Ridding Ourselves of Sin

Elder Patrick Kearon of the Seventy gave a talk entitled, "The Sting of the Scorpion," and his talk was awesome! One, because its a cool story with a good principle behind it, and two, because this man's accent is EPIC! Here's the link, check it out before you read on....
https://lds.org/youth/video/sting-of-the-scorpion?lang=eng

C'mon, you have to admit that his accent is cool. How true is that story though? How often do we disregard what the Lord says to do and we trudge our own path? How often do we ignore what our parents have told us to do and we just do our own thing? How often do we fall short and get "stung" by the adversary? I do this so much! I remember one time we were out on the boat as a family down at Lake Mead. I had been taught how to kneeboard prior to this trip down to Mead, and I thought that I had figured out the way to do things best. My way. I was taught to put the knee strap on loosely so that I could squirm right outta the board if I wrecked and at first that's what I did. I would wear the strap loose and over time, I got a little cocky and decided that I would tighten the strap so that it fit snugly around my knees. By tightening it, you can cut across the water easier and you have more control, but this should only be done after a lot of practice. After a few runs with the tightened strap I decided that my way was better. I disobeyed my father's counsel and I did things my way. Well, that day at Mead, I got "stung." I was riding the kneeboard with my tightened strap and I caught an edge and I ate it. Hard. I ended up under the water with the kneeboard upside down and my knees were still strapped to the board, so that the only thing above the water was the bottom of the knee board. I was in such a panic that I forgot how to get the strap undone and I thought I was gonna die there. When Dad came back around in the boat, he dove into the water and swam out to me and saved my life. I'm grateful for his sweet Baywatch skills. My Mom likes him for his sweet skills haha. After this talk, I was reminded of this experience of when I rebelled against what my father told me. I was "stung" and paid the price for being disobedient. I know that all of us have disobeyed our Heavenly Father. I also know that there has been a way provided to become clean again; there is help and healing. Our Savior has provided the way for us to be saved, just as I was saved that day by my father. I know of consequences of sin. I know of the guilt and the pain that it brings. I also know of the healing power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. It is real. He has provided a perfect way for us to return to live with him again. We must do all that we can to completely rid ourselves of sin. We must make the decision now to obey what we have been told. May we all strive to be more obedient and to put on our shoes instead of flip-flops.
I Stand All Amazed...at the saving grace of Christ, our Lord.

Scars of Life

Mail. Its a beautiful thing. After a long day of sweating, getting laughed at, slammed doors, rejection, unanswered calls, and all the other great things that come with being a missionary, there is nothing better than walking up to the mail box in anticipation. "Is there a letter?! I hope its mine...if Elder Dye gets one today and I don't I'm gonna be mad...he always gets mail...I get a lot of mail too...its probably mine...its probably his...its probably empty...if there's one in there I hope its mine...please!" Those are just a few thoughts to go with the heart pounds and the butterfly jumps within the stomach. Once you finally get to the box, you hurriedly put the key in and twist and.......over half of the time its empty. A box with air in it. I call it, "Air-box." Well, that wasn't the case today right after lunch. I got a letter from my Old Man! Elder Dye checked the mail today and faked like he was gonna rip the letter as he handed it to me. He was a little bitter....haha. The letter was a story called the Scars of Life, and I would like to share it. It was written by Tanay Kumar Das....

Scars of Life

     "Some years ago, on a hot summer day in South Florida, a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore.
     His father, working in the yard, saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In utter fear, he ran toward the water, yelling to his son as loudly as he could.
     Hearing his voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his father. It was too late. Just as he reached his father, the alligator reached the boy.
     From the dock, the father grabbed his little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between the two. The alligator with his fierce grip was very powerful, and the father with his incredible love eliminated all thought of letting go.
     A farmer happened to drive by, and hearing the commotion, grabbed a gun from his truck, raced over, took aim, shot, and killed the alligator.
     Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal. And, on his arms were deep scratches where his father's fingernails dug into his flesh in his effort to hang on to the son he loved.
     The newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked the boy if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs. And then, with grateful pride, he said to the reporter, 'But look at my arms. I have great scars on them too. I have them because my Dad wouldn't let go.'
     You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars too. No, not from an alligator, but the scars of a painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly and have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds, my friend, are because God has refused to let go. In the midst of your struggle, He's been there holding on to you.
     The scriptures teach that God loves you. You are a child of God. He wants to protect you and provide for you in every way. But sometimes we foolishly wade into dangerous situations, not knowing what lies ahead. The swimming hole of life is filled with peril- and we forget that the enemy is waiting to attack. That's when the tug-of-war begins and if you have the scars of His love on your arms, be very, very grateful. He did not and will not ever let you go.
     You just never know where a person is in his/her life and what they are going through. Never judge another person's scars, because you don't know how they got them."

