Snow machine story

A story of a Snow machine on Mirror Lake. We used to take the snow machine to Mirror Lake after a fresh snowfall. I loved racing full throttle. To me it was like trying to break the sound barrier across the salt flats. I also went up a few trails on the other side of the lake. I was racing between the tall trees up a hill, trying to get enough speed to jump at the top when I had a quick vision of danger. If someone was coming the other way, it would be ugly. I had the impression to get off the trail. I couldn’t see over the ridge ahead. I was afraid to leave the trail because if I got stuck in the deep snow I might never get back on the trail. I reluctantly slowed and pulled to the side, short of the top of the hill. A snow machine flew over the ridge and landed next to me on the trail and continued on. Had I continued we would have met at the peak, boxed in by the trees on either side, with no time to react. I was able to continue on. I finished my ride and returned to give someone else a turn and wondered about what had happened. It was nice to be spared the emergency room visit. But I figured there must be a reason. If God didn’t want me to die then he must want me to do something. So I spent some time trying to figure that out. 

Thoughts on Faith

Elder Neil L Andersen spoke about faith in the priesthood session of the last general conference. He began by saying-

“The Savior perceived the strength or weakness in the faith of those around Him. To one, He said approvingly, “Great is thy faith.”¹ He lamented to another, “O ye of little faith.”² He questioned others, “Where is your faith?”³ And Jesus distinguished yet another with, “[In all Israel] I have not found so great faith.”⁴

I ask myself, “How does the Savior see my faith?” And I ask you, “How does the Savior see your faith?”

Elder Andersen gives a description of faith. 

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is not something ethereal, floating loosely in the air. Faith does not fall upon us by chance or stay with us by birthright. It is, as the scriptures say, “substance … , the evidence of things not seen.”⁵ Faith emits a spiritual light, and that light is discernible.

So how does the Savior see my faith? How does the Savior see your faith?  Faith is a gift. Faith grows or diminishes based on our choices.  The Savior knows us but we must learn to perceive our faith and know where we stand. 

Elder Andersen addressed his comments to men of the priesthood, in that conference session. He said we must have faith and that we have an obligation of service. We are no longer on neutral ground, he said. We are different and have to protect our faith because the adversary wants to destroy it. 

Elder Andersen gave several examples of people who required faith and exhibited it. You may recall the story of four members of a family in Utah that were killed in an airplane crash. The bishop’s son was on a mission and continued to serve while others helped care for his younger brothers.  His seventeen year old brother spoke at the funeral and expressed his faith that families are forever.  Their faith was by choice.

Another young man wanted to serve a mission after joining the church in Brazil. As he prepared, it was discovered that his mother was dying of cancer. He had to stay and take care of his family. He worked and saved everything he could. Later however, he received inspiration that he should go.  Through several miracles his younger sisters and brother were able to live without him while he left to preach. His faith was by choice. 

These hard times remind me of one of my favorite talks - Come What May, and Love it by Elder Joseph B Wirthlin. Conference Oct 2008. He says that the way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life.  His mother taught him when he was young, when he lost a game or fell down, to come what may and love it. This advice stayed with him all his life. 

His advice is first,  to learn to laugh. Linette has that one down. She loves to laugh when people fall. Katherine use to expect applause after her tumbles. It is normal in our house to laugh first when someone gets hurt. As Elder Wirthlin explains, when everyone participates then no one is hurt and we can enjoy the moment later. 

Seek for Eternal perspective - As with the family that died or the missionary who almost couldn’t serve we need to have an eternal perspective when dealing with our problems. No one is exempt. Elder Wirthlin says that some people assume that the General Authorities don’t experience problems, disappointments, suffering.  But that is not true. A man not of our faith said, that “the only people without any problems are people we don’t know well”. Even Jesus suffered. When we learn that afflictions shall be but a small moment then we can take comfort. Jesus suffering can heal our own.

There is a Principle of Compensation. The Lord compensates the faithful for their losses. Death cannot separate us from God and all the blessings he has for us. 

Trust in the Father and the Son - God loves us and gave his Son. Men are that they might have joy. God wants us to be happy. Jesus descended below all things so that he could lift us up. He knows the worst of what we will go through. We need to trust in his relief. 

