Ok, so I'm a slug

Yes, I'm posting for the first time since January. Not exactly a model blogger, but here's another post for posterity. Today is Father's Day. I'm basking in the glory of being king for a day, and looking forward to some mighty fine food off the high-octane backyard grill.
Oh yeeeeeaaaaah.

A Reading Assignment from Dad

Most of you have never heard of Clayton Christensen. He's a Harvard professor and business consultant who is famous for his research and publications on disruptive innovations and their effect in the marketplace. He's a pretty smart guy, even in the brainy crowd he hangs around with. He's also a faithful Latter-Day Saint. The photo above is of him on his mission to Korea. Here's his Bio

Can I make a reading assignment to our family for the week? I'd like you all to read something he wrote. It's called "Why I Belong and Why I Believe"

Click here and take a few moments to read it. I would like to get your comments about it either in the blog post comments or via email.

Too good to be true (the overnight millionaire scam)

I thought this was good advice from Seth Godin's blog http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/11/too-good-to-be.html

Too good to be true (the overnight millionaire scam)

You probably don't need to read this, but I bet you know people who do. Please feel free to repost or forward:

Times are tough, and many say they are going to be tougher. That makes some people more focused, it turns others desperate.

You may be tempted at some point to try to make a million dollars. To do it without a lot of effort or skill or risk. Using a system, some shortcut perhaps, or mortgaging something you already own.

There are countless infomercials and programs and systems that promise to help you do this. There are financial instruments and investments and documents you can sign that promise similar relief from financial stress.

Resist.

There are four ways to make a million dollars. Luck. Patient effort. Skill. Risk.

(Five if you count inheritance, and six if you count starting with two million dollars).

Conspicuously missing from this list are effortless 1-2-3 systems that involve buying an expensive book or series of tapes. Also missing are complicated tax shelters or other 'proven' systems. The harder someone tries to sell you this solution, the more certain you should be that it is a scam. If no skill or effort is required, then why doesn't the promoter just hire a bunch of people at minimum wage and keep the profits?

There are literally a million ways to make a good living online, ten million ways to start and thrive with your own business offline. But all of these require effort, and none of them are likely to make you a million dollars.

Short version of my opinion: If someone offers to sell you the secret system, don't buy it. If you need to invest in a system before you use it, walk away. If you are promised big returns with no risk and little effort, you know the person is lying to you. Every time.

Another Conference to Remember

I think this has been one of the best General Conferences ever. I made it a matter of prayer during the days leading up to conference that the brethren would be inspired to say things that would be directly applicable to me and the challenges that are confronting us as a family. I suppose the better prayer would have been to ask that I would pay attention and have ears to hear what they were saying. But either way, my prayer was answered and I received what I believe were direct answers that I need right now. I felt my testimony strengthened on several occasions and felt my gratitude increase the Atonement of Christ and for the restored church. I testify to each member of my wonderful family that it is the Lord's kingdom on earth and that Christ is at the helm. That the Prophet Joseph was called by the Father and the Son to restore the church and that the keys of the priesthood are at work in the church to prepare for the Savior's coming. Sometimes I feel an acute longing for the Savior's return and the Millennium. Your mom and I want more than anything else, to arrive safely there with all our children and grandchildren. I was very moved by the hymn we sang in the opening session of conference on Saturday morning (which was very cool to be at in person --a first for us!) Anyway, the words of the hymn are a reminder of that happy, coming day when we all want to be there together:

Come, ye children of the Lord,
Let us sing with one accord,
Let us raise a joyful strain
To our Lord, who soon will reign
On this earth, when it shall be
Cleansed from all iniquity;
When all men from sin will cease,
And will live in love and peace.

O, how joyful it will be
When our Savior we shall see!
When in splendor He’ll descend,
Then all wickedness shall end.
O what songs we then will sing
To our Savior, Lord and King!
O what love will then bear sway,
When our fears shall flee away!

All arrayed in spotless white,
We will dwell ’mid truth and light.
We will sing the songs of praise;
We will shout in joyous lays.
Earth shall then be cleansed from sin.
Every living thing therein
Shall in love and beauty dwell;
Then with joy each heart will swell.

I hope every member of our family will spend the next six months reading and listening to the conference talks, with special emphasis on the talks by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve. I've noticed that when I read the talks after conference, I find that there is much that I missed the first time. I especially like to listen to the talks after downloading them to my ipod.

Curse upon the land

All the talk lately about the credit crisis in the US and world financial markets with dire predictions about the credit markets seizing up if something isn't done to provide liquidity, reminded me of these verses in the Book of Mormon:

And now there began to be a great curse upon all the land because of the iniquity of the people, in which, if a man should lay his tool or his sword upon his shelf, or upon the place whither he would keep it, behold, upon the morrow, he could not find it, so great was the curse upon the land.
Wherefore every man did cleave unto that which was his own, with his hands, and would not borrow neither would he lend" -Ether 14:1,2

Also, the recent revelations about the corruption among lawmakers in congress and their partners in crime at lending institutions and on Wall Street reminded me of Alma's warning to the Zoramites:

"...the foundation of the destruction of this people is beginning to be laid by the unrighteousness of your lawyers and your judges." -Alma 10:27

Stormy weather

I remember hearing President Hinckley speak in October 1998 General Conference, in the Priesthood session, about "There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed." He counseled us to put our house in order. http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-22-20,00.html

Then in October 2005, President Hinckley spoke about preparedness again:

We can so live that we can call upon the Lord for His protection and guidance. This is a first priority. We cannot expect His help if we are unwilling to keep His commandments. We in this Church have evidence enough of the penalties of disobedience in the examples of both the Jaredite and the Nephite nations. Each went from glory to utter destruction because of wickedness.

