It's not all about the RULES you big dummy!

I get it, I get it. I really get it on Friday night as everyone at work heads for the bar, a party, or to sit at home & drink away the 60-80 hour work week. Actually, we kind of laugh at 60 hour work weeks out here in North Dakota...but that's a WHOLE other post. You get it right, what I'm talking about? People are SO ready to go home, get wasted, & forget about another insane week of work that they can't possibly fathom someone wouldn't want to do the same. In fact, when it comes to meeting & talking to a Latter-day Saint (you probably call them Mormons), it seems like all anyone wants to talk about is what we "can" and "can't" do. First, the idea the "the Church tells you what to do" means that a person saying that has never been to a 3-hour meeting block & certainly hasn't watched a full 2-hour session of General Conference. Church is much more about sharing our experience with each other and offering helpful advice and spiritual insights we have gained as a result of our own earthly experience. Second, no one will ever be barred from coming to Church because they drink, or smoke, or cuss, or a multitude of other "sins". We don't have a confessional (although breaking the law of chastity, or severely breaking the word of wisdom in the form of alcoholism and/or drugs probably means you'll want to talk with a Bishop to get help to get back on track), so there is no place for you to go to openly admit your guilt for anything. For some reason, people will talk about their sins from the pulpit during "Fast & Testimony Meeting" on the 1st Sunday of each month when there is an "open pulpit"...but we actually prefer you don't do that. It's usually never fast, and it's not much of a testimony either. If you have a serious issue that needs resolving, start with your spouse & family, then your home teachers if you need outside help, & then the Bishop if you need Priesthood Authority...but DON'T talk about it from the pulpit. Third, when it comes to "rulebooks" in the Church, they are usually more about "how to" then "what to" or "what not to". BUT, despite our lived experience, those not of our faith constantly ask: "Can you do this?" "Are you allowed to do that?" "If this happens then can you...?" They always want to talk about things we can't do...it boggles many minds to think that we would so voluntarily give up "fun" things. That's where the...well, no on would ever give that up, so they must be FORCED to stop doing all those things. People...people...people, you have it all wrong. It's not about what we can or can't do; it's about what we do and don't believe. THAT is why everyone who ultimately becomes a Latter-day Saint (a Mormon) STAYS a Saint. See, what we really want you to ask about are the following: What or who was I before I lived here on Earth? Does G_d REALLY have a body? Is G_d REALLY omnipotent...or omniscient...or omnipresent? Why do terrible, horrible things happen to good people? Does G_d interact with the world, and to what degree? Should I be scared that at my wedding they said: "till death do you part"? Is it true that your Church says I can still be married when I'm resurrected? Can I have my children after this life as my children? Is G_d married? See, the answer to ALL of these questions are REALLY important. Their answers and the sum of our experience that often confirm the truthfulness of the answers is why so many of us (now over 14 million people world wide) are Latter-day Saints. It's the DOCTRINE silly! Imagine that you are interviewing for a new job. You go, they ask you questions, you ask them questions, they tell you a little about the job. You are presented with an offer that is better than what you currently have and you start going to work without really knowing the full range of everything you'll be asked to for work. You are excited because you know it's a better job. But, in the beginning, things are tough. There are all sorts of new people and procedures to work through. You often find you have questions about what to do next or if this or that should be avoided. You even learn that there are some people at work that you probably don't want to have to work with. You have to learn who to listen to (who has good advice) and who should be avoided as much as possible. You get a few questions and you just end up with more questions the more you work. Eventually, you settle into your grove, you feel good about your new life, & you handle challenges when they come up. You put out fires as they pop up. You don't necessarily look for a promotion, but if you do a good job you may get offered one. You learn who the other people are that are committed to excellence and you work with them as often as possible. They make you feel good about being a part of the team. One day you may even do well enough that the company offers you your own store, or a district, or area to be in charge of. YOU get to be the boss now that you've proven yourself able to be trusted with the responsibility of running your own show...even though you still technically have a boss. Yes, being a Latter-day Saint is like that. You start a new believe system because it offers you a promise of a better life. You don't have all the answers up front, but you learn and grow. You become "part of the team". Eventually you have lots of questions, all of which get answered. It's the answered questions that endures us to the LDS Church. It's like Radio Shack (not the going bankrupt part), where they say: "You've got questions and we've got answers." The "rules" are the result of someone saying: "OK, I did this thing...I'm a Mormon now...what do I do differently now?" The "rules" help people answer the question of what changes should I make in my life now that I'm LDS? What should I eat? What should I drink? What should I watch or listen to? The rules don't come first & then you become LDS. You become LDS and you learn HOW to be a Latter-day Saint. It's a process. The rules don't keep you from happiness. Once you have happiness, the rules help you stay there. It's like buying something from Walmart...if you aren't completely satisfied, you can go back to your old life...but I bet you won't. Not if you are looking for a promotion you wont. We all know the people that you have worked with that were there for a week and realized that it was a lot more hard work than they planned on. Then they never show up the 2nd week & before you know it they've moved on, were fired, or quit. If you can make it six months, coming to Church every week, reading your scriptures, and attend General Conference. You'll get it...it's not about the rules at all. It's about what we believe. We can answer all the questions up above...and so many more. Even better YOU can have the answers to all those questions. You can find out for yourself as you ask in prayer and then read the scriptures and words of the modern prophets. See, we do think that one can have true happiness...right now...in this world. All they have to do is ask a few questions and get some answers. Then, if they decide they want more...we can help them learn how to live a different life. The rules are reminders of what will take our eye "off the prize". The rules help you stay out of trouble...out of jail...and out of despair. So, the next time you find out someone you know is a Mormon. Instead of asking them what they can and can't do...consider asking them what they can and do believe.

