The Parable of The Garden Hose

All too often, we might feel like the commandments of God are "restricting." Commandments might seem to be more of thou shalt not's in your life and may seem to prohibit your choices. It might also seem that the more and more you do to follow God's commandments, the more prohibitive they seem.

Some of you may have seen a diagram something like this in the past.

The black bars represent limits on our options in life. The basic premise of the image above is that if we fall into unrighteousness and sin, our choices become limited as we continue in sin. If we sin, there are consequences that cannot be circumvented. This is certainly a true principle. 

The second part of the image above is that if we make right decisions, and obey God's commandments, then we will be have more and more decisions and opportunities in front of us. This model also has its merits in that if we keep God's commandments, he will bless us with great things in our lives.

There's one major flaw that I can't get around though. If we're keeping God's commandments there are ALWAYS things that we are not going to do. There are things which are just off limits. For instance, I could be keeping God's commandments my entire life, and I still can't expect that at the end of my life, I will be rewarded with the opportunity to "eat, drink and be merry."

I would like to contrast this with something I like a lot better.

In the image above seems  a lot like the way unrighteousness and sin looks in the previous image. As we progress more and more in life, commandments seem to continue to prohibit us from doing things. There is one major difference. The commandments are funneling us away from things are the things that we should not be doing and toward becoming more like Christ.

There is some scriptural background to this that I think is very important to understand:

"3  Yea, Blessed are they whose feet stand upon the land of Zion, who have obeyed my gospel; for they shall receive for their reward the good things of the earth, and it shall bring forth in its strength.
 4  And they shall also be crowned with blessings from above, yea, and with commandments not a few..."
-Doctrine & Covenants 59: 3-4

So, according to the verses above, if I obey gospel principles, I will be rewarded. My reward will be MORE commandments than I had to obey previously. If I am of the opinion that commandments are restricting I'm going to be thinking something along the lines of "WHAT THE HECK!?!? Why am I following these commandments? All I get are more and more restrictions."

Let's not think of commandments as something that God is trying to keep us away from. Think of them as a pointer to make you do the things that He would do. I believe that a major part of obeying commandments is to become more like Christ. If we obey His laws, we will be more like Him.

Enter the Parable of the Garden Hose.

Ok, pretty much everybody has at least seen a garden hose before. If you haven't, here's an image:

So garden hoses have a pretty decent flow of water going through them, but when you don't have any nozzle on them (like in the picture above) they don't really spray water that far. Why?

It's because the diameter of the hose and opening is so large that the velocity of the water going through it is relatively low. High amount of volume going through, low velocity.

Let's say you're trying to spray someone with a garden hose. They're standing a few yards away from you, so what do you do? You jam your thumb over the opening of the hose to make the water flow A LOT faster.

You maintain just about the same amount of volume going through the hose, same flow rate, but your velocity is much higher. The trick is to reduce the size of the opening.

It seems so backwards. You restrict the water more and more (smaller and smaller diameter) and you get the water going faster and faster. Keeping the commandments of God has the same effect.

As we keep commandments, we get more commandments. We get more and more "restricted" meaning that we don't waste our time in as many spiritually trivial or worthless things. But we move faster and faster. 

This is why I like the idea that commandments truly do "restrict" us. They limit us from doing things that are NOT Christlike. Once we have the "gap" or "opening of our garden hose" small enough there will be only one way to be. That one way to be is to be like Christ.

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

                                                                                        -Matthew 7:13-14 

O then, my beloved brethren, come unto the Lord, the Holy One. Remember that his paths are righteous. Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name.

                                                                       -2 Ne 9:41

The Fast

For those of you that remember, my daughter Anna will be having eye muscle surgery (Strabismus Surgery) on Thursday of next week (September 26th, 2013). This is a very frightening thing for my family and I, however, we have faith that our savior Jesus Christ will be watching over her.

