Be free and not entangled in sin

I can't remember how it happened but somehow when reading 2 Corinthians 5, I ended up in D&C 88.  What a cool section!  The part I was especially enjoying today was verses 86-126.  It starts : "Abide ye in the liberty wherewith ye are made free; entangle not yourselves in sin, but let your hands be clean, until the Lord comes."  Then it gives a great description of the winding up scenes of the earth and finally verse 117 starts "Therefore . . " and goes through a list of things we can do to be ready - to be free and not entangled in sin but to have clean hands until the Lord comes.
     There are many things listed a few of which include the well known verse "Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated."  I had never put that in the context that this is counsel for how to abide in liberty and not be entangled in sin and to have clean hands.  But I can see where it certainly works for that purpose!
     Some others include:
"Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom, seek learning, even by study and also by faith."
"Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing . . . "
"Cease from all your light speeches . . . from all your lustful desires, from all your pride and light mindedness. ."
"See that ye love one another; cease to be covetous. . ."
"And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity . . "
"Pray always, that ye may not faint until I come . . ."

What a great family!

Search diligently and cleave unto every good thing

So I have been reading the New Testament. 1 Corinthians 13 was today's reading.  It's the chapter about Charity.  So when I finished reading in the NT, I decided to go to the Book of Mormon and read about Charity in Moroni 7.  I love this chapter!  There are so many great things - so valuable for the world we live in today!  But before I got to the discussion about charity, I was distracted and impressed with the discussion about how to know and identify the "peaceable followers of Christ"; they are those who have "a peaceable walk with the children of men".  "By their works ye shall know them; for if their works be good, then they are good also."  (Apply that test to the "Occupy -" people who say they are nobly trying to protect the little guy and then go about raping and tearing down and . . . )  Back to Moroni - later he says in verse 19: "Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ. (emphasis added by me but this message was written with us - this day in time in mind.  He is beseeching people in a future day to do this, not the Nephites or Lamanites of his day because he added this to the record after he had gone into hiding at the end.) His warning -  "Ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil."

The other message I got distracted by (I never made it to the Charity verses) was the phrase "lay hold upon every good thing."  He uses that phrase or a part of it in 7 out of 10 verses in a row - verses 19-28.  It is through Christ and His atonement and our faith in Him  - that's the way to lay hold of every good thing.  The thing that really stuck out to me today was in verse 28.  It says  ". . . and they who have faith in him will cleave unto every good thing;"

My first question - Is it fair to say then that if I don't cleave unto every good thing I don't have faith?  Or maybe better said - don't have sufficient faith in Christ?  If so, then the solution for those times we struggle to cleave unto good things, when our works are not always so good, is to strengthen our faith in Christ.  Maybe that is stating the obvious - or maybe not.  And the next question is - how does a person increase their faith in Christ?  Ponder on that one - the answers are simple to state but require some pondering and planning and desire and determination to apply to the person who looks back at me in the mirror!

Christmas in Seattle

We spent Christmas in Seattle with Julie, Ruston and family. We had a lot of fun watching little ones experience Christmas. Julie continues to amaze me with all she does for her family and many others in her circle of friends. Her generosity is boundless. I was struggling to keep my head above water when I was in a similar situation. Ruston is also great to help with everything.

Zach, Julie and Luke

Ruston and Josh

David checking out his stocking.

I wonder what it could be?

Brooke, Zach, Josh and Luke with Julie

Grandpa using his new rear view mirror to see what's going on behind him.

David and Josh

Brooke in her "cute" pose as she calls it, Julie, Luke, Josh, Zach, and Ruston

Brooke is thrilled with her candy cane. This is the cutest pose of all - sheer delight!

Zach is trying out the Clementine. I think he decided the skin wasn't so great.

Josh and his new Jumping Bike complete with front and rear suspension.

Luke is trying the candy. He decided it was good

and in fact ended up with the candy cane in two pieces, out of its wrapper and sucking on it.

Zach

Luke

Josh with his new vacuum cleaner

This one really works - no more wasting time with a toy.

Some Missionary Pictures from Andrew

"Right before I killed it, cooked it and ate it. (Actually that's as close as I got)" 8-09

"I didn't even know it was in the background until I printed it out." 8-09

Another one!

Alligator!

Andrew in a tree at Battery Park

Elder Wallace, Elder Kidd, Elder Pack, and Elder Bjarnson

at Battery Park, Charleston, SC 8-24-09

Baptism of Jordan Wittrell 8-22-09

1st baptism - Elder Pack, TaivaughonFlores, KaivaughonFlores,

Elder Wallace, Sheral Atkinson, Bro Robinson - 8-8-09.

Elder Pack, Elder Bjarnson, Elder Kidd, Elder Wallace - July 2009

President and Sister McConkie with Andrew when he arrived in South Carolina.

This is Andrew's MTC companion, Elder Ludlow.

Here are a few pictures Andrew has sent home.

This is of course out front of the MTC.

Our Newest Grandbabies

Luke on the left and Zach on the right.

Zach and Luke - 10 days old

Zach and Luke - 1 week old squeezed into a swing together.

What's going on?  Are you eating my ear?  

Luke on the left and Zach on the right

Bath time - Luke on the left, Zach on the right.

Zach

Luke

Grandma loves this!  Zach on the left, Luke on the right.

Heading home from the hospital - Zach on the left, Luke on the right.

Okay now you guess - who is on the right?

(Answer is at the bottom)

Andrew with Zach

Are they identical?  Andrew, Julie and John checking it out.

Julie has Luke and Grandpa has Zach.

Less than 1 hour old.

Luke on the left and Zach on the right.

Julie and ? and ?

Josh, Ruston and Luke, Brooke, Zach and Julie

May 9, 2009

Our twin grandsons were born on May 8, 2009, healthy and handsome!!! Julie is amazing - she carried them for 39 weeks with no problems (40 weeks depending on which due date you go with) and delivered them pretty much the same way.   She really didn't even look like she was having twins and now she is settling in to nursing and mothering them amazingly well too. Grandma is loving this chance to help - there is a baby for Julie to hold and one for Grandma most anytime of the day. They have been really good babies so far so life is good. Brooke and Josh love them and are really glad that Dad has been home to play with them and take them places.

(Answer: Luke is on the right)

Mexico City in November 2008

I guess I should catch up and post some pictures from
our trip to Mexico City.
It was truly one of the pay back times when you get to see and meet the people who love your missionary son or daughter! I'm sorry we missed that with Bryan and Jeff.
We had a great time sight seeing and visiting amazing families and attending the Temple rededication. We saw ruins at Teotihuacan and The Templo Major, Revolutionary Square and lots of other things that only David has pictures of. (so check out his blog)


Hermana Chavaria - a great lady who fed us well. She makes cakes to sell by the slice on the street I think. So she made one for David. It was one of the best cakes I have ever eaten. She and her family were so warm and friendly. We loved visiting them!

A very tricky shoe shine guy - He was walking along trying very hard to engage David in conversation. David was trying very hard to ignore him. All of a sudden he pointed to something and said "LOOK!" While David looked he jumped in front of him and got down and started giving him a shoe shine! It was very funny except that we were late and rushing to get to the home of some people we were going to have dinner with.

A view of Revolutionary Square and a huge, very old Cathedral.

This is the Templo Major. You can see how over the years they kept expanding the temple to make it bigger and better. This is right in the middle of Mexico City
next to the Revolutionary Square.

John and David walking to the Temple of the Moon at Teotihuacan.
Pronounced Tay - o - tee -wa -can

Shelley and David in front of the Temple of the Sun at Teotihuacan.
Pronounced Tay - o - tee -wa -can