My Favorite Month

I just couldn't shake this darn cold. It had been with me for weeks and didn't seem to be getting better any time soon. On Tuesday night I had to change sleepwear 3 times in the middle of the night. I kept waking up soaking wet and I didn't get anywhere close to a full night's sleep. When I got to work I was determined to make it to the end of the day. I get paid good money to work, but I get a whole lot more when I make it into overtime & double time...that's where the bills get paid.

At around 11am though I was in terrible shape and was using wet paper towels to wipe my nose. I couldn't use a dry cloth or towel because it would tear up my nose in the shape I was in. I was starting to get some looks from the guys I work with on the desk. By the time lpm rolled around, I couldn't stop shivering. I was back & forth between hot flashes and cold sweats. I couldn't keep my temperature regulated and it was getting hard to type on the keyboard.

By 3pm I couldn't take it much longer and I needed to get home and sleep this off. By 7pm I was asleep for the night. I went through a few more sets of clothes Wednesday night and woke up around 7am the next day. I felt like someone had shot me in the chest when I was fully awake. I had already text messaged work to let them know I had to see the doctor before I made it in to work. I couldn't stop shivering and I felt like something was in my lungs. I know that when it comes to not being able to breath that things become serious.

I waited for hours in the waiting room and had one goal when someone finally saw me: get a chest x-ray to prove that I had fluid in my lungs. I managed to convince them that my condition was serious enough to necessitate a chest x-ray. We finally made our way to the lab and within 30 minutes the doctor was writing me a prescription for medicine to help me get over pneumonia. I had talked with my Mom, a nurse, before hand and she had given me a probably diagnosis of pneumonia...so I knew exactly what I wanted to get from the doctor. It worked out perfectly...and I wasn't going to be headed back to work soon...not until I wasn't contagious any more.

My biggest concern was being ready for Monday. A week or so earlier I had been asked to teach Seminary. Seminary is where high school students at our Church show up at 6:30am to learn about the Scriptures (Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, & the Doctrine & Covenants). It goes for close to an hour and it's a ton of fun. Thanks to all my education in philosophy & religion and my Masters of Divinity, the hard part has never been preparing for a lesson. The most difficult thing about teaching Seminary is waking up before 6am every day. I tried waking up at 6am and just couldn't get prepared for the lesson, dressed, & to Church on time. This wasn't the first time I've taught Seminary. I taught for an entire year in California and it was a tremendous experience. Seminary is actually what introduced me to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Whenever I'm asked why I joined the LDS Church I tell them two things: doughnuts & girls. My friend, Nick Thomas, gave me a copy of the Book of Mormon when I was searching for a Church. After reading some of it I asked him what I could do to learn more and he told me they get doughnuts on Fridays. I wasn't doing anything at 6:30am and thought...why not. I was impressed with the ladies I met when I showed up that Friday and I never stopped coming. Eventually I came to the conclusion that there was something to the Book of Mormon and the LDS Church. I asked the Seminary teacher to baptize me and I became a Latter-day Saint myself.