Going through hard times in our life, while difficult to bear, stretches our understanding, builds our character and increases our compassion for others. 

My sister recently sent me a quote - “Faith and fear both require us to believe in something you haven’t seen yet. You choose which to believe.” 

We are choosing everyday to be faithful or fearful.   For me, faith is translated as hopeful and happy. I can deal with setbacks because I am optimistic about the future and my abilities to handle the problems.  I don’t think that means fear, like some people are afraid of spiders, but rather an anxiety over future outcomes. Fear for me isn’t shrieking at the sight of a nasty critter but rather, fear is a shrinking perspective, losing sight of my goals, because I can’t see past the current sorrow. Like a child that can’t see the beauty of the Grand Canyon as I hike along the path because all I can think about is the little rock in my shoe. Fear is thinking that no solution will work. It reminds me of one of my favorite hymns: Abide With Me

Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;

Earth's joys grow dim; its glories pass away;

Change and decay in all around I see;

O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

Change and decay. Sometimes that is what life looks like. Like everything in the house is broken. For me, fear is a depression that limits my ability to think and to react properly. Fear is the opposite of faith and represents a lack of hope that my Savior can save me or that an all knowing God forgot where I am. BUT we can choose faith, as Elder Andersen said. God does not change and will abide with us. Come what may, and love it. This puts President Monson’s quote in perspective. He said:

“Fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith.” -President Thomas S Monson, That from another great talk on joy and faith in hard times from April 2009 conference. We know the outcome in the end. Faith is remembering that loving end today, in the middle of all the mess. 

1. Nephi can give us a good example. Every time we start the Book of Mormon we encounter this hero. He appears to do everything right. He gets the Brass Plates from Laban, builds a ship and sails to the promised land, has the vision of the Tree of Life. Nephi had faith. But he had lots of trials. The way he reacted to adversity showed his faith. The account that we read is made on the plates many years later after Nephi when he was older in the promised land. That gave him perspective. We shouldn’t think that it wasn’t hard for him.  Think of the time that his brothers beat him. They were sent to get the plates so they would have the scriptures when they left. Laman went in to ask, but got thrown out. Then the brothers gathered all the treasures and were going to trade them with Laban for the plates. Laban took the gold and chased them out and tried to kill them.  They escaped the guards but Laman wanted to finish their job and was beating Nephi with a rod. An angel came to stop him.  Laman and Lemuel didn’t pay any attention to the angel and started arguing with Nephi as soon as he left so I don’t think the angel was there for them. They didn’t learn anything. My guess is that there was a real risk of death or serious harm to Nephi so the angel stepped in to make sure he could fulfill his mission. We are lucky to read Nephi’s account that he wrote probably 20 years later. If he had posted on social media we might hear complaints about his bruises, see a picture of his black eye or a video of Sam trying to get him to laugh with his broken rib. My point is that we know Nephi got beat and tied up several times and we only read the polished version written long after. Life is hard. 

Nephi’s posterity remember their ancestors being brought by the hand of the Lord to the promised land. Sounds easy. Samuel and Nephi remember traveling without fires to cook their food because it was too dangerous to light one.

2. Another story about Nephi and having perspective.  His life wasn’t easy. He was blessed with a vision of the promised land. He saw the Savior’s future birth and then the end of his people by the Lamanites. The Nephites were wiped out. Then the scattering of the Lamanites by the gentiles that came here. Nephi had faith. How does the Savior see my faith? Could he tell me that all my great grand children will be killed by my brother’s posterity and I will still praise him and think his plan is wonderful?  

Why care about current events and vote for good men as leaders when everything will fall apart before the second coming?  I have been blessed to not suffer from dramatic events like Elder Andersen described but everything we do requires faith.  Example - going on a mission to Germany during the first gulf war and right after the Berlin wall came down in 1989. Sometimes we didn’t wear name tags and spoke only in German to avoid being targets. Getting married takes faith, having children when the world is against it and we know they will grow up to be teenagers. Studying hard and finishing school is a choice of faith.  Living the gospel standards takes faith. 

