The details!

I know that God truly is in the details of our lives. Despite the universe being incomprehensibly huge and the amount of His children being unfathomably great, He still hears and answers our prayers.

As the children of Israel got ready to depart Mount Sinai and start the journey for the promised land, the Lord had Moses organize them into their respective tribes and set up camps. Further instructions were given to the Levites who were to be stationed in the middle of the camp with the tabernacle that was meant to be at the center. They were told where to set up their camps, relative to the tabernacle, who was to be in charge, and what their duty was with the tabernacle. In our wonderful visit with Elder Lund he mentioned that the Lord is a great director of personnel. He knows where to put His children where He needs them and when. I shared an Elder Maxwell quote:

The same God that placed that star in a precise orbit millenia before it appeared over Bethlehem in celebration of the birth of the Babe has given at least equal attention to the placement of each of us in precise human orbits so that we may, if we will, illuminate the landscape of our human lives so that our light may not only lead others, but warm them as well.

I love this quote. I think it's great. Class ended before I could give this quote the full credit it deserved. I really hoped that I would be able to discuss how this seminary class is part of their "human orbits" and that they can do great things for each other, but there just wasn't the time. So I planned to share it on Friday.

Friday came and it's a special day for Bro. Carter's seminary. We have "open sharing" where students can stand up and share their spiritual experiences, favorite scriptures and testimonies with the class. We had some group presentations to finish, so when a lull in the sharing came, I stood up to end open sharing and introduce the class presentations. I went back to sit down and enjoy the presentations, when I caught a glare from our class president. She said, "Bro. Carter! There were more people that needed to share." I asked who and she pointed to a couple of people who did not get up to share, nor looked anxious to share. I knew that there would be enough time after the presentations to do some more sharing and hoped that they would share then. The presentations were great! I stood to elaborate on a couple of the stories that they shared. Then, nothing else came to mind--we still had 5 or 6 minutes, so I said, "We can use the rest of the time for open sharing."

A young girl quickly stood up and shared a scripture from Esther, when Mordecai hints that Esther's placement and timing might be God's work to save the Jews. "Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" She said that this scripture made her think of the Elder Maxwell quote (above). Then she said, "I want to bear testimony that God answers prayers, because today He answered mine!" I was intrigued and listened more intently. "I read this scripture and reread the quote last night and really wanted to share it today. But when time ran out, I thought I had missed my chance. I prayed, 'Heavenly Father if You want me to share this scripture I know that You will prepare a way. I really would like to share it, but only if it's what You want.'" Tears welled up in her eyes. She then began to bear her testimony about how she knew that we were all in this class together for a reason and that God had brought us all here. It clicked. I remembered that I had forgotten to share on that quote and principle before turning the time back to open sharing. The Lord didn't want me to share the quote, He had prepared her for it and was answering her plea. I want to share one last quote from Elder Maxwell, "God is in the details!"

Snowflakes

At the end of the Bishop Peterson quote, written in green in the previous post, I added: "Like snowflakes!" To serve as a reminder to the students of their individual and unique purpose I hung up snowflakes that they themselves made. Here they are!

He knows us all!

Sometimes it's hard to remember that He is really aware of us. I think we know that He does, but it's a tough thing to always realize=God loves us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. And there is purpose in trials. And we have a purpose. God knows it, even if we don't. But we can often lose focus amidst all we have to do and all that goes whirling and twirling about us.

In Exodus 31 the Lord instructs Moses on some individuals' purposes (at least, in part); they are to build a tabernacle and they've been given skills and talents wherewith they could accomplish that. As I was preparing I found a quote that CJ had in that chapter by a former counselor in the Presiding Bishopric. I felt that I should hand this out as a glue-in to my class. I'm glad it was more than a thought, because events would happen that could have prevented me from sharing it. First of all, this is embarrassing, but I gotta be honest, I didn't know who Bishop H. Burke Peterson was. I figured that he could have been in the Presiding Bishopric, but was worried that he was just a bishop from a local fireside. If he was a local bishop, then I probably shouldn't be sharing it as a glue-in. Then, when Thursday came along (just this past Thurs. the 6th) I forgot to bring the quote. Luckily, I have a great wife, so I called her and she read the quote to me and I typed it up to make the handout. I passed it out in 6th period, but changed the order of how I taught things in 7th. So, in 7th, I almost forgot. Near the very end of class, I saw the quotes and asked if I'd handed them out. The class said "no". As I passed this quote out and we read the first couple of lines I felt that this quote was gonna be really important to SOMEONE in here.

