Musings on Life and Living

[I was asked to give a talk this morning for a young friend's baptism. In the LDS church, children may choose to be baptised when they are eight years old. Later in the day, one of nephews chose to enter the covenant of baptism, also. What follows is the message I shared with my young friend and what I would have said to my nephew if he had asked.] Today is your Baptism Day. As a child who has been raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you have heard about this day at least once or twice a week every week for your entire life. For the past few months, you’ve probably been talking about this every day. That means that you’ve heard about or talked about baptism nearly a thousand times by now. My point, other than showing that math is something we use every day, is that there is probably very little I can say that you’ve haven’t heard yet. However, as you asked me to share a few thoughts, so here we are. When it comes to baptism, there is probably no scripture cit...

Scouting has been a part of my life since I was eight years old and joined a Wolf Den while attending the Peoria (Illinois) Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Shortly after, my family started attending church in Morton, Illinois, and I joined Pack 229, which then led me to Troop 229. I earned my Eagle, the highest rank possible in the Boy Scouts of America, in 2001, right before my 18th birthday. This was a huge challenge for me and required me to leap over several hurdles, including not learning how to swim until I was 16, coordinating a blood drive for the American Red Cross, and taking on leadership roles in my Troop. After earning my Eagle and graduating from high school, I didn't do anything else with the Boy Scouts of America again until September 2010, when I began serving as Webelos Den Leader, which I did for three years. As a Webelos Den Leader, I had primary responsibility for making sure my boys were ready to cross over into Boy Scouts. ...

[I was asked to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting on June 26 about the prophetic mission of Joseph Smith, Jr. I chose to focus on the doctrines of the Gospel that were restored through Joseph, drawing from the Articles of Faith and other latter-day scripture. What follows is a fairly accurate transcript of my message.] “More, Save Jesus Only” Sacrament Meeting Talk - 26 June 2016 June 27, 1844 was a dark day for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their beloved prophet, Joseph Smith, and his brother, Hyrum, had been arrested and taken to jail, again, just three days earlier, this time on charges of inciting riot after Joseph, as mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois, had ordered the printing press used by the Nauvoo Expositor destroyed after the paper was used to print slanderous stories about Joseph and other Church leaders, as well as treason against the State of Illinois. Accompanying Joseph and Hyrum at Carthage were two members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostl...

I am the Youth Sunday School teacher in my ward, so I have the privilege of teaching the young men and women between the ages of 12 and 18. They are a small group, but they have such wonderful testimonies of the Gospel and of Jesus Christ. They also have many questions as they come to learn more about God's plan for each of them. This morning I shared an Easter lesson that consisted of four short videos with discussions before and after each to help them focus on the purpose of our Easter celebrations. I am going to share all of them here for those who may be interested.

[I was asked to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting this morning about grace and repentance. I ended up focusing mostly on the doctrine of grace, however. What follows is a fairly accurate transcript of my message.] “For His Grace Is Sufficient”  Sacrament Meeting Talk - 21 February 2016  In December 2002, I was a newly called missionary serving in the Hesperia First Ward in Hesperia, California. I had entered the mission field after just three weeks in the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, and I was feeling pretty good about myself. I had a strong mastery of the Scriptures, I had memorised the first two missionary discussions (this was back when the missionary discussions were sequential and the content was expected to be memorised and delivered the same way by all missionaries to all investigators), and I knew I had a strong testimony of the truthfulness of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.