Steadying the Ark

I love the Old Testament, it is so full of vengeance and violence. It's my favorite book of scripture.  This weekend I was reminded of  a story from the  2nd Book of Samuel.  If you aren't really up on some of your bible stories, I'll give you a little refresher.


Do you remember the Ark of the Covenant?  You know, the one Indiana Jones searched for? OK, well that was actually made my Moses, and the Levites who had the Priesthood where the only ones who could carry the ark or touch it.  The ark was small enough that it was carried with two posts through each side and a Levite at each corner.  It was carried by the Israelites as they wandered through the desert for 40 years.  It was covered while they transported it, and when they camped it was in the Tabernacle in the Holy of Holies and approached only by the head of the Levites. It contained the tablets that Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai and possibly the rod of Aaron and a few other reliquaries.  It was created after Moses came down and found the Israelites had created the Golden Calf, the Israelites needed a symbol to be carried before them, so Moses was commanded to make the Ark to remind the Israelites of the covenant they had made as the chosen people.  Hence the name the Ark of the Covenant. (short and not the full history of the Ark, you really should read the entire Old Testament to get to know the Ark for yourself)


Anyway, the Ark was taken before the army and used to clear opposing peoples.  It moved all over and when David went to move the Ark after he became King they placed it on a cart.  As the cart moved the oxen shook it and a  man named Uzzah stretched forth his hand to steady the ark, so the Lord "smote him there for his error". Poor Uzzah assumed that the Lord needed his help, even though he knew that he wasn't supposed to touch the Ark.


Sometimes in our own lives we think we know when the Lord needs us to steady the ark. In reality, the Lord hasn't asked anyone to steady the ark, all he has asked is for us to do our jobs.  See we think we know way more than we actually do, the Lord wasn't going to let the Ark fall, and He just needs us to do whatever he asked us to do.  No need to take on the rest, just do your little piece of the puzzle.


The Savior said, "Come, follow me" NOT "why don't you go ahead and clear the path".

Beware The Story That Grows

Have you heard about the guy that worked at the EPA and managed to convince his supervisors that he was actually working undercover for the CIA? First he was a "Climate Change Expert" and if that isn't suspicious enough, with out any verification, he managed to convince his bosses that he was undercover for the CIA and spent up to 18 months at a time away from his desk job.  Not only did he stay away from his job, he actually ran up expensive travel and luxury hotel stays, for close to 20 years. Plus, he managed to collect bonuses!




Nice Work if You Can Get It!




See, no one wanted to ask him for verification, because they didn't want to appear to not be in the "in" crowd.  If they actually asked, it would look like they didn't know.  And no one wants to be that guy, so everyone just played along.


 Well just like that -  what isn't true appears to be true.




This weekend I encountered a story that seemed to grow more and more fantastical each time it was told.  It was kind of like the story your child would tell you about how the alien came down, warped time, broke the window, went back in time allowed it to get fixed and then the dog managed to re-break the window, and you can't really ask the neighbors if anyone was out playing ball in the street, because they all have amnesia from the aliens...so don't ask them.




Got that? Yeah, that was kind of the story that happened this weekend. Anytime people begin to add things to their story you should be suspicious.  Information and change should be able to stand all by themselves without bringing in the fantastical stories. Anytime big names are thrown around and people nod like, "you just don't know because you're not part of the inner circle" you should ask REALLY? I would like to see some verification.




Never assume that just because someone says something with confidence that it is true. That includes me...find out for yourself and ...beware of any story that gets bigger

Nope, I don't like her

Yesterday I was in Seagull Book, watching my husband by a picture he liked. As we were checking out the little helpful clerkette offered this little conversation:

Clerkette- oh and just so you know, Sherrie Dew's new book is out, "Women and the Priesthood"

Me-oh, that's ok, Sherrie Dew isn't my favorite, I think she's a little pedantic

Clerkette- uhhhh...well, she addresses several things that are going on right now, and she has some direction for the brethren about a very important issue right now.

Me- Oh good, I'm sure that's just who they want to get advice from, Sister Sherrie Dew

At this point the little clerkette just looked at me like I had 666 on my forehead and that I was going to burst into flames. So I just smiled, swiped Scott's Amex and we left. She probably regretted getting Scott's picture down for him as well.  Maybe I'm just extremely jaded, but I never liked her when she was in the general relief society presidency, nor do I like any of her books that have read (granted a total of two). I know, she's the CEO of Deseret Book, but seriously? That doesn't mean she the prophet.