"One of the greatest challenges is to overcome the feeling that we are unimportant, that we are not special and unique. Do you think for a moment that Heavenly Father would have sent one of His children to this earth by accident, without the possibility of a significant work to perform?...My dear friends you are a royal generation. You were preserved to come to earth in this time for a special purpose. Not just a few of you, but all of you...Your mission is unique and distinctive for you. Please don't make another have to take your place. He or she can't do it as well as you can. If you will let Him, I testify that our Father in Heaven will walk with you through the journey of life and inspire you to know your special purpose here."

Fridays are a special day in class. We have "open sharing". This is when students come up and share spiritual experiences, scriptures and their testimony. One student stood up, the same one who found the murmuring/manna principle about God's love. She said that she was really struggling the last couple of days feeling really unimportant. She said she had felt really depressed and wondered what her purpose was. She said that the Spirit hit her so hard when we read that quote and she reread it that night and did her scripture study. Her testimony reconfirmed to me that God does know us all. He is aware of us. And that He has a great purpose for each of us. She closed her testimony saying, "The Lord walked with me last night."

Ah, Work!

It seems that there is a never-ending supply of WORK before us. So much to do. So little time to do it. Work that needs done. Work that should get done. Work, work, work. So, staying on top of it is one thing. We know that organizing and prioritizing are keys to that; namely, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Now, I don't think that I've mastered this, or come anywhere close to that; but I do know that that's what I should do=organize and prioritize. I don't know what work is before all of you right now, but I'll name a few potential ones: raising children (takes a lot of work doesn't it?), teaching them to sleep through the night, preparing lesson plans, getting home teaching stats, fulfilling callings in general, going to work, studying and preparing for finals, writing a thesis....the list could go on and on really. But as I think about this stuff, there might be some that I just want to finish, but there are some that I really need to get done well. They need to be good, ya know? So, how then can I not only do my work, but have my work be good?? Moses teaches us, in Exodus 40, a great principle of how incorporating the Lord in our work will make it better.

So, Moses and the children of Israel were commanded to build a tabernacle--a portable temple where the Lord could come and "dwell" with them. Barring some "cows" in the road they were able to accomplish this task; or in other words, finish the work that was given them. Chapter 40 gives a recap on what Moses did according to his command. In verses 16, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, and 32 a phrase is repeated. Each one of those verses states that the work was done and adds, "as the Lord commanded Moses." Go ahead and mark those in your scriptures, it's pretty amazing to see it repeated throughout the chapter. This gives us our "If" portion of an If/then principle; so, If I do my work as the Lord commanded, then______. The blessing comes in verses 34-38. We read that as the tabernacle was finished that "a cloud covered the tent . . . and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." Further down, "For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle." The tabernacle, remember, was their work. It was what they needed to do, and do well.

So the principle comes alive from the verses, "If I do my work as the Lord commanded, then His glory will be upon it." So, whatever we have to do: finals, a thesis, getting hired: know that if we involve the Lord and do it His way instead of our way, His glory will be upon it.

So Elder Lund says. . .

Wow, has this been an intense week or what!?!? Monday, in class we got to study the bread that the children of Israel dubbed, "What is it?" or in other words=Manna. The children of Israel had just been delivered, two months into their journey which would eventually last 40 years they started murmuring about water, then about food. So the Lord provides bread from heaven and quails to nourish the children of Israel. We focused our class discussion mainly on "Relying on the Lord, without murmuring." However, near the end of class I asked for students to share something that they could take home from this lesson, and one student said, "I was looking at how they were murmuring, but still the Lord blessed them with manna and I'm just amazed at the Savior's love." We ended on that.

