He Took the Time

I'm not sure where these will end up. I started with the phrase Behold the Lamb of God. As I began a poem (you see, I didn't get very far) another thought struck me of someone in the Nephite crowd. Someone that was in the back of the line patiently waiting his chance to meet the Savior. Then, he looks up and sees a crowd of over 1500 people. He would have been in despair to realize he was in the back. But, the Savior took the time for everyone in that crowd. Just as he traveled many inconvenient and out-of-way courses just to help one individual. I decided to pursue a poem along these lines. So far, I only have two choppy verses and a chorus (any help or critique would be great. As I've said before, my rhythm is horrible).

Behold the Lamb of God

Earthquakes and darkness covered the Earth
Behold the Lamb of God


He Took the Time
As he called us forward, I noticed that I was at the end of the line.
1500 hundred people were in front of me pressing their way to the Savior.
As the day began to wane, I felt that I had lost my chance.
Then, I saw the nail prints in his hands.
He took the time.

He took the time to rescue me from darkness
He too the time to feed the hungry
He took the time to provide living water
He took the time to heal those who were sick
He took the time to bless my sweet child
He took the time to save me.

I sat at my father's well, drinking the bitter water
Contemplating my unrighteous dilemma
Suddenly he appeared asking for a drink of water
I left my water pot in exchange for his living cup
He took the time.

He took the time to rescue me from darkness
He too the time to feed the hungry
He took the time to provide living water
He took the time to heal those who were sick
He took the time to bless my sweet child
He took the time to save me.

As I wrote this, I realized something amazing. In John Chapter 4, Jesus comes to the woman at the well. He has nothing to draw with. In other words, he has no cup. He promises the sinful woman living water. Then, she leaves her water pot after she confesses her sin. Often, Jesus refers to His suffering for us as drinking out of a bitter cup. We give him our cups or water pots in exchange for his living cup of water. He then drinks from our bitter cups, so that we can receive His cup.

That Prophet

While I was on my mission teaching about Joseph Smith, I was often told that the prophets ended with Jesus Christ and the apostles. However, one my favorite scriptures that I believe shows that the Jews didn't believe this would be the case is in John chapter 1. In this chapter, the priests and Levites, the religious leaders and experts in the scriptures, were questioning John. They ask him three questions 1. Art thou the Chirst? No 2. Art thou Elias? No (however, the Joseph Smith translation says that he says yes to this question) 3. Art thou that prophet? No.

So is THAT prophet? It's not the Christ because John already said no to that question. It's not the Elias before Christ because that is John. It's definitely a prophet who is foretold to come after Christ. While this doesn't prove that Joseph Smith was that prophet nor that he was a prophet, it does show that Jews, John, whom Jesus calls the greatest prophet, don't hesitate to suggest that there is another prophet. The only way to find out if this is Joseph Smith is to try the fruit (read the Book of Mormon and pray), but I still like the added testimony found in John 1:21.

Josh's Writing

I've started writing articles for ehow.com. Most of the articles are tutorials. You can check them out at http://www.ehow.com/members/ds_joshua25797.html. I will occasionally post links to the articles as well.

My Precious

So I lost my wedding ring about a week ago. I seriously felt like Gallum from Lord of the Rings. One minute I was playing with my ring (I have a habit of pulling it off and putting it back on to make sure my fingers aren't too fat or something). Then, I went to lunch, ate my lunch, returned the leftovers to the fridge and went to the restroom. I'll admit that I was getting a little tired this afternoon, which was part of the reason I went to the restroom--to wake myself up a little bit more. As I was walking back to my desk, I started to play with my ring again. That's when I noticed that there was no ring. Apparently, it had decided it was done with me and slipped off my finger.

I was frantic. I searched everywhere in the restroom. I even took the sink apart (which, by the way, the pipes haven't been cleaned in a really long time), even though there was no way it could fall down the drain. All week, I prayed that I would find my ring. I was sure that it was hopeless. During this time, I also read the parable of the lost coin and the parable of the unjust judge. I think it was on Tuesday when I said something like this, "Heavenly Father, I recently read the parable of the unjust judge when Christ says that even the judge gave into this request because of the many petitions. I know this is just a ring, but it's very important to me. Please help me find it."

On Wed., my boss came back from vacation. I casually mentioned that I had lost my ring and he suggested that I send around an email. I hadn't done this because there are only three people who regularly use the building where I lost it.

Early the next day, my manager peaks his head in my office and says, "I found something you might be interested in. It's on the fridge." He had found my ring inside the fridge. To this day, I can't tell you what happened, but I have my ring back, and I didn't have to bite off a finger and fall into lava to get it back either. Prayer does work, even if it's for something petty like a ring, sometimes we just have to persistent (even a whole weeks worth). Now if only I could find my driver's license. It never leaves my wallet, but when I went to pull it out the other day it gone. Oh well, I'm not so attached to that and it's only like $20 to replace.

Various Thoughts on Value and Money

I couldn't think of poems for the following study sessions, but here are some thoughts that I might use some day if something comes.

