Sources for Ideas and Thoughts

I was reading the book Putting on the Armor of God by Steven A Cramer

and I came to a part that talks about the sources of thoughts and ideas.  He says that thoughts come from only three places: Our own independent ideas with no outside influence, from God through the Holy Ghost, and finally from whisperings from satan.  I have been taught this since before I can remember but it had not really sunk in until it was put that way.  And I realized that recognizing the source of inspiration is key to not getting lost or going astray...and continuing to progress and become better people.

Let me give an example that I had recently.  I was reading in Mosiah 25: 17-18, I was reading how Alma baptized all of Limhi's people. And I thought, "Why would all these people wait such a long time to get baptized?  They escaped imprisonment in the land of Nephi a while before Alma escaped his own bondage by the Lamanites.”  

I thought this because it was the same Lamanite guards who had been chasing Limhi's people that put Alma's people into captivity after they lost Limhi's people in the wilderness. So Limhi’s people had to either wait a very long time to get baptized which seemed odd because they were asking to be baptized before they has left the land of Nephi. Or they had to arrive in the land of Zerahemla around the same time. (Which Mosiah 25 sounds like to me what happened)

After thinking all this, the thought came into my mind: "This proves the Book of Mormon is not true!"

Then I quickly remembered all the many many times I have felt the Spirit while reading the Book of Mormon.  I remembered all the many times the words of that book had helped me throughout my life.  I remembered how I had seen the book change other people’s lives for the better.  And I thought “OF COURSE I KNOW THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE!”

Then I realized that these three thoughts came from three different sources. The original question, I thought myself. The second thought came from satan and he was trying to do his best to convince me that what I knew to be true was somehow false. And the last thought was from the Holy Ghost reminding me of my testimony.

I still don't know the answer to my first question. Maybe Alma's people somehow did arrive around the same time as Limhi's people. Maybe Limhi’s people were inspired to wait to get baptized for some unknown reason until Alma arrived. I don't know. And I don't know that I will ever will know the answer to this question in this life. But it doesn't matter.

After all this I remembered the talk: Come, Join with Us by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf where he says, 

“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters—my dear friends—please, first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Having questions about things is good. It shows that we are thinking and trying to learn. But if we allow our doubts to overcome what we already know to be true then we have been fooled by satan.  He is the master of deceit.  He convinced one third of Heavenly Father’s children to doubt what they knew to be true and to rebel and follow him.  Satan is still trying to do the same things to us. (see D&C 29:36-39) Before we came to earth, we were successful in withstanding his lies and we need to do the same now.   We just need to remember what we already to know to be true and hold to that truth.  Even while stepping into the unknown.

Faith To Buy A House

New House we are buying in Kunia, Hawaii

We have just bought a house here in Hawaii.  It is a nice house in a nice area and we are looking forward to moving in and having a place that we will permanently have (at least for the next thirty years or so).   But it is scary.

It might seem crazy that we are buying a house right now.  I am getting out of the Navy at the first of February and I do not have a job lined up yet for when I get out.  No one would logically say that buying a house in the most expensive state without a job lined up or an idea of how much I will make if/when I find a job is a good idea.  (FYI the house cost $600K but this is on the low end of house prices for Oahu.  Average house prices are around $700K!)

So why are you buying a house now? 

Because just like Brigham Young, I know this is where my family is to settle down.  I have seen it in a vision; I saw my family being happy and blessed being together here in Hawaii.   That is all I saw.  I did not see what job I would have,  or what our house/apartment was like, or where in Hawaii we should live.  All I saw was that this is where we need to be.

Like the pioneers, we have moved every few years from state to state (and country to country) since my wife and I have been married.  Now that my kids are growing up and are starting school, I am glad that we are finally settling down.

But knowing that you should live in Hawaii does not mean that you need to buy a house now.  Wouldn’t it be smarter to wait, rent an affordable apartment now and buy a house when you know you have a stable job?