When I taught Seminary in California, I encouraged my students to invite those who were not of our faith on Fridays when we had doughnuts. They did just that and it worked for me, just as it had for my teacher in high school all those years ago. It didn't hurt that we had a 1/2 dozen or so young women in our class just like I had all those years ago when I was in high school. Before the year was over, I was asked to baptize one of my students, Max Sneery. It was pretty terrific to see the story play out all over again with another young person. The magic formula of doughnuts and girls worked again.

All this tradition and history was in jeopardy if I couldn't get healthy enough by Monday to get out of bed. I spent nearly all weekend reading the Old Testament and sleeping. By the time Monday rolled around...I was in good enough shape to show up for the first day with my box of medicines I had to take 3 times a day...but I made it.

The month was amazing. I'm a stickler for footnotes and I try to have the kids go to them whenever something doesn't make sense the first time you read it. I may just have to do a separate post for my themes of the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament). It's always a tremendous experience to teach Seminary and bonds are formed between teacher and student. It's a special experience to arise early with the students...part of the benefit of shared sacrifice. I wouldn't miss teaching Seminary for the world...but it has it's price.

Half-way through my Month of substituting, I moved to the 10am-10pm shift. This means that getting in bed by 11pm would be a best case scenario. It also meant that I'd have to wake up at 5:15am in order to be prepared for the class each morning. Despite burning my candle at both ends I made it the entire month after getting hit with pneumonia right before I started teaching.

I sailed through...that is until the last day I taught. It felt like a Friday. Even though I had work the next day, I didn't have to wake up at 5:15am thanks to a school holiday on Good Friday and I was pumped. I had waited a month to be able to sleep in. I'm a big fan of staying up late to get done what needs to be done. I am not, however, that excited about getting up early. I really can't stand it. When I went to work on Thursday, everyone kept asking what was up with my eye. My right eye looked a little bit like pink eye and I hadn't got to sleep until close to 1am that Thursday morning because of an exceptionally late night at work. I knew I was close to getting sick all week...I could feel it. Well, by the time noon rolled around I had the wet cloths out and was dabbing at my eyes. Closer to 3/4pm I was having to go to the bathroom every 30 minutes or so to clean the mucus out of my eyes so that I could see straight and keep my eyes open. By the time 7pm rolled around my eyes were watering constantly and it was clear I was going to need to get something done about this before I came to work on Friday morning.

When I woke up on Friday morning I couldn't open my eyes at all. During the night I had kept my eyes closed as I had woken up twice in the middle of the night twice to use the bathroom. I know the room well enough to navigate it with my eyes closed without falling over anything or walking into anything. It took a hot shower in the morning to wash out whatever was keeping my eyes shut. When I finally was able to open them up and look in the mirror it was clear they weren't going to let me come in looking like I did. It was a cross between being stung by a bee (swelling) and being turned into a Vampire (with blood red eyes). They were desperate to brand me with pink eye the day before at work. I was desperate to find something to put on my eyes so that I could get back to work.

I had managed to get a bacterial infection of both eyes and was told several times: "it wasn't pink eye" and "you are not going back to work". Once again...it looked like I wasn't headed back to work thanks to my latest contracted sickness. When was driving around town to get my prescription and some things I needed at Walmart it finally hit me. Despite how hard I had pushed myself for the month I taught Seminary, I had been protected the entire time I taught Seminary. I went for weeks without getting a full nights sleep. I magically managed to get to the Church each morning on time or a few minutes after despite going to bed way after I should have. Each day I was able to arrive prepared to teach. Most importantly, the students and parents thanked me at several junctures along the way for the effort I was putting in. It's not hard to keep going when you get encouragement like that from those you are teaching.

Despite really putting the pedal down for weeks on end; I managed to both start when I needed and and make it all the way to the end of my month of teaching. As I left Walmart it was hard to tell the difference in the tears coming down my face from the infection and those coming from the realization that I had been watched over and protected for a month so that I could assist in the work of the Lord. It's a tremendous feeling to know that you've been watched over like I was. I don't believe in coincidences...but I do believe in G_dincidences. I'm grateful for the experience I had teaching Seminary and even more so to know that the Lord was with me in my journey. That means that the students got a lot more than just the words that came out of my mouth. I may not be ready to jump back in there and teach Seminary right now...but I hope this isn't the last time. The next time might not be so obviously, but I don't think it's the last time I'll find out after the fact that I've been watched over either. I look forward to both experiences.