I’m not having them, but I thought you might.
Here’s a talk that has special meaning for me:
“Joseph,” [my mother] said, “come what may, and love it.”
I have often reflected on that counsel.
I think she may have meant that every life has peaks and shadows and times when it seems that the birds don’t sing and bells don’t ring. Yet in spite of discouragement and adversity, those who are happiest seem to have a way of learning from difficult times, becoming stronger, wiser, and happier as a result.
… The Lord in His wisdom does not shield anyone from grief or sadness.
Here are my personal feelings on it.
Men don’t deal well with futility. We can handle a Mountain if we can see how to climb it. But we don’t deal well with a Steel Wall. That’s why we freak out when the baby is crying. If the baby needed a rare herb only to be found in piranha-infested waters we could figure that one out. But not when the baby is crying for no apparent reason and nothing seems to work.
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I remember one time I was sitting alone in the back of church and the pulpit seemed a million miles away. My life was out of sync. I had completely failed, at the religion that meant so much to me. I ran out into the parking lot and locked myself in my car and shed bitter, bitter tears.
I studied hard but still got an “F”.
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I planned on quitting.
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That night I had a dream. I went into the Bishop’s office to have my name removed from the Records, as I planned in real life. And to give up. As I turned to leave I heard a soft voice. “Please don’t leave.” I turned and saw the Savior, arms outstretched, kneeling. “Please don’t leave”.
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I say without reservation that there is an Almighty God. And that he indeed is mindful when a Sparrow falls to the ground. And how much more valuable are you than a Sparrow.
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I judge myself ever so harshly. Perhaps the injunction to not judge applies to one’s self as well. I don’t even know myself well enough to give a proper analysis.
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It reminds me of John 3:
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
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Read that again. Who does the condemning?
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To meet God face to face will be very natural and comfortable. Your soul has His DNA imprinted on it. This is what it means to be in the image of God. You are a child of the Almighty, who cradled you in His arms.
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What is presented to us in this life through common media is a distorted caricature, and who would even believe in that?
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I don’t think that Heaven is a gated community. The gate is in the human heart.
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The human eye is a waxy orb. It is crude and barely useful to get food into the mouth. Crude by comparison. Same for the brain. It’s a marvel, but leaden by comparison. Using these organs is like looking through a straw. The spirit body also has sensory organs. They can become connected to a universal skien (web?).
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Hmmm… I think I’d have to be up all night writing about this. What I really wanted is to give a word of encouragement and light.
Picture: one of several converted “Noise Marines” for the studio Dragons of Moloch army. I will be pulling this army soon unless someone buys it. It’s 2300 pts, legal and competitive for $650. Surely I don’t need to spell it out.
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These two units (of five each with Blastmaster and Sonic Blasters and champion-types) will make the army a lot more challenging to play against and a lot more fun and flexible.
I didn’t go to sleep until 2am last night. In fact, let’s go all the way back to Friday night. We had a “dark convocation” down at the studio, which means we just get together really late at night to play games. Magic in this case. Again, a complete waste of time, but a lot of fun. I brought my seven-year-old son down and we got some good bonding time in. He fell asleep on the way home.
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The heater in my van is not working very well. It’s cold. But I own it; no debt!
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But somehow I got up at 7am this morning, and couldn’t get back to sleep, and indeed the kids were up and ready to horse around on a Saturday morning. So, I just started pounding that Inbox, which is nearly clear now. That’s nice.
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I made a rare trip to the scales recently and found to my horror that I’ve ballooned up to 212 pounds. Blarg. I’ve got to cut out the soda. I’ve started also exercising every morning for 20 minutes. Without fail. I’ve got to start moving. My wife is feeding me Dee’s cereal, which I swear has gritty chunks of dirt in it. I hate that crap. But supposedly it’s good for you, so away we go.
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I’ve got to find some new favorite foods. Eating a half pound of bacon in one sitting isn’t going to do it anymore. Same with waffles and whipped cream. Tear… I’ve got four little kids to think about, all looking up to me to raise them and provide for them.
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My wife and I have a pact: if she provides a lunch I will eat that and nothing else. But there was no lunch waiting when I took off this morning so that cleared the way for a “garbage” pizza. I asked them if they had some non-carbonated drinks, but they sent Sunkist. I guess that sounds like fruit juice to a teenaged pizza salon worker.