My Most Hated Car on the Road

So this Monday I made my 10^th trip to Denver in 9 months. I have probably only traveled there 20 times in all my other years combined, but now that the girl is over there going to school, I head east a lot. Thankfully it is interstate the whole way, which is lovely and I can go fast…that is until I hit Glenwood Springs and my most hated of all cars on the road appear like swarms of locust. Yes, I am talking about that most granola of cars the dreaded Subaru. They of course are extremely easy to spot, pick the car that is holding up the most traffic, with the dirtiest rear window (except for the Obama-Biteme bumper sticker) and you have found your Subaru.  Inevitably they are going 45 in the left lane, puttering along, lost in the soothing sounds of NPR, wearing their most recent REI purchase, eating something organic and drinking something from Starbucks. Now I don’t know if Subaru’s simply aren’t capable of driving over Vail Pass at a normal speed, or if the tree hugger driving them simply isn’t in a hurry to get to Denver to buy their weed. Either way…I don’t care.  They make me so angry when I have to bump off the cruise I want to just run them over and let them kiss my big white Lincoln.

Missionaries, Missionaries...

A little over a year ago the President and Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, announced that the age requirement to fulfill a full time mission was being lowered to 18 for young men and 19 for young women.  As a result, missionaries are flooding not just the Missionary Training Centers, but my ward as well.  We went from sharing a set of Elders (young men) with the other Orchard Mesa ward to having both a set of Elders and a set of Sisters in our little 11^th ward.  I used to not like sister missionaries, because they were weird.  Back in the day sisters couldn’t go on a mission until they were 21 and apparently by that time they were bitter and full of self righteous indignation. Now however we have young happy sisters who are pretty funny and seem quite normal.  I know this because they hang around my sister Nancy’s house on a regular basis hoping to convince my niece Kassandra that she needs to get baptized. Truthfully I think it’s just a nice place for them to come and relax a little bit while they chat about bible stories.

 

The other night however, I didn’t realize they were in Nancy’s family room while I was down the hall dissing several people and not exactly using Christ like words.  Imagine my surprise when I walked out and saw them, oh yeah…I’m totally heading to hell.

 

Anyway, apparently we (the 11^th ward) need to keep these young missionaries busy, so they have been going out to some of the less active members attempting to convince them to return to church.  As a result they get all kinds of excuses on why people can’t come…”It’s to hard to be there every week” “Can’t you teach my son? He’ll be eight soon and while I haven’t been to church since before he was born I’ld like him to be baptized” “I just don’t feel comfortable in this ward (even though I haven’t been in 15 years)”  blah blah blah…excuses excuses!!! Being my intolerant self I have little use for these excuses. I dare anyone to be more bone tired on Sunday morning than me, or to feel less welcome at various times even in the ward I grew up in.

 

The truth of the matter is that at some point in their lives people that are on the rolls of the church did believe enough to get baptized.  They took that covenant in good faith and now they seem to want to re-negotiate the contract with the Lord.  Look, either you’re on the Lord’s side or not, live up to your covenant or get out of the way.  There are enough people in the world that haven’t had a chance to learn about the gospel of Christ, you are wasting resources trying to make up your mind.

 

There that is the true spirit of the gospel…pardon my insensitivity.

Tiger Mom???

This week I read a story about the “Tiger Mom” being back and having a new book.  She poses some interesting new theories in it, not sure I believe in how she relates successful individuals with specific cultures or religions, but I went back to her earlier book about how to raise children and began to question if I had been very much of a Tiger mom.

 

I didn’t encourage play dates when my children were little.  Mostly, because I wasn’t very social and never really fit into the “soccer mom” world of taking little Suzie home with us.  That made me very uncomfortable.  I did for awhile try to get Emily to take a variety of classes, hula dancing, gymnastics, archery, judo…turns out that just wasn’t our family type either.  I made Erik do Cub Scouts, and eventually he came to hate it because it required so much of our time for other boys that he didn’t get any time with us. Erik did football and after the first practice wanted to quit…that wasn’t an option, so he stuck out the entire season (with a Mormon hating coach) and now wants nothing to do with sports.

 

I haven’t allowed my children free range in the video world or TV either, although sci-fi is somewhat exempt thanks to the genetic structure donated from their father.  Despite my rather violent nature we don’t have any Call of Duty or Soldier of  Fortune type games for either our Xbox or Wii. Unlimited internet is also a privilege that hasn’t always been allowed and neither child currently has a phone with a data plan.  I have only allowed Emily to spend the night at 2 homes in her 18 years, and Erik has never slept over at anyone else’s home. 

 

Both of my children know that homework is absolutely first when they walk in the door.  It was never an option to put it off, my butt became flat from sitting at the dining room table going over spelling words, math homework, and encouraging creative writing in a boy that now actually likes it. While my grade expectations have been a little different from Emily to Erik, Emily had a “come to resurrection morning meeting” when she was in 10^th grade and started getting a little sloppy, she hasn’t been since. Erik was always required to show he was progressing and that is now paying off in his grades as well.