Elder Andersen also talks about another aspect of faith when he said,  “Faith emits spiritual light and that light is discernible.” Remember he said faith is something that we choose. He said, “Faith never demands an answer to every question” If we could get an answer to every question then we would know and that wouldn’t require faith.   

“Faith never demands an answer to every question but seeks the assurance and courage to move forward, sometimes acknowledging, “I don’t know everything, but I do know enough to continue on the path of discipleship.”

We can get answers to all honest questions. Life is hard - and there are some hard questions. We have the tools and the instructions. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.” Elder Andersen gives an example of Joseph Smith’s critics. For years, people have tried to find ways to discredit him and the events of the restoration.  The faithless won’t learn the truth. We can know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and move forward, believing that our understanding will increase in the future. For the faithful that don’t yet understand, we can study and we can pray. The Lord gave us many resources for learning. Prayer, scriptures, the spirit, fasting, parents, sunday school teachers, quorum leaders, bishopric. The Apostles and prophets receive revelation to lead the church. Guidance of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve help protect our faith.  This will continue as Paul says,

“…Until we come to a unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God. 

Elder Ballard reminded us that James did not say, “If any of you lack wisom, let him google.”

 Elder Anderson

“Your faith is either growing stronger or becoming weaker. Faith is a principle of power, important not only in this life but also in our progression beyond the veil.⁸ By the grace of Christ, we will one day be saved through faith on His name.⁹ The future of your faith is not by chance, but by choice.”

Socialism videos are lame

There are a lot of videos pushing poor ideas about socialism.  Here is a rebuttal to one.


Garbage video made for ignorant millennials who already like socialism. How many falsehoods can you cram into 3 minutes? Here is my rebuttal: Fascism and monarchism are not extreme forms of conservatism. Socialism is a bad idea, it is not okay as long as people vote for it. Medicare and Social Security are good examples of socialism and they are failures, like socialism is designed to do. The reason we have a military is not because of socialism. More obviously, we have the military to defend the country and we pay people to do that job. The niceties of society (roads, water treatment etc) are an increase in the standard of living based on the success of free enterprise. Education - yes, if you wrote the script for that video I would believe you are a victim of our education system that is being taken over by the left, that approves of socialism. Free education and "not pay a dime". This is an infant's view of the world. Everything just appears, ready for consumption. But in fact, education in the US is very expensive. An average of $1,000 a month for every child. But other people pay for it so the children are oblivious. College is more expensive. It isn't free. We have to raise taxes to pay for all this. Those advocating for this don't pay taxes now so they have no fear of this. They want to eat the rich. Their envy leads them to think that equality will benefit themselves at the cost of others. It is simply greed, what they accuse the rich of. Equality of outcome is a value of the left, not of the right. We prefer excellence. Europe does not have a higher standard of living. Nothing beats the US. Everyone would rather live here.

Government in education

My thoughts after reading this:

http://www.edchoice.org/who-we-are/our-founders/the-friedmans-on-school-choice/article/the-role-of-government-in-education/

The first section talks a lot about values. That seems to be more important than STEM or other curriculum, which is not mentioned. They argue that schools are used to create a neighborhood effect and are required for a stable society. "Carried to its extreme, this argument would call not only for governmentally administered schools, but also for compulsory attendance at such schools." Question is about values, then do we trust government to dictate values? It is a popular (and false) notion that we can't legislate morality, yet we are to allow the government to force some unifying values on our children? The other consider is money. Of course, it always come back to who pays. Because whoever pays, gets to decide. That rule works for lunch decisions, as well.

Vocational training is important but the government doesn't need to be involved. There is no government interest here. I believe they have it exactly wrong. "..there is clearly here an imperfection of the market that has led to underinvestment in human capital and that justifies government intervention..." Wrong, wrong. Markets are the collective decisions of millions of people. That power is usually right. Government interference to manipulate people is what causes the problem in the market. People can handle this without being told what to do. Mike Rowe has this area covered perfectly. Listen to him. http://profoundlydisconnected.com/

The government, like a person, acts in its own self interest and expects some results from the massive amounts of money given to education. That is why there is no much money wasted on administration. Someone has to be accountable and make sure all the requirements are met. This is the best proposal I see in this document: "Government, preferably local governmental units, would give each child, through his parents, a specified sum to be used solely in paying for his general education; the parents would be free to spend this sum at a school of their own choice..." Ok, good. freedom reigns. My question is, Why does the government take the money from parents in the first place? Why are we taxed and then given the money back to educate our children?

Are we all socialists?

Ignorance is on display today with Twitter’s #SocialismChecklist. Bernie Sanders matched Hillary in Iowa caucus so that has encouraged his supporters to expose their embarrassing support for a socialist. So much ignorance of history and economics on display. Most of them are very funny. There appears to be two flavors of socialists out today: angry and clueless.

The angry socialists are hammering on evil corporations.  Walmart dared to make a profit, which means they stole money from every consumer that should have been given to government as taxes. Their evil lawyers and lobbyists helped them get away with because Wall Street is controlling every decision we make. And Koch brothers.  

The clueless socialists are creating checklists of all the good things that socialists have done. Essentially it is a list of things that people agree are good about America and crediting socialism with their existence. We wouldn’t have schools, bridges, fire departments or libraries without socialism, they say. Therefore the government should be in charge of healthcare and minimum wage should be $15 an hour, they say.  

One thing that socialist don’t lack is a sense of futility. They don’t know when to quit. I will give them that. All experience has shown that socialism is a failure but that doesn’t bother them. They just want to try again and experiment with a more pure form of socialism because the last was tainted in some fashion.  Their arguments are destroyed but their zealous belief is not to be swayed.

Benjamin Franklin is famous for many things. Among them is the establishment of a public library and the first fire department. Does that make him a socialist? Only by today’s definition that all good things are socialist. However, the books and the building were privately owned. Access was open to the club and later to the public. The collection remains as private property with access to the public. The fire fighters charged for services.

This is not socialism. Not even so-called democratic socialism. You can’t vote that the library belong to the public. The problem with socialism is that violates property rights, which are essential to liberty. What about the fire department? It is socialist unless no one makes that evil money providing a service to the community? 

Are roads socialist? No, although if the socialists would limit themselves to bridges and roads then I would have less gripes with them. The problem is that they want the government to run everything. We will all just share everything. That’s the economic failure.  Socialism is forced sharing. But people don’t like to be forced to share. It is against human nature. Roads are a good use of government. The establishment of roads is called for in the Constitution. The Romans built roads. It makes sense for everyone to share and benefit. It is an asset that makes other functions of government and society possible. Do you want your healthcare run like roads? We will have committees gather to review reports that take years to write. Open meetings must be called for public input. Tax rates must be established by legislature. We will bid out the work to get the best price and see what pieces of the project should be delayed because there are almost never enough funds. Open books help to combat fraud and abuse. Just try that with cancer surgery. Most medical decisions are personal and quick. No one wants public comment and a vote before your knee surgery. Or a photo review of your kidney stone removal. And they only take out half before they run out of money. Stitches provided by the lowest bidder. The fact is that government should be involved in some things, but as few as possible.

I would like to hear the result of the argument between the angry and the clueless socialists. We need free bridges and health care. Everyone must have fire departments and libraries.  Who is going to provide it? Are the evil car manufacturing corporations supposed to provide free fire trucks? Must the evil corporatist book publishers be forced to fill libraries at gunpoint? What entity is going to build and maintain the roads if not the evil corporations?  Imagine how the hospitals get built, the supplies are made and shipped to each nurse’s cabinet by socialist good feelings alone. Can’t be done. It’s been tried.  The beauty of free enterprise is that people can make money providing what others want or need.

Let’s recap. Socialism is bad. It is a stupid idea that fails every time it is tried. People go hungry when government involvement restricts resources and incentives.  This is the history part. When people try it they end up running out of simple things like bread and toilet paper. This has been the case from the Mayflower to Venezuela. Bastiat tore apart the socialist argument in 1830. Socialism should have died then but someone always has a new flavor. Bernie and his wise and experienced youth vote think they can make it happen. If only we didn’t have socialized education.