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I made some conversions to the studio Dragons of Moloch army, converting
ten Khorne Berserkers into Noise Marines. I am extremely pleased with how that turned out, and I think it will make the army more fun to play. So, who wants to play me a game of 40K!!!???
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I also plan on adding a vindicator with a brass dragon head for the cannon. That’s going to be made from a McFarlane dragon head. Sweet. That will complete the army and replace the Defiler (which I sold, good riddance!). Theoretically good.
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The Corsairs of Iyanden army has sold. I still have the Imperial Guard and the OTHER Iyanden army up on the block.
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On another note: I am already behind in my goals for the year. I found four hours to play Magic but zero hours to go to the temple. I’m shooting for an early, early Monday morning session. Also, last Sunday I decided to quit moaning and griping about whipping the details of my spiritual life into shape and just do it. I set a goal to be perfect for a day. And by perfect I mean just keep it together in certain areas which I view as weaknesses, as well as do some daily good habits. Just for one day. And I did it. Well, I did say “bitch” once. So, pretty close.
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The rest of the week was my regular plateau, no improvement unfortunately.
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So, this Sunday I’m going to go for another 24 hour stint of perfection. Can it be done?
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My predominat sense today is one of gratitude. The grace and kindness of Heavenly Father. A kind being with whom you would feel naturally, and normally at rest and peace. To meet the Almighty God face to face is as comfortable as a a baby being cradled in the arms of a loving parent.
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“While one portion of the human race is judging and condemning the other without mercy, the Great Parent of the universe looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care and paternal regard; He views them as His offspring, and without any of those contracted feelings that influence the children of men, causes ‘His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.’” (“Chapter 2: God the Eternal Father,” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, (2007),36–44)
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I would like to offer a word of encouragement to you, yes you, person reading this. Keep your chin up. Things will get better. Life has purpose. Just under this shell, just under the surface of the water is a deeper world; a world of light in which you are beloved. You are cosmic royalty. The molecules of the universe know you and bow before you. You are an inheritor of this Earth.
Got this email from a client about a shop on the web. Looks nifty, but I haven’t really checked it out. Can anyone give me input here?
How´s things in the Gately world?
Anyway,i found this site http://www.maelstromgames.co.uk/index.php?act=pur&cur=usd
It has some really low prices…its incredible…me and a couple of frinds orderes like 300€ in Flames of War stuff and with the discount,a box with 5 StugsIII tanks that normally would cost like 50€,only costed 20€ and something,and they have free postage…at least to Europe.
Take a look at it,may you or the BTP crew find something interesting.
Have a great day Paulo
Check out this delectable little tidbit.
[Letter from BJ Lawson who ran for congress in 2008 in North Carolina]
Dear Friend,
Thanks again for your support and efforts last November. Since the election, I’ve taken some needed time with the family — but as the new year rolls around, it’s time to once again get active.
While we weren’t victorious, it is critical that the voice of individual liberty, personal responsibility, and principled government remain strong during these trying times. We continue to head down the wrong path, and The Establishment in Washington (and Raleigh, for that matter)
perpetuates its interests as power brokers, bureaucrats, and politicians look out for one another while Americans on the outside suffer the consequences.
Just this morning, you’ll be pleased to know that our corporate welfare system has given Bank of America $138 billion in capital injections and guarantees as it pulls an Enron following its purchase of Merrill Lynch. Keep in mind that Bank of America’s total market capitalization is about $40 billion — therefore, you’d expect that such a dramatic rescue would completely wipe out existing stockholders, bondholders, and present management to prevent moral hazard and demonstrate the consequences of corporate irresponsibility.
But that’s not the way the world works. Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, and other recipients of government largesse will continue to profit from the illusion that their existence makes the world a better place. Did you know that we gave Goldman Sachs $10 billion in taxpayer money in 2008, while Goldman Sachs gave out $11 billion in bonuses? Our national debt and budget deficits are going vertical as we borrow money from the banksters to give it back to the banksters… while we shoulder the endlessly compounding burden of interest. Folks, this math doesn’t work.
