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Contention and the spirit of contention
The best period of Nephite history, hands-down, is the few hundred years after Christ visited them. Mormon records this idyllic point in their history in 4 Nephi, saying:
There were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of...
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Heaven and Hevel
My first son kid was born during a very busy time in our lives. I was working full-time, going to college full-time, and serving as a counselor in a branch presidency. It was a rough time of early mornings and late nights. Sometimes, I didn't see my baby boy awake for several days at a time. For his first birthday, my wife created a video of the moments she had...
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The last calling we receive
Three weeks ago, my wife and I got a phone call. Hope, my 57-year-old mother-in-law, had run out of options for chemotherapy and was starting in-home hospice. Doctors estimated she had some weeks left. Hope wanted to hug her grandchildren again while she could, so we loaded the kids in the car and started the 8-hour journey to North Carolina.
2 hours away from my in-laws' house, we received another...
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I can't bear it (and that's okay)
A few months ago, I watched the movie Unplanned, the true story of Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson's conversion to pro-life. She had spent her entire career working on the administrative side of things, but when they were short-staffed one day, she was asked to assist the doctor in the procedure room. That's when Abby finally confronted the gruesome reality of abortion.
That moment broke Abby. And it...
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Great shall be the peace of thy children
A little while before the birth of our first kid, a wise ward member gave me some counsel I will never forget. He said that when a first child is born, there are actually three people born that day: the child is born into mortality, the woman is born into motherhood, and the man is born into fatherhood. The whole family takes a huge collective step forward in their roles....
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To which we owe all our happiness
In a previous post, I talk about how one's word was paramount to the Nephites, using the battle of Moroni v Zerahemnah in Alma 44 as an example. This posts also covers a lesson I've picked up from that battle.