This is why I am asking my friends and family members to hold a 24-hour fast for Anna.

What exactly is a 24-hour fast, and what does that have to do with my daughter?

Fasting is mentioned in the bible as early as Exodus. It has always been a practice among God's people. Essentially, a fast is giving up food and drink voluntarily for a certain period of time. Fasting combined with prayer gives us (God's children) spiritual strength, brings us closer to God, and prepares us for other blessings.

Jesus Christ was on one occasion approached by his disciples and he taught them about fasting and prayer. The account can be found in Matthew 17:14-21. Basically, the Savior's disciples desired to cast out a devil from a child. They asked the Savior why they couldn't do it. Jesus replied "Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."

Jesus Himself fasted forty days and forty nights prior to being temped three times by Satan. Fasting can prepare us spiritually to battle the temptations that beset us.

Fasting is really quite simple. There are many ways to do it, and there really is no one "right way." However, I do have some recommendations if this is something you have never done before.

1. Begin your fast with a prayer and a purpose. Tell God why you are fasting and ask for his blessing. If you haven't prayed before visit this link. For the next 24-hours it's no food.
2. Pray frequently through your 24-hour fast. Speak with God for answers to your prayer, and express your love for Him.
3. Close your fast with a prayer. Again, pray for the blessing you are seeking to be answered. You can now eat!

If you break your fast before the 24-hour mark, it's fine. Don't worry about it. Just try to make it a conscious decision that you are breaking your fast and close your fast beforehand. Sometimes, I have a hard time with going without drink. Try a partial fast where you give up food only.

Here's some other things you can do to help make your fast a more spiritual experience:

• Read scripture
• Perform service (just don't overwork yourself-you're hungry)
• Donate the money that you would have used for food to your church or other service organization.
• Turn off the TV
• Spend time with your family
• SMILE!!!- A bad attitude can ruin the spirit of your actions.

I want to thank everyone that will be doing this fast with us. Sarah and I will be beginning our fast on Saturday, September 21st and will be ending it with a big meal on Sunday dinner.

Thank you for your prayers and for the Fast!

Never Prayed Before?

I wanted to give a little advice if you have never prayed before.

Praying is really quite simple. You just talk with God. Yes, you can't see him or hear him. But you can feel his response in your heart.

You don't have to kneel on the ground, although I like doing that. I also fold my arms, but you can clasp your hands, or whatever.

Here's a basic format:

1. Address God- something like "Dear Heavenly Father..."
2. Express Gratitude- "Thank you for ____ and ____."
3. Ask for blessings or answers- "Please bless _____ with ____. Will you let me know if ____ is right?"
4. Close in the name of Jesus Christ. "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen"

God can speak to us in many ways. It is important for us to listen for the "fruits of the Spirit" -how God speaks to us. Those are feelings of "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Galatians 5:22-23).  

9 Recommendations For Giving A Great Talk In Church

I know this sounds a little weird, but I actually like giving public addresses, particularly at Church. 

For those that don't know; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does something quite unique. It has no paid clergy. So the members of the church (i.e. ME) give addresses in church on a semi-regular basis.

I've noticed, however, that there are a lot of people that (a) don't like giving talks, (b) lack confidence while giving talks, (c) lack organization in their talks, (d) think they are giving great talks and are (awesome!),(e) think they are not giving great talks but actually are, or (f) think they are giving great talks and aren't (really sad).

Let's be honest. Sometimes giving a talk to your local congregation of 100-200 can feel a lot like this:

There are some things that you can do to make sure that you have an EXCELLENT talk where both you and your audience come away feeling enlightened and uplifted.


RECOMMENDATION 1: Come prepared

There's nothing more frightening than coming up to the microphone and not being prepared. I'm not saying that you need to go get some teleprompters up and running before you get up there. But I do recommend that you at least speak your talk at least once before you actually give it. Practice! It can be in the shower or in your suit and tie, it doesn't matter. Just talk (out loud) the whole thing through once.