As the assault on our country, its economy, and our future becomes increasingly brazen, it is important that we stay involved. I will continue to blog at www.unitedliberty.com, but the most important involvement is in the real world. As I mentioned in this blog post:
http://www.unitedliberty.org/articles/save-the-date-save-the-country
It starts at the precinct meeting, then the county convention, then the district convention, and finally the state convention. Bring a few friends along with you to each of these events, volunteer, elect principled people into leadership positions, appoint principled people to committees, and with some effort we’ll end up with a party organization that is willing to be honest with itself, and the American people.
If you’re in North Carolina’s 4th District, start by saving these dates:
Chatham County: Precinct meetings at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, March 10 at the District Courtroom in Pittsboro. County convention to follow at 7:00 PM.
Orange County: Precinct meetings at 9:00 AM on Saturday, March 7 at the Big Barn Convention Center. County convention to follow.
Durham County: Pending, but will be on a Saturday in March.
Wake County: Precinct meetings at 8:00 AM on Thursday, February 19. Locations depend on State House district. County convention on Thursday, March 12.
Ready to get in touch with others? Sign up at Campaign for Liberty, join organizations like the Republican Liberty Caucus, an let’s be the change we want to see in the world.
Sincerely,
BJ
As usual I am very open to input and insight, which I will post in this same entry. Relevant and polite is all I ask. I am always happy to hear a different view.
A good friend of mine is taking on some commissions for painting. He’s really, really talented, honest and reliable. You can contact him at
vulpusterra@gmail.com His name is Jon. He lives in southern Utah.
Here is some of his work:
Found this website with some really good figures on it. This company sells these figures.
http://www.olleysarmies.co.uk/home.html
Picture: a Hook Mountain Ogre from the Pathfinder range. These models are sculpted by the folks from Crocodile Games. They are quite characterful.
Today began at 6:30am, naturally and alert. I got the kids up and ready for school, putting fruit and home-made ravioli in their lunches. I then proceeded to spend about two or three hours processing videos. It’s more time-consuming than people think.
The snow is receding, leaving a black ribbon of pavement flanked by mounds of icy snow. I do ever so miss the rain of my Oregon-an homeland. But I do have new things to love… snow-encrusted mountains, that in the dispersed mooncloud light look like another world hovering near.
Which leads me to the thought for the day. Every person (or city, or job) has a list of good things about it and a list of bad things about it. Make a decision. If you can love that person, then it’s time to embrace the ENTIRE LIST and quit yer gripin’. It’s not right to keep up a relationship but keep on belly-aching about the things on the bad list. If it’s that bad, then leave for something better. If it’s good overall then focus on the good list.
Which is why I hate to hear women griping about their husbands. Unless you had an arranged marriage… you picked him, so accept and love him for his whole self. It’s really not fair to us poor men to get constantly picked at until the day we die. The reverse is true, too.
This doesn’t apply to my marriage of course. I’m married to a very appreciative (and smart) woman.
However, I’ve found myself on the “nag” end of things. I get home from work and nothing is good enough. I find ever smaller things to pick on. That was the huge change this last year. I just started letting go and appreciating what I got. My wife can now do no wrong.
Of course, I don’t want to come across as patronizing or preachy. I realize some situations are different. I’m just saying what I think.
Now, back to the day as it unfolded. I got to the studio around 11am to find Sarah and the new camera (code name Nellie) hard at work. Almost every project was a day late, two days in some cases, so we really had to crunch it in the late afternoon. It was like an emergency room.
We even made a Morning Show, but it sucked so bad I think we’re going to scratch it. It was really flat.
Renn, Brigh and I have been playing some Magic on the side. What a time-parasite. But I taught my son how to play it and it’s almost all he wants me to do. I am pleased beyond belief. He really likes and understands it. Really nice. His grades have even begun to suffer. I’m so proud! (just kidding). I put a moratorium on Magic at the studio until we are caught up.
Currently, we’re booking projects for February. We’re ready to go whenever you are.
To cap off the evening we (Sarah and her husband, Tamie and I) went out to Thai food at a new Orem restaurant called “Thai Drift” which I highly, highly recommend. It’s right next to my favorite LGS, too.
What else? We’re going to Adepticon this year. Tamie can’t make it on account of the baby, so it’ll be me a few of the crew.
Well, it’s embarrassing to say it, but I accidentally archived my entire Inbox– every email was shuffled into the other 10,000. So, if you are waiting for a response from me on something I’ll need you to re-send.
That’s once in three years, so not too bad.
