Global Positioning Systems

Everyone these days has a gps; they are so useful and handy. With today’s technology we are able to have them on our phones, but whether it is on your phone or not practically everyone has a gps.

I even have one; I use it almost everyday to get myself around because I am in a new place and my bearings all are messed up. One cool thing about a gps is it has settings you can have it take you to your destination using the route which take the: fastest time, shortest distance, avoid highways, avoid toll roads. There are a lot of settings to please the owner. I put a lot of trust into my gps.

I realized this the other day. We fully rely on the little machine that speaks to us with an Australian accent to guide us to our destination. So far the gps has not led me astray. One thing we know is that these cool little machines will never lead us astray. They will always get us to our desired destination according to the setting we put it on.

I related this to something that everyone has experienced in their life, the Spirit of God, or the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is like our internal gps, it will always guide us to our final destination, living with our families and our Father in Heaven.

Sometimes it may seem odd where our spiritual gps is taking us, but I know that wherever it guides us is for our benefit. If it takes us somewhere challenging it is for us to learn something. We may not know what and we may not figure it out for a while like a couple of years, but it will be for our own good.

We all need to rely on our internal gps everyday, we have to see what turns it needs us to make everyday. I know that as we follow the turns we will come closer to our Savior Jesus Christ and our Loving Father in Heaven.

 

Gators

So pretend you're in Africa on a safari. You're in a Jeep cruising the terrain to go see the awesome wildlife and take some pictures. Your safari guide takes you to a watering hole because animals are almost always there. Some antelope are dehydrated from a long days work of living in Africa so they take a break to get some water. Little did they know that a crocodile was waiting and waiting for an unsuspecting victim to come get a drink. The antelope couldn't see the monster in the murky water then... SNAP!!! The antelope was being thrown around like a rag doll and getting dragged into the deep. The poor dehydrated antelope is helpless now as he gets dragged into the dark abyss.

Crocodiles are sneaky, sly, patient, dinosaur-like creatures, and they are pro at what they do. They are huge, powerful and extremely quick. Crocodiles sit in a body of water until an unsuspecting victim comes to take a drink then they go in for the kill.

We always need to be careful when we are in Africa on safari's but we need to be always watching out for the spiritual crocodiles in our everyday life. They are all around waiting and waiting to go in for the kill. Unlike the crocodiles in Africa who are only at watering holes spiritual crocodiles are everywhere. They are always ready and waiting for the kill.

We need to conscious of them, watch out at all times, and avoid them at all costs because they will kill us spiritually.

Watch this video, Boyd K. Packer gave me the idea for this post from this video, watch it and see how dangerous crocodiles are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RenFaLim-vo

Line Upon Line

Building muscle takes time. If you go to the gym on Monday you are not going to wake up Tuesday morning looking like Brad Pitt. It takes time and a lot of work. You have to go to the gym everyday and work hard to get a body like a truck. As you go to the gym everyday your muscles will slowly get stronger and stronger, and your body will slowly start to look like a truck.

The process of building muscles reminded me of a scripture in the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 28:30, which says "I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little," building muscle comes here a little and there a little.

I really like this scripture because it is how I gained my testimony. It came line upon line precept upon precept(precept is another word for commandment). It came as I consistently read my scriptures and prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true.

It came as I put scriptures to the test, and found out they were true. It added another line upon my testimony. One specifically was Ether 12:27 which basically says if men come unto me and humble themselves before me, I will make their weaknesses their strengths. I did that and some of my weaknesses became great strengths.

It also came as I put the commandments to the test. Like Tithing, when I started paying tithing at first I was like I need this money to help pay off some debts. But I paid it anyways and the blessings came shortly thereafter. I was able to find another job and got a raise to help me pay off what I had too. Now I am scared not to pay tithing because I know the Lord will provide a way.

I love these scriptures and I know them to be true and I also know that my testimony continues to grow everyday. I also know that your testimony will grow line upon line as you follow the commandments and seek to strengthen your testimony.

Spiritual Exercise

What I am about to say might surprise you but it is true. When you eat right and exercise you feel better than when you sit around and eat junk food or chickdoubles. Recently I have been trying to eat healthier and exercise more. Yesterday I did a terrible job, I didn't eat anything healthy, all I had was like pizza and stuff like that and I didn't exercise at all. All day I felt lousy, I was tired and didn't feel like myself, I didn't like it.

Today I did a lot better. I exercised this morning, probably a little to much. I'll probably be feeling it tomorrow but oh well. I have also eaten quite healthy today, oatmeal, a healthy sandwiches, fruit, and a lot of water.

I was talking with my companion and I realized how great we were feeling today and how cruddy we were feeling yesterday. We know it is because of the extreme differences in our diet and exercise plan. Then we decided that we were going to eat right and exercise so we don't feel like crap again.

I then realized that the same goes for our spiritual body. When we don't exercise our spiritual body by reading the scriptures, praying, going to church and serving others we feel spiritually fat. But when we do exercise it and feed it healthy foods there is a huge difference and we feel happier and we are just in a better mood, it's a really weird thing I know.

You need to be diligent in eating right and exercising spiritually because you will become spiritually obese quickly and you won't even notice it. It will start with a thought like I can say a pray later I'm tired and I want to go to bed or, I can read my scriptures tomorrow I don't have enough time right now. You have to be careful of these thoughts because before you know it you won't have read your scriptures for a couple of weeks and you won't even remember when the last time was that you prayed.

You won't have even realized but you will have become spiritually fat. It will be possible to loose all that spiritual waste but it can be done, through the repentance process. But it would just be easier not to get spiritually obese in the first place.

So we need to stay in shape spiritually because then it will be more fun and easier to endure to the end!