It is likely that you won't give the same talk you practiced with. I usually do not write down my entire talk. If you're like me, a few notes, a good study session and some bullet points will do.

If you're an inexperienced speaker, write down your entire talk. It's fine. Just don't stand at the microphone with your head down reading it. Make sure your talk comes to life!

RECOMMENDATION 2: Keep it simple

I typically start with three main principles that I want to get across. I would say you should never try to teach more than 5. These main principles need to be summarized in a single sentence. For instance if I was giving a talk on Faith, these would be some principles I would teach:

• Faith in the Savior Jesus Christ is essential to our salvation.
• Faith in the Savior's can give us access to his Atonement.
• True Faith is a principle of action, and we cannot have faith and not act.

In one sentence, I could summarize my whole talk and say, "Faith in Jesus Christ is a principal of action, gives us access to the Atonement, and is essential to our salvation." 

The beautiful thing is, that you can take each one of those basic principles and expand on it to fill up your talk with more "meat".

RECOMMENDATION 3: Ask yourself a the following questions

1. What is it that I want my audience to know?
2. What is it that I want my audience to feel?
3. What is it that I want my audience to do?

Typically I don't start my talk with the answers to these questions (see recommendation 4). These are, however, very helpful for getting you started on the content of your address.

RECOMMENDATION 4: Starting your talk

There are a lot of ways NOT to start your talk. They can be very distracting.

• Don't start your talk by saying: "I've been asked to speak on ____." -I now know I can tune out for 20 min.
• Don't start by expressing your fear of speaking -I'm going to be in my seat cringing every time you fumble over a word.
• Don't start with a story of how you tried to dodge the responsibility of speaking. -I believe this is rude to the person who asked you to speak.
• Don't start with how bad your last talk was.- It could be worse.
• Don't say that "this talk is really only for me"- It's not.

However, there are some great ways to start.

• Telling a story or personal experience
• Introducing yourself and how you are uniquely qualified to speak on your topic.
• A short joke on yourself
• A scripture or quote 

RECOMMENDATION 5: Stick to your time

This is one thing that I would say is absolutely essential. There are a lot of reasons to give a time allotment. The most important I believe, is to keep you from boring people to death. Another, secondary reason is so that there is enough content that people are satisfied.

Sticking to your time is actually much more difficult than it sounds. You can talk about pretty much anything for 2 minutes. And if you study up, you can talk about that same something for 2 hours. There's a happy medium that is difficult to find. 

You need enough guts in your talk to get your point across and make it worthwhile for your listeners. The difficulty comes in getting RELEVANT content. You can share a 10 min story about your cat that has cancer, but it has nothing to do with the price of tea in China. Keep your stories long enough to help people understand the story, but short enough to not get mixed up in details.

RECOMMENDATION 6: Never encroach on someone else's time

This goes off of #5, but slightly different. Say for instance you're going to speak at a 2 hour conference. You are the 4th speaker and you're given 10 min. The final (and pinnacle) speaker is the President of the organization. He has prepared a 1 hour address. Unfortunately, the people before you have gone over their time, and you've got a 10 min talk and it's already 1:15 into the meeting. What do you do? Give your 10 min talk? 

ABSOLUTELY NOT! At that point it is your responsibility to make sure that final speaker has as much of the time as possible. Get to the microphone, speak the sentences that build up your 3 or so main points. Bear witness of the truth of them and sit down. I can think of no greater sign of respect.

This does not go just for people that are "higher up" in an organization than you. It goes for anyone that follows you.

RECOMMENDATION 7: Enthusiasm

Some of the greatest talks I have heard are by people who are very passionate with what they are speaking about. When you give a talk, make sure that it your words come to life. As you are excited about your talk, those who you are trying to teach will become excited as well.

Do not think that a talk cannot be spiritual if you are enthusiastic. That is simply not true. Don't go crazy. (Bad example is here.) Don't do that. Keep your dignity, but be excited!