 

I am extremely blunt with both of my children.  The other day while I was telling Emily goodbye her RA heard me tell her, “Study hard, be good, no drunken orgies, and don’t get any communicable diseases” the RA burst out laughing. “I can’t believe you just said that” she told me. Well, it needed to be said, didn’t it? I have always let my children know the honest answer to any question they ask me, even if it’s somewhat uncomfortable. Or if it made my Mother or sister uncomfortable while I was answering it.

 

Do I have all the answers??? Oh hell no, but I don’t think the Tiger Mom does either. I know I’m stricter than a lot of parents, but I’m also not as strict as some. Good luck to any parent who thinks a one size fits all!

10 Hour Shifts

My type of work is fortunately the type that can be done at almost any time of day.  And my company is pretty flexible on the hours when you want to do them (within reason). My former lab mate was on 10 hour days and kept asking me why I didn’t join him in the 3 day weekend club.  The truth was that I needed a lot more stringent schedule with two children, animals, and a husband who honestly can’t remember to look at the clock when he starts working on a computer.  But beginning this year, with Em off to school and Scott taking Erik to school, the opportunity to work 10 hour shifts has come up again, and I have decided to attempt it.  When asked what day I wanted off, I think they were a little surprised when I said Monday.  I decided that I wanted Monday off because on Saturday’s I just want to spend time doing things with my family. Sundays for church and rest, then hopefully my OCD will kick in just in time on Monday’s to get all set for the week. 

 

So this week it officially started, and I used my Monday to return Emily to academic hell (aka college). Now I’m on day 3 and I want to go to bed at 6:30…hopefully my schedule will begin to settle in.

My Vote

Recently the Christmas news cycle was all awash in the Duck Dynasty controversy. It even flared up at work with my boss screaming at people about his opinion on the matter. My opinion might surprise you, I agreed with A&E…to the extent that they have the right to suspend Phil Robertson, I also agree with Phil Robertson that homosexuality is a sin. How can I agree with both? Well, Phil is right, but he is contracted with A&E for their profit and if I went out to say something that was against my company policy, my company would have the right to fire me as well. It isn’t a first amendment right, no one has stopped Phil from saying what he wants to say, but A&E have the right to not promote him.

 

That is my right to. I’m a middle aged Mormon mom in the middle of the country. No one comes looking for my opinion on the latest and greatest news. No one buys my commentary for their paper, but I still believe that I have a say in the way the world works. I vote with my dollars, the few that I have.  So instead of signing petitions against A&E, I will simply go buy something with Duck Dynasty on it, or maybe 3 or 4 things with Duck Dynasty on it.

 

Do I agree that Miley Cyrus should twerk on the MTV awards – ahh…not if it were up to me, but I simply choose to not watch the MTV awards and I will not purchase Miley Cyrus products. I remember when Madonna was the most outrageous personality out there and the crap she did to get noticed…I didn’t buy her stuff either.  Eventually Miley will crash and burn just like Brittany, Lindsay and all the other brats attempting to get noticed from their parents.

 

Recently my Mom asked me to go see Captain Phillips with her, I immediately reminded her that I don’t see Tom Hank’s movies anymore.  Why you may ask am I against Forrest Gump? Well, several years ago my church was very vocal about Proposition 8 in California, which was a pro-marriage amendment to the state constitution. Mr. Hanks was on the opposite side of the issue (OK, no big deal), however, at the time Showtime had a series on called Big Love, which glamorized polygamy.  It so happened that one of the producers for that was Mr. Hanks, who in his anger over Prop 8 decided to “expose” some LDS temple ceremonies on the show. Needless to say I haven’t purchased a Tom Hanks movie since. So when my Mom asked me to go see this movie with her I reminded her of my disdain for Mr. Hanks to which she said, “It’s not about him, it’s just about that Captain”. My response – Isaiah 5:20 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil..”

 

I feel the same way about Johnny Depp, I will not support with my $14 movie ticket a man who disdains America so much that he has moved to France.  It amazes me that he disdains the very country that has given him the opportunity to earn a fabulous living and continues to support him, even though he says terrible things about it.  That’s right, I have never seen a Pirates of The Carribean movie, even though it is my favorite ride in Disneyland.

 

So there it is, my rant for today. I may be insignificant in the billion dollar entertainment industry, but I can live with myself for not promoting things that are wrong.  And, I think that if enough of us have the courage of our convictions to stand up to the “Entertainment” crowd, we would see a lot more responsible role models coming from Hollywood.