Yes, I liked this story too.
I Stand All Amazed....at the incredible love of our Heavenly Dad.

"Stuck" in the World of Potential

Do you ever feel like you are "stuck" in the world of Potential? Growing up playing sports, I think this was the way my coaches tried to motivate me. They would say a positive thing to me about something that I did to build my confidence and then they would back that up and say, "Elder Stringam, you have so much potential." The first few times that I heard that I thought to myself, "I do have a lot of room to improve and a lot of potential to achieve. However, after I heard this over, and over, and over from my coaches my thought changed to, "Will I ever reach my potential?" I've thought more and more about that since I've been here in Tennessee. "Will I ever reach my potential as a missionary?" I know that I am not alone in this. I've asked a few of my companions about what they think about the whole potential thing and they feel the same way. I remember about 10 months ago I was sitting in the Mother's lounge of the church building in Nashville having an interview with President Hutchings. I was struggling with being a missionary. It felt like all the work that we were doing to help people just wasn't coming together. People weren't keeping their commitments, none of our investigators were progressing in the gospel, and we were working our tails off, all for nothing....so I thought. President sat me down in the chair and said, "Elder, what's wrong?"
"President, nothing is happening in our area and I'm fed up with it. We are working so hard that I have blisters on my feet and I don't get why everything is falling thru."
He said, "Are you ready to feel the Spirit?" I nodded my head. "You aren't out here for the Lord right now, you are out here for you. This is HIS work and HIS glory."
He taught me some other things in that interview, and among many things that I learned, I will share two. Number One, I have the upmost respect and admiration for President Hutchings. He is a Man of God. Number two, if we think that we have reached our potential and get complacent in our progression back to Heavenly Father, we have failed. How could we become like our Heavenly Father if we don't have potential to achieve? We must ALWAYS have some potential to achieve because we are not living with God yet. None of us should get down on ourselves if there are areas to improve in, because there always should be! From that point on, I've looked at life in a whole new light. I've looked at weaknesses and trials differently as well. How grateful I am for a loving Heavenly Father who teaches thru our own experience. I cannot wait to see Him again someday. To talk with Him, to joke with Him, to learn from Him, to hug Him, to thank Him, the list goes on and on.
I Stand All Amazed....at being "stuck" in the world of potential!

The Blessings of Scripture

I saw this video on lds.org and I really liked it. Elder D. Todd Christofferson is the man! I think he is one of my most favorite apostles and he talks about the sacrifice that went into bringing us the Bible today and also talks about how more revealed scripture from God can help all of us out in our lives.

http://lds.org/pages/the-blessings-of-scripture?lang=eng

So I know that this is short, but I'm very grateful for the scriptures that God has given all of us. And I'm very grateful for the men that stood up for what is right to give all of us the blessings of the scriptures.
I Stand All Amazed...at the word of God.
PS There is a link to an Ensign article that talks more about the translation of the King James Bible... http://lds.org/ensign/2011/08/400-years-of-the-king-james-bible?lang=eng&query=king+james+bible

Enduring

First and foremost, this roller coaster looks like an epic one. This is in Japan. I dunno where or what it is called but it looks legit! Lately, I've been thinking about the gospel principle of enduring to the end. All of us are at different stages of our lives. Some of us are young, in junior high school. Others are attending college. Some of us are parents with 4 kids who are the cause of a lot of grief and break things around the house, but are the source of so much joy. Some of us are grandparents that faithfully write their grandson on his mission and never get a letter back because he is awful at writing letters. I dunno who that would be or anything....just using examples here.. And some of us are in the sunset of life just about to move on to the next stage that Heavenly Father has beautifully prepared for us. I am gonna talk about where I am right now, and that is on a mission. As missionaries, it is easy to get into a habit of just going thru the motions. You find the way the you want to do missionary work and the way that you think is best to do things. We go to meetings to get motivated by our leaders and we try to have uplifting experiences that change our outlook on our missions, but those stirring feelings seem to only last for a few hours, maybe a few days, and then things are back to normal again. This vicious cycle results in what I call "coasting." Coasting thru to the end of your mission, just doing the minimum and not really putting too much feeling or effort into it. I see missionaries all the time struggle with coasting. We get complacent with where we are at and we just decide to ride the roller coaster till we step off the plane at the end of our mission. I too have felt this way at times, and that is one of the worst feelings that I have ever felt. It is easy to go thru the motions, that's why its so appealing! Its easy to just ride the coaster! But when we do step off that plane at the end of wearing the black tag, what will we have learned? Maybe a few scriptures, how to deep-fry ANYTHING (seriously, people will deep-fry sticks of butter out here and eat them plain...), and maybe a few people skills, but will we have learned how to endure to the end? Or better yet, to ENJOY to the end? Will we have learned how to sacrifice everything like the Savior did? Will we have learned how to love God and to magnify our calling for Him? I honestly don't think that we would, and that's what scares me. Now, I'm not saying that we should be maniacs and become over-bearing missionaries, but I do know that there is more for us than to just go thru the motions of everyday missionary work! And I know this applies to more people than just missionaries! When is the last time you, yes YOU, took a second and realized what matters most? When is the last time that you took things off of auto-pilot for a minute and looked at the beautiful creations of our God? When is the last time that you have served a member of your family to bless their life in an extraordinary way? I know that as we step off of the roller coaster and step onto the pathway of Life, we will ENJOY this Journey instead of just experiencing it. We will realize that we have learned how to find happiness in this life and how we have become more like the Savior Himself, who was a perfect example of endurance. I hope we all can take a second and step off of the roller coaster today and really try to enjoy this journey.
I Stand All Amazed...at finding JOY as we endure.

Rocky

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oDTNEEu3Rw&feature=related

I had to do it! I love Rocky IV! I think Dad got me hooked on this series because this was one of his favorites. This movie has been my all time favorite one outta the Rocky series. Its just epic. Here is this Ivan Drago character who has everything handed to him, and then you have Rocky who has to work and fight for everything he's got. Its the true underdog story. Drago kills one of Rocky's best buds, Apollo, and then the stage is set for Rocky to fight Drago and avenge his buddy's death. Its a showdown of the ages. This video is Rocky getting ready for the big fight, in Russia. This is the ultimate pump up video for anything. I remember before sports games, I used to listen to this on my ipod or I would watch this segment on the TV. (Yes, we had it recorded and saved on the TV) Listening to this would get me "in the zone" for the upcoming game and it became a "sports superstition" of mine to listen to it. If I didn't, I wouldn't play well. That's just how it is. With that being said, how does this apply to the Gospel? Easy. Rocky is a perfect of example of enduring to the end! His goal was to beat Drago. That was his vision and he set his mind to it. That workout wasn't easy haha. That looked like it would've killed me! But he finished it. During the fight, he was cut open, bruised, and broken, but he won. He achieved what he set his mind to. This directly correlates with our lives. Our goal is to live with our loving Heavenly Father again. We have set our mind to it, this is our vision. Keeping the commandments can be not be so easy to keep at times. This is our killer workout! During this fight against the devil, we are sometimes beat up and pushed down, but in the end, we know that we will win. This is enduring to the end. That is why I'm so grateful for a Savior that picks us up when we get pushed down and heals our wounds when we need it. If it weren't for Him, there would be no hope in this world. I love Him. He allows us to be able to "Enjoy the Journey" of life. In Him there is hope and in Him we can be healed. I know that we will finish this fight. And just like Rocky, we will rejoice as well. Satan will not prevail. Remember the inspiring words of the Prophet Joseph,"The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progression;...the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done." I hope all of us can be like Rocky and endure to the end.
I Stand All Amazed....at the heart of Rocky and the principle of Enduring to the End.

Team Hoyt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z22s5DzqQdQ&feature=related

Before you read the post, watch the video.....
A father's love. When a first saw this video a couple of years ago, it brought me to tears. I could not believe the love that this man has for his boy. I can only imagine the sacrifices that Dick Hoyt has made in his life to help bring his son happiness. I have never met this Dad before, but I have the upmost respect and admiration for him. I have been fortunate in my life to have a wonderful Dad who pushes me along thru the hard times of life. I have the upmost respect and admiration for him as well. He too has made sacrifices to bless my life and the life of my family. I love him. He hasn't pushed or pulled me thru a triathalon, but he has taught me how to become a Man of God, because he is one. Our family is Team Stringam. May we all have a more appreciation of the love of our Fathers after we watch this video.
I Stand All Amazed...at the love of a Father.