I initially thought the same thing.  Then one Sunday I remembered this talk by Elder Kevin R. Duncan, of the Seventy given in the October 2010 General conference: Our Very Survival

In it he tells of how some pioneers came to Utah and endured a hard winter and when spring came they were afraid to plant their seeds:

“A spirit of uneasiness began to descend upon the Saints. Some Church members declared that they would not build their homes in the valley. They wanted to remain in their wagons, for they were sure that Church leadership would herald them on to some better location. They had brought seeds and fruit plants, but they dared not waste them by planting in the barren desert wasteland.”

When I remembered this, I felt the loving chastisement of our Heavenly Father. I could almost hear Him ask me “Why are you afraid to plant your seeds? Did I know show you this is ‘The Right Place’?  You know this is where you are to settle, find a house and settle down.”

How could I argue with the God?  So we started looking at homes.  We started looking at everything.  Like I mentioned earlier, I do not know what job I will find or how much money I will earn so we can afford a home. So we looked at everything: from small one-bedroom apartments to million dollar homes.

I kept expecting a great manifestation that we have found “The Right House”.  But it did not turn out that way.  It really became more a process of elimination before we settled on the house.   We settled on this house because we did not get a negative feeling about it like the hundreds of others that we looked at.

I kept worrying that maybe I possibly could be mistaken that this was not the house that we should buy.  Maybe it is too expensive.  How are we going to afford it?  Then I came across this talk that John H. Groberg, then a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gave at Brigham Young University on 1 May 1979. 

Let me spend a moment on an item that I think a great many people, particularly members of the Church, do not understand. A lot of our people—including a lot of you—have great amounts of faith but sometimes tend to distort that faith a little by saying, "I am not going to move until I receive a positive assurance"—a burning in the bosom, as it were—"that that is the right thing to do."…
 …Let me tell what I have discovered—and this is somewhat repetitious. I do not say that we will not get that burning in our bosom, for we will when it is the right thing. In my life there have been quite a few occasions where there was absolutely no question about it—that burning was there. For instance, I have had the experience of installing stake presidents when there was absolutely no question, when I was positive that "that is the man to be the stake president now." It has happened in other situations also, but generally it has worked the other way—that is by eliminating the wrong directions to reveal the right direction, especially concerning our opportunities for progress in life in what we often term the temporal sense. We must try to figure it out ourselves. In the past I have tried out whether I should go into business or into teaching or into the arts or whatever. As I have begun to proceed along one path, having more or less gathered what facts I could, I have found that if that decision was wrong or was taking me down the wrong path—not necessarily an evil one, but one that was not right for me—without fail, the Lord has always let me know just this emphatically: "That is wrong; do not go that way. That is not for you!"
 On the other hand, there may have been two or three ways that I could have gone, any one of which would have been right and would have been in the general area providing the experience and means whereby I could fulfill the mission that the Lord had in mind for me. Because he knows we need the growth, he generally does not point and say, "Open that door and go twelve yards in that direction; then turn right and go two miles . . . " But if it is wrong, he will let us know—we will feel it for sure. I am positive of that. So rather than saying, "I will not move until I have this burning in my heart," let us turn it around and say, "I will move unless I feel it is wrong; and if it is wrong, then I will not do it." By eliminating all of these wrong courses, very quickly you will find yourself going in the direction that you ought to be going, and then you can receive the assurance: "Yes, I am going in the right direction. I am doing what my Father in Heaven wants me to do because I am not doing the things he does not want me to do." And you can know that for sure. That is part of the growth process and part of accomplishing what our Father in Heaven has in mind for us.

Like Elder Groberg said, we are moving on.  We do not feel like this is a wrong choice.  We are starting the next major step in our family journey and I know that Heavenly Father is happy with the path that we are on.  I just need to trust in Him and all the other uncertainties a head of me will turn out.

Abraham and Planting Trees

I was reading in Genesis the other day and came across this verse about Abraham planting a grove of trees in Beer-sheba:

And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God.
 And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines’ land many days. (Genesis21:33-34)

Looking at other versions other than the King James’ Version and looking at the foot note for grove it looks like a better translation would be: tamarisk trees.

