered and slowed down. One of my teammates came running up behind me to see me in pain on the side of the trail. He lifted and carried me the mile back to the school. As I took off my shoe my ankle swelled up immediately. Come to find out later my tendons had been damaged and my tibia had shifted down my leg and foot. My dreams of running in Region and State disappeared.

In the following months while I recovered, I thought a lot about what had happened. I experienced frustration as I was limited from certain activities as well as missed out in playing soccer my senior year. I wondered why did this happen? Was this fare? Why now? These are question many of us have asked. As I have gone through this experience and many others, I have been blessed and guided to realize by the spirit that it is not a "bad" thing to go through trials. Good and bad people go through trials. A certain trying experience is not a punishment at all. Often it is a blessing and a complement from our Heavenly Father.

In the Book of John, Christ's apostles ask Christ a question along the lines of, "Is a trial a punishment for sinning?" Here is the story. "And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man , or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." (John 9:1-3)

The man was not cursed with blindness because someone had transgressed. The very opportunity of having an experience which tests and try’s us is what we need to change our very being, grow and become better individuals, and ultimately become like our Heavenly Father and Savior. It is painful but necessary to burn away the impurities.

Let us be grateful for those experiences which allow God's greatest work being the Atonement manifests itself in us and by so doing change us.

 

Reviewing the Past

A year ago I went on a church history tour with a bunch of my cousins and some other individuals who soon became our good friends. During this two week tour we saw many of the early church history sights such as Nauvoo, the sacred grove, and the Susquehanna River.  Along with visiting the church history sights, we stopped in Washington DC to look at some of our country sights.  As we arrived, we piled off the bus and quickly walked up to the famous fence to take pictures.  After taking pictures and talking to other people, we piled back onto the bus to go to our next destination.  When arriving at my seat I noticed my backpack was missing.  I ran up to the front of the bus, informing the driver of my dilemma and ran back towards the white fence in hopes of finding my backpack.  As I came into view of the fence I could tell something was not right.  Everyone had been pushed back, about 40 yards, from the fence.  I asked someone what was going on.  They informed me that there was a bomb scare.  I quickly looked towards the fence and there was my backpack, sitting alone next to the fence exactly where I had put it down to take pictures.  I then proceeded to leave the line of people and walk out, sheepishly, into no mans land in search of one of the policeman on a bike.  I told him that was my backpack.  He then proceeded to go through the process of clearing me to be able to get my backpack back.  After I was clear, I was allowed to open my backpack and show him what was in it.  I showed him a couple of empty water-bottles and a Book of Mormon.  After showing him this, I was permitted to take my backpack and leave.  As I was from no mans land back to the crowd of people, there were cameras flashing and video cameras rolling.  I felt like a movie star.  Once the pictures were over, I made my way through my new fan club back to the bus.  When I climbed onto the bus I was greeted with a standing ovation by the rest of the group.  After this experience, of course as cousins do, the teasing came.  I was informed that I was the best room clearer they had ever seen.  They chided me about being a terrorist and hiding bombs in my luggage. 

As I think back about this experience, I laugh now but in the moment to be honest I was scared to death.  It is interesting to note how when we are going through hard times we do not see the blessings that come from it.  I find the most growth occurs when the perfect amount of opposition is present.  The Lord knows the perfect amount of opposition to create the optimum growth.  In 1 Cor. 10:13 God says through Paul, " There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."  The Lord knows what to bless us with so that we can have the optimum amount of growth.  Let us always remember that.  Then at the very end the Lord through Paul tells us that he will also "make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

Let us move forward with a hope in Christ enough to turn to Christ and faith enough to walk into the darkness in front of us.