We know, of course, that the rain falls on the just as well as the unjust (see Matthew 5:45). But even though the just die they are not lost, but are saved through the Atonement of the Redeemer. Paul wrote to the Romans, "For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord" (Romans 14:8).

We can heed warnings. We have been told that many had been given concerning the vulnerability of New Orleans. We are told by seismologists that the Salt Lake Valley is a potential earthquake zone. This is the primary reason that we are extensively renovating the Tabernacle on Temple Square. This historic and remarkable building must be made to withstand the shaking of the earth.

We have built grain storage and storehouses and stocked them with the necessities of life in the event of a disaster. But the best storehouse is the family storeroom. In words of revelation the Lord has said, "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing" (D&C 109:8).

Our people for three-quarters of a century have been counseled and encouraged to make such preparation as will assure survival should a calamity come.

We can set aside some water, basic food, medicine, and clothing to keep us warm. We ought to have a little money laid aside in case of a rainy day.

Now what I have said should not occasion a run on the grocery store or anything of that kind. I am saying nothing that has not been said for a very long time.

Let us never lose sight of the dream of Pharaoh concerning the fat cattle and the lean, the full ears of corn, and the blasted ears; the meaning of which was interpreted by Joseph to indicate years of plenty and years of scarcity (see Genesis 41:1–36).

I have faith, my dear brethren, that the Lord will bless us, and watch over us, and assist us if we walk in obedience to His light, His gospel, and His commandments. He is our Father and our God, and we are His children, and we must be in every way deserving of His love and concern.

I don't know when the stormy weather will turn in to a full fledged hurricane for any of us, but it seems clear from the scriptures that the day will come when we must be prepared to "withstand the evil day."
We've been very blessed with opportunities and with many of the good things of the earth. If I were to rewind the last couple of decades and do some things differently, I'd pay closer attention to staying out of debt wherever possible and saving more against a future rainy day, and perhaps getting more education. As it is, we're focused on staying out of consumer debt and saving some money each month, and building our year's supply of food and other necessities. I have faith that by doing this and keeping the commandments to the best of our abilities, and keeping our covenants with the Lord, he'll guide us through the stormy weather ahead.

Back to bloggin'

I've been thinking about things to write for the last two or three weeks, and on a couple of occasions had what I considered some real inspiration. I thought "that's exactly what I'm going to write about on the blog to the kids." Then I turned to other far less interesting and non-inspirational stuff, like making business calls and paying bills. And when I later tried to remember the awesome, spiritually amazing things that I was going to write... well, they're gone. It's either a symptom of early-onset type II chronic geezerneuropathy, or it's a lesson on valuing spiritual promptings enough to write them down. Kind of a spiritual "use it or lose it" thing.

Tonight I had a little time during my shift at the temple to read the scriptures, and I read Alma chapter 4. It's a great cautionary tale for us. Alma tells us that the Nephite church was doing great. Thousands of new converts were baptized and the people had continual peace and prosperity. That is, until the people of the church got all puffed up with pride, because of all the cool stuff they had. They started to wear really expensive designer clothing, and they set their hearts on their cool stuff, and probably wished they could have even more cool stuff, like all the beautiful people featured in Nephite GQ or the ever-popular Rameumptom People magazine.

All this was very distressing to Alma and the other priests and teachers, because they saw that as the people began to set their hearts on riches and vain things,

"they began to be scornful, one towards another, and they began to persecute those that did not believe according to their own will and pleasure."

This was not only a stumbling block for the progress of the church, but it was the catalyst for the destruction of the entire people. The proud ones made a habit of

"despising others, turning their backs upon the needy and the naked and those who were hungry and those who were athirst, and those who were sick and afflicted."

This so distressed Alma that he gave up his job as Chief Judge so he can be a full time missionary. He then goes on to give the people some seriously great sacrament meeting talks. He reclaims some of the wayward flock, like the people of Zarahemla and Gideon who decide to repent. Others, like the folks in Ammonihah weren't as impressed by the gospel message. They threw the missionaries in jail, made a big bonfire and threw the believers and their books into it. The bad guys in Ammonihah got smooshed in the end, or wiped out by some bad-tempered Lamanites, but I got to thinking about how all this nasty, murderous behavior by the people of Ammonihah was the natural result of their being lifted up with pride.

There's a lot of pride in the world today. You can see it manifested in the comments of almost any popular blog or web site. It doesn't seem to matter whether the topic is political, religious, or even a discussion about technology; the comments posted by many readers are, to put it mildly, "scornful, one towards another." There's lots of persecution aimed at those who don't believe according to the writer's "own will and pleasure."

I hope all my children develop strong opinions and the ability to passionately express them, but I hope they always do it with respect and consideration towards others who may believe differently. Mostly, I hope each of my children will develop the kind of faith that Alma had in Christ.