Now I never have heard of tamarisk trees, so looked up Wikipedia’s description:

tamarisk tree

They are evergreen or deciduous shrubs or trees growing to 1–18 m in height and forming dense thickets. The largest, Tamarix aphylla, is an evergreen tree that can grow to 18 m tall. They usually grow on saline soils, tolerating up to 15,000 ppm soluble salt and can also tolerate alkali conditions.
 The tamarisk is used as an ornamental shrub, a windbreak, and a shade tree. The wood may be used for carpentry or firewood. It is a possible agroforestry species.

So why did Abraham plant tamarisk trees, and why is this significant enough to write about it in the Bible?

Reading in the ENSIGN, the First Presidency Message entitled The Best Time to Plant a Tree, has part of the answer (for me at least):

An old proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”
 There is something wonderful and hopeful about the word now. There is something empowering about the fact that if we choose to decide now, we can move forward at this very moment.
 Now is the best time to start becoming the person we eventually want to be—not only 20 years from now but also for all eternity.

Abraham was very, very old at this time.  He probably knew that he would not stay there in Beer-sheba for 20 years or however long it took for the trees to get big.  So why did he plant them?  I think for two reasons:

First, He planted the trees for his children.  He might not see the trees be full grown and beneficial but his children and grandchildren will.  God had promised this land for his inheritance and even if he would not permanently inhabit the land his children would.  Now was the time to start working on his children’s inheritance.

Now is the time to do all I can to help my kids.  I want my kids to become good, happy and God-fearing Adults.  And just like a tree, now is the time to make it happen.  I need to teach them and nurture them now at the age of 6 and 3.  So when they are 26 and 23 they will be good, happy and God-fearing adults.

Second reason,  I think can be found in last part of the verse. It says that he “called on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God” there.  Obviously there was no temple there.  But just like our leaders to day tell us, Abraham made his home a heaven.  We are repeatedly told to make our homes like a temple.  Because home is where we want to invite the Lord to be.  Abraham did this by planting trees.  He wanted to invite the Savior to be there and knew that the Spirit will abide in clean and wholesome places.  So he made is home that way.

In my own life, my father has always loved trees.  (I guess that is what happens when your major in college is botany.)  Everywhere we have lived he has had us kids planning and watering trees—hundreds of them!  But we always seemed to move long before the trees got big.  I realize know how much like Abraham my dad always was.  I know my dad loves the Lord.  I know he will do whatever God tells him to do.  And just like Abraham, he was planting—and having his kids plant—trees to teach his children to be better people.  And to make his home a better place so the God’s Spirit would want to be there.

Failed to Promote

A few months ago I found out that I was passed over for promotion. I was very very hurt because I thought I was doing a good job and thought the promotion was a sure thing. In the military this means that I am going to be forced out and will need to find a new job.



So when I found out that I wasn't promoted, I was completely heartbroken and extremely depressed. My wife tried to console me, but I just wanted to be alone.  So I went upstairs to my bedroom and decided to pray. I got down on my knees and talked to my Heavenly Father and told Him how I felt. He responded, and told me He was the one who did not want me to be promoted. I remembered a talk by Elder Hough B. Brown called The Current Bush about a time when Elder Brown failed to promote and how this turned into a great blessing in his life. (If you have never read or heard this talk please do. It is one of the greatest talks ever given, in my opinion.)

While on my knees praying and asking for help, comfort and guidance the Holy Ghost whispered: Heavenly Father has a different path for you!  I do not know yet what that path is but I am trusting in Him. I do know though, when this life is said and done and I look back on all the experiences in this life that this experience this will be one of my greatest blessings--my failing to promote. 



While I was praying my daughter who was two at the time came upstairs looking for me. When she found me, she huddled up next to me and hugged me. I felt like an angel was sent to give me comfort. I hugged her back and cried for a minute or two and then took my family out to eat for dinner.  I have gone on with my life not knowing what lays ahead but trusting in the Lord.

I still have over a year left in the Navy before I will be forced to leave and it is hard meeting and associating with my peers because most assume that I must be a subpar sailor if I did not promote.  But the fact that I know that this is part of Heavenly Father’s plan for me then it does not hurt too bad.  I know where my 

trust is…

(2 Nephi 4:34) O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm.