Lessons in Venice

Samy and I are here in Venice, Italy as part of our anniversary and it's been a blast so far. Today we took a gondola ride along some canals with a young gandolier named Gianni.

Along our 40 minute ride I realized one of my all time romantic dreams. I spent a special moment with my best friend, who also happens to be the woman of my dreams, and enjoyed each other's company in Venice (it's the closing scene from the movie Italian Job). I realized bow fast time goes by and I realized that all we have IS time, so enjoy it with the ones you love. Samy and I have a long future ahead of us and I'm excited for the ordinary and for the extraordinary moments as well, because that is the stuff that eternity is made up of, and when you understand that, each moment becomes extraordinary.


-Joe G.

Elser Bednar Blows my Mind

Sunday morning here in Taipei, Taiwan and it's a special Stake Conference today with Elder Bednar as the guest speaker. He spoke simply and powerfully about he Restoration and why our church is named The Church of Jesus of Latter-Day Saints. He then focused on the strengthening power of the Atonement. First he shared from Mosiah 3:19 about how through he Atonement we can become clean from our sins and overcome the natural man. Then he read in the same verse how the Atonement is used to make us into Saints, converting us to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then he took us to Mosiah 24:13-16 where the Nephite people are enslaved by the people of Amulon. The Lord, in His infinite wisdom, does not simply take their burdens and suffering away, because from an eternal perspective there are eternal principles to realize through those experiences that can't be realized any other way. So, then what DID the Lord do? Did he just not answer their prayers? No. He (this us the important part) strengthened them.

Sometimes in our prayers we tell the Lord how we want our answers to come or how we want our blessings to be brought to us. We can have the faith to understand that the Lord is going to answer our prayer no matter what, and we can also have the eyes to see when and how that blessing comes without prescribing it'd method of realization.

Elder Bednar then invited us to buy a simple copy of the Book of Mormon and read through it looking for examples of how the Lord strengthens His people in affliction.

The Church is true and the Book is blue
Amen.

-Joe G.

Good ol' C.S. Lewis

"I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the horses the new strength of fear for the last mill so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you."
--The Horse and His Boy (The Chronicles of Narnia) C. S. Lewis.

And so it is with God. God is all around us, guiding us along our daily paths.



-Joe G.

Mormonism & Truth

"Mormonism, so-called, embraces every principle pertaining to life and salvation, for time and eternity. No matter who has it. If the infidel has got truth it belongs to 'Mormonism.'. The truth and sound doctrine possessed by the sectarian world, and they have a great deal, all belong to this church. . . .All that is good, lovely, and praiseworthy belongs to this Church and Kingdom. 'Mormonism' includes all truth."
-Brigham Young, discourses p. 3


-Joe G.

Love as an Eternal Principle

Consider this:
If: God=Love
AND
God=Eternal, Everlasting, Infinite

Then:
Love=Eternal, Everlasting, infinite

Often we think the more something is distributed, the smaller it becomes. But if you divide Infinity x-amount of times, even infinite times, it's still infinite. So the more you love, the more your love will reflect the characteristics of something that is truly infinite.


-Joe G.

Truth be Truth

"While the vision may not always be clear, truth is never really threatened nor overcome by light."
--Mervin B. Hogan, Author


-Joe G.

Other Truths

Consider this excerpt from a Chinese text:
"Laozi asked Confucius, "Have you after all attained the Dao (The Way)?" "I've searched for it for twenty-seven years and have not found it," answered Confucius. Laozi said, "Supposing the Dao could be offered up, there is no one who would not offer it to his lord. Supposing the Dao could be presented as a gift, there is no one who would not present it to his relatives. Supposing the Dao could be told to others, there is no one who would not tell it to his brothers. Supposing the Dao could be bequeathed, there is no one who would not bequeath it to his children. That we cannot do so is for this reason alone: unless you have an appropriator within to make it your own, the Dao cannot take up residence in you."

Without defining The Way or The Dao in your eyes, what principles of truth are most sacred to you? Would they diminish in value by sharing them with others, or would you
diminish their value by not sharing them with others?

Challenge: Share it. Share it without fear, for how could there be fear in sharing something held dear by you, and then shared with those whom you also hold dear?


-Joe G.