RECOMMENDATION 8: Break it down

All of the recommendations up to this point can apply to any setting, not just Church. I think that the words "break it down" pretty much express what I want to get across here. Whatever your main point is, make it so that Average Joes like me can comprehend it.

And if you are giving a talk in church, you absolutely must relate every basic principle back to one of two things: 

1) Jesus Christ and his Atonement
2) The restoration of the gospel.

The better you "break it down" the better your talk will be.

RECOMMENDATION 9: "The Grid"

I've learned a really great tool from a teacher of mine. When you're preparing a talk, take out a piece of paper and draw a line through the center of the page both "hot dog" and "hamburger" style.

At the top of the page, write a title to your talk.

In the top left quadrant, write the 3 or so bullet points from recommendation 2. And number them 1,2,3...

In the top right quadrant, write down scripture references and stories that can be used to further explain your 1,2,3 and match them with your 1,2,3.

In the bottom left quadrant, write down commitments you would like to extend to your audience. This can be the answers to the questions in recommendation 3.

In the bottom right quadrant, write down WHY you know the things you have on that paper are true. This is your testimony.


Well, there it is. That is all of my advice on giving a great talk!

"In the name of Jesus Christ"

Sitting in my main worship service of my church (Sacrament Meeting) I came up with this interesting thought. The meeting was a "Fast and Testimony Meeting" so not your typical service with one or two main sermons. Instead, this meeting typically consists of 20-35 people randomly getting up out of the congregation to bear witness of the things they know to be true.

In the Mormon faith a testimony typically goes something like this:

1. Introduction- Your name, basic hello, or some witty comment.
2. "The meat"-
1. Story that relates to some Gospel principle
2. Testimony of some Gospel truth
3. Declaration of belief of some thing or another
3. Conclusion- Goes something like "and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen" (the critical part being that everything being done in the name of Jesus Christ).

Well, I don't know why, but for some particular reason, there were more people that wanted to bear their testimony than usual this week. This led to a very rushed group of people. In this rush, when they would get to the conclusion they would blast through the concluding phrase and the pinnacle personage with it.

The solemn declaration "...in the name of Jesus Christ..." turned into a trivial and rushed "...iname a Jes'Chr'is, Amen."

This got me thinking- Why is it so important for us to end "in the name of Jesus Christ"?

Here's a scripture for you: Moses 5:6-8

6 And after many days an ^aangel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer ^bsacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me. 

7 And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a ^asimilitude of the ^bsacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of^cgrace and ^dtruth. 

8 Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the ^aname of the Son, and thou shalt^brepent and ^ccall upon God in the name of the Son forevermore.

So basically, everything that we do should be in the name of the Son of God. Simply put, it's a commandment!

So that brings the question: How ought we treat the name of diety? And after thinking more and more about how the name of Jesus Christ was being passed over, I started to realize how many times in my personal prayers, testimonies, lessons, etc. that I have simply passed by the name of the Savior as a means to conclude.

There is more than just a conclusion behind the "in the name of Jesus Christ."

THE MEDIATOR- There is a very specific reason why we conclude in the name of the Savior at the end of prayers. This is because Christ is our mediator with the father(1 Timothy 2:5). Ok, what the heck is a mediator? I guess a better question is "Who is THE mediator?" and it is Christ. A mediator is someone who is basically a messenger to convey a message from one party to another.

Ok, well why can't I just talk with God the Father directly? Why do I HAVE to go through the (for lack of better word) "middle man" (wow that seems blasphemous to call Christ a middle man)? Well, I don't quite know THE answer to this one. 

My personal belief is that we can't address the Father directly, because we're not qualified to do so. The Savior Jesus Christ is qualified. Jesus Christ was divinely appointed to that role for one. Now also, Jesus Christ is PERFECT (aka- NO MISTAKES EVER). I don't know about you, but I've made a mistake or two in my life. Thus, it is only through Him and His Atonement that we can even approach the Father.

Jesus Christ descended beneath everything so that he can rise above. He suffered on behalf of every one of us for our pains, sicknesses, trials, tribulations and sins. That's a lot. Also, he gave up his life and took it up again so that we too could have life once more.

The moral of the story: Jesus Christ is more than just a slur in our hurried lives. He is more than just a concluding statement to a set of remarks. He is our Lord and Savior. He is our mediator with the Father, the only way to God the Father.

My hope is that we can treat His name with respect and when we invoke His name, say the things that He, Himself would say.

I testify and know for myself that Jesus Christ did indeed suffer and die so that I may obtain eternal life. I know this because of the way the Spirit of God has entered into my heart to let me know of this truth.

I likewise know of the truth of the Book of Mormon, latter day prophets, and the restoration of the priesthood to the earth in our day. I know it because of the Spirit of God.

I testify of these in the name of the Savior Jesus Christ, amen.

Magnifying Your Calling

"O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together"-Psalm 34:3

"Now, my beloved brethren, I, Jacob, according to the responsibility which I am under to God, to magnify mine office with soberness, and that I might rid my garments of your sins, I come up into the temple this day that I might declare unto you the word of God."-Jacob 2:2

"Magnify thine office...and I will bless them both spiritually and temporally"-Doctrine and Covenants 24:3

"For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies."-Doctrine and Covenants 84:33

Ok, there's your scripture blast. Basically, the point is, each and every one of us on the face of this earth have a calling given to us by God. Sometimes, it is formally given to us by our Bishop/Pastor/Priest.  Sometimes, we just feel that calling. I would like to propose a reason why we receive those callings. That reason is to purify us and serve those within our stewardship.

The word stewardship needs a little attention. When I say stewardship, particularly in association with a calling, the best example I can give is that of me being a Husband & Father. I truly believe that God has called me to this role. By so doing, I have responsibility or stewardship over my wife and cute little baby Anna. It's a great responsibility, and as a part of that calling, I am to provide, preside & protect (as well as other mushy things like love).

Ok, that in mind- how to I "magnify" my calling? How do I become better? And more importantly, WHY does God want me to do it?

There's a lot of ways to magnify your calling, and each calling has a different way to magnify it. But there are some general ways to magnify any calling, and that's what I want to focus on...get it...focus...ok maybe you'll get it later.

Exhibit A: A magnifying glass.

You remember these right?

Or maybe you remember doing this a little bit better:

The second one there was my primary purpose in getting a magnifying glass as a kid. I'm not quite sure if I was ever successful at roasting an ant.

There's some really cool features about a magnifying glass. It does two things:

1)Magnify- You're going "well duh, I'm not that stupid" and you're right, you're not. But I have to note it, because I will talk about it for the next little bit here. But you get the basic premise, you use the glass to make something look larger, so you can see it better.  Interestingly enough this works both ways.  If I were to hold a magnifying glass at just the right position between you and me, my eye would look massive to you, and your eye would look massive to me.

2)Focus- This is the ant roasting principle. It is something unique to convex lenses, and is depicted very well by the top part of the following image: 

Basically, light entering straight into the lens (mind you it must be perfectly straight) will focus into a very important point called ta da the "focal point" (those mathematicians are so creative with their terms).

Ok, now that I have bored you with some nerdy physics/math, it's time to get to the faith part of this. Remember, I was talking about "magnifying your calling."

Let's start with the second first. What does a magnifying glass do? Focus light. Imagine for a second that God is the sun. The light that comes from him is his spirit and goodness and truth. If we, acting in our stewardship, are magnifying our calling, those whom we serve are going to feel the spiritual "heat" of the love of God. Now, in this case getting "hot" is a good thing.

Now, the first thing that a magnifying glass does- Magnify. Or amplify the apparent size of the image. I find this to be a very important part of this very elaborate analogy. The interesting thing is, whenever you have a calling, you have some kind of stewardship. And 9 times out of 10, that calling has something to do with bringing others to Christ. So, let's get this straight-we are magnifying the image of Christ, as we magnify our calling.

There are a couple of things that we can do to magnify God to those who you serve. Here are some of the ways I thought that we can be better "magnifying glasses" for our respective callings.

First- Orientation. Are you holding your magnifying glass in the right way? Or, what are you trying to magnify? It is really easy to get caught up in the worldly desire for praise of men. The truth is, me must be magnifying our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They are the ones that deserve magnifying, NOT YOU.

Have you ever heard the phrase "You make a better door than a window." My parents used to say it to me all the time when I was standing in front of the television trying to get their attention. The same holds true here. Are you blocking the spirit of God from hitting those whom you serve? Are you missing it all together?

There's a lot to be said about just being there. I love the phrase "Open your mouth." So many times, particularly on my mission, I had no idea what to say. I simply walked up to a complete stranger and the Lord filled my mouth with what that person really needed at the time. Just facing the right direction and being willing to do what He wants you to, is sometimes the hardest part. But God wants laborers.

Second- Placement. Have you noticed if you move a magnifying glass a little bit forward or back, things become blurred or distorted.

If we "hover" too closely over those within our stewardship, they won't gain nearly as much. Also, if we give too much distance between ourselves and our stewardship, the image of Christ will not be clear to them.

Now, this is not so say that as we get closer to Christ, we must place more distance between ourselves and our stewardship. The way it should work is as we get closer to Christ, those in our stewardship come along with us.

Third- Clarity. When I was a kid, I had some of the dinky plastic molded toy magnifying glasses like the first picture in this post. After years of wear and tear, the lens became badly scratched. It turned almost murky, and lost all ability to transmit light.

Our personal purity in our lives has a great deal to do with how well other people can see the Savior through us. If our lives are clouded with impure thoughts, actions, etc, how can we expect others to see Christ through us?

Lucky for us, we have the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ to clarify those impurities.

Fourth- Focus or curvature. Now, there's a lot to be said about how our personal focus in life corresponds to how well we can truly magnify the Savior's role in other's lives. 

A perfect convex lens or magnifying glass has it's focal point directly in the center of the lens some distance away. The Savior should be our focal point. If our lens is slightly off center, we will not be able to properly transmit the light.

I've noticed that as I gain the ability to really block out the noise and distractions of the world (Video Games, TV, etc.) then my ability to truly magnify my calling and to feel the Spirit is truly enhanced.

Fifth- Balance. What if part of the magnifying glass has more magnification than another? The image will become distorted.

It is really easy for us, in seeking to magnify our calling to forget some of the other very important things in life. For me, I tend to spend a lot more time thinking about my family, and not so much about my calling as a missionary. Now, if I were to stop spending time with my family and just go doing missionary work 24/7, I wouldn't be doing what is right either. There is a balance between our many different callings in life. Believe it or not, your career is likely in there as one of your callings in life, so quitting your day job isn't the solution...sorry.

Sixth- Receive. One interesting thing about magnifying or focusing, either way, you need to receive the light yourself before you can transmit it. This is one of the greatest blessings of truly magnifying your calling. Not only do you get to bless the lives of others and do the Lord's work, but you also get to receive an abundance of the Lord's spirit as he is guiding you to serve others.

Another interesting aspect of this receiving principle. If your clarity is off, and you're positioned well, that light will hit you (the lens) and start to heat you up (because you have absorbed light). From there, you are thrown into the refiners fire, and clarified through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

Think of that, if you are simply WILLING to serve God, he can help with the rest. If you just place yourself in the right spot, even though you aren't perfect. He will make your efforts perfect!

So there it is-go forth and MAGNIFY!!!