More Value than Many Sparrows
Ye are of more value than many sparrows. I like this phrase and could see it working. Perhaps, I will incorporate something from Moses 1, where Moses speaks with God who says three times, "Moses, my son." Then, Satan comes and immediately says, "Moses, thou son of man." Satan attempts to destroy our self worth, but God always wants us to understand that we are of more value than many sparrows, which if even one of the sparrows fall, he notices. How much more will he notice when we, who are his sons or daughters, fall?

A man's life consisteth not of the abundance of things
A man's life consisteth not of the abundance of things. This is in Luke 12. I have recently been faced with a monetary and family dilemma. We lent almost our entire savings to my sister-in-law so that she wouldn't be stuck in a high-interest debt when she got married. She promised that she would make the payments us, but she wouldn't have to pay interest. We then let her rent our place when she got married. They moved out after three months because they had racked up so much debt again that they couldn't afford the rent. She promised to pay us the rent she owed. We have yet to see any of this money. When we ask her and her husband to help with the house in the slightest amount, they literally throw a tantrum and refuse to help. In addition, they are draining my in-laws of the little money they have. They refuse to eat anything that they dislike, which turns out to be anything that is not a name brand or fast food.

The point of this story is that I have been debating about sending them a long, angry letter telling them that I want the money back now. After she got yelled at when she asked for some help, Catie gave me permission to send them a bill for the damage that was done to our house within three months (red paint was spilled on our kitchen floor, their dog peed everywhere on our carpet, and Catie spent the first two weeks moving their stuff and cleaning the place before she could even start working on repairs). However, after reading this verse, I'm not sure that I can send them a letter like I was planning. I'm not going to clear the debt because they need to learn how to manage their finances in a responsible way, but I will give myself some time to cool down before I actually send them a letter. The abundance of things don't matter.

There Arose a Mighty Famine After. . .
After reading the story of the prodigal son, I noticed that when he wasted his father's inheritance it says, "There was a mighty famine in the land." I found this interesting because of the times that we are living in. There's a mighty famine in our land after we have wasted so much money during the prosperous 90's and 2000's. From this, I wrote some of the other mighty famines:
There arose a mighty famine after the prodigal son wasted his money
There arose a mighty famine after Israel's sons wasted Joseph
There arose a mighty famine after the world wasted the prophets and apostles

But One thing is Needful

I'm not so excited about the way this one turned out at all. Just after reading the story of the Good Samaritan, I read the story of Martha who was troubled about many things. I began thinking of all the ways I am troubled about things that are not needful, so I created a poem in the form of a list.

Job, school, money, taxes
Soccer, play, movies, meeting
War, earthquakes, street violence,
Clean, company, dinner
Thou art troubled about many things
But one thing is needful

Passed By

As I was reading the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, I was struck by the phrase "he passed by on the other side." I know this is a classic story, and there are probably a billion stories and poems based off this, but I felt that I should try my hand at it. I was trying to come up with a poem for the Levite and the Priest who passed by the man, something like:

A certain man was cold and hungry
I was in a hurry
He looked anxiously at me
But still I passed by

Nothing could come to me the night I was studying this. I will probably come back to it because I like that concept and I think I just wrote something I can work with. This is what I wrote the night I studied this. I haven't been able to post it because it was finals week for my wife.

Cold and wet, stuck on the freeway side
Left without a spare
Everyone was in a hurry
But I was being passed by

Lost in the midst of a crowd
Looking for my way home
Everyone was in a hurry
But I was being passed by

Hungry and tired, without a penny
Couldn't find shelter
Everyone was in a hurry
But I was being passed by

Out of luck and in despair
His kind eyes looked at me
He was in a hurry
But I was not passed by

I am the secretary in my church's young men's group. About two weeks ago, during a combined (young men and young women) youth activity, they conducted a scavenger hunt. I drove four young men that were anxious to win the activity. Being the competitive person that I am, I wanted to help them win. It started out as a normal scavenger hunt. We went to a grocery store and found the price for honey and butter. Supposedly a girl from our church dropped something (at least she was supposed to), but I didn't even see it. Then, we went to a movie theater to write down the times and prices of all of the PG movies. There was a lady there with her hood up. That was when I got a little suspicious. One of the young men recognized her, so asked her if she needed help. She said that her husband was coming. We completely skipped one store because we could answer it ourselves. Later we found that there was another lady needed help when she knocked over a display, but we weren't there because we were in a hurry to win. I noticed as we were driving back to the church a man on the side of the road changing his tire. This wasn't actually part of the activity, but still I didn't stop because I wanted these young men to win.

When we got back to the church, we were the first ones there. We had to wait about ten minutes before another group even showed up. As the leader of the activity brought in all of the people that needed help, I began to realize that we were not the winners at all. Because we were in such a hurry, passing by people who needed help we were actually losing the activity. So it is with our lives. As we get caught up in winning all of our activities--improving our employment status, succeeding in school, increasing our standard of living--we tend to pass by those in need, and by so doing we lose the true activity.