Then, real life came into the picture. That night I got invited to teach an institute class from such a good friend that I had no way of saying "no." It would be fine, but I had a pretty busy day that day and knew that I would not be able to prepare a whole lot. Add to that, the lurking thought of an interview with a general authority the next day. This was scary for me. "Institute? There gonna expect me to know something. There gonna want me to share all these cool Hebrew word etymologies and such, and I'm just a part-time seminary teacher." So, basically, I was really nervous and knew that I wouldn't even have a chance to prepare a lot. But, I went. I got there about an hour early. I would be covering over 20 chapters so I tried to cover as much as I could. I still felt terrible. Then, people started coming in. I started shaking hands and getting names. One was a fellow student teacher. Another was a graduate from Timpanogos High School who was in a class that I had subbed for on a few occasions. Slowly, the nerves faded. Well, to make a long story short (too late) it was one of the greatest experiences of my life! I learned so much from them and left on a huge spiritual high. I could think of nothing better to lead into my general authority visit. I was driving home and trying to think of why I was so blessed. I crammed to prepare (because I really just was short on time), and I don't even remember saying a verbal, conscious plea for help--and then, Boom! It hit me. "I'm just amazed at the Savior's love." She had nailed it, and I was amazed at His love, which was so undeservingly poured out on me and those students that night.

The next day was amazing. CJ and I got all dressed and ready for the interview. The drive up we discussed potential questions we might encounter and tried to organize our thoughts. We pull into the underground parking after getting security approval, and start walking towards the entrance of the Church Office Building. The nerves came now; but they weren't overwhelming. We got badges and made our way up to the 3rd floor of the west wing where Elder Lund's office was. He opened the door, came out and greeted us with such a warm smile--melting away the last streams of anxiety. We sat and talked for about 25 minutes about his experience in CES (he said 35 years), what led us to CES, and then some standardized church employment question. The interview had come to a close. So, then, Elder Lund says, "I'm happy to fully recommend you without any reservations."

Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward

Exodus 14 contains the account of the children of Israel's delivery from the oncoming Egyptians by way of the Red Sea. The Red Sea was the obstacle that was preventing them from getting to the promised land and receiving the blessings that the Lord had in store for them. We also meet obstacles that prevent us, challenges if you will, that are in the way of our receiving great blessings. Interesting to note that the Lord has all power. He could have easily taken away the sea; He could have flew them over the sea; He could have sent them a boat or built a bridge...With all at His hands; however, He chose to give them a way through the Red Sea.

Trust and Plagues

Moses saw the Lord and received instructions from Him at the burning bush. Mainly, that he would be God's instrument in delivering the children of Israel from bondage. All of Moses' concerns were taken care of by the Lord; i.e. he gave him Aaron to be a spokesman. On the first attempt to have Pharaoh release the children of Israel, things took a turn for the worse--Pharaoh just made the work harder for the slaves. Moses then, near the end of Ch. 5 of Exodus asks the Lord, "Wherefore hast thou so [badly treated] this people? Why is it that thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered this people at all." This young prophet was meeting some adversity pretty early on. Has that ever happened to you, when you go to do what you know the Lord asked you to do and it seems to just go wrong. Pres. Hinckley had a similar experience to Moses on his mission in wondering why he was there and what good he was doing. It's an amazing experience to read Exodus 6:1-8 and read the Lord's response (oh, and bonus points if you remember the response the Pres. Hinckley got from his dad). As you read those verses; all of which is the Lord speaking to Moses; circle the word "I". And tell me what you think the Lord wanted Moses to learn.

Two parts for today=Part two is the continuation and on into the plagues. So, Moses and Aaron turn their rod into a snake, but so do Pharaoh's magicians. Pharaoh still isn't impressed with God's power, although their snake ate all of his magicians' snakes (cool picture huh?) and still refuses to let His people go. So, on come the plagues. To introduce this in class, I asked the students if God loves His children. They said, "Yes." So, then I asked, "Well, does He love all of His children?" To which they also responded in the affirmative. Then, I asked, "Why then did he send these awful plagues on the Egyptians (I almost wrote Fijians--I must be tired)?" They gave some great answers. Looking through the story (we covered Exodus 7-10 today) you can see God's love in this story. 1-the children of Israel were protected 2- God kept trying not to have these plagues come, but Pharaoh kept hardening his heart (make sure you check the JST in the footnotes for that one). God kept giving Egypt the chance, but Pharaoh refused. We talked also of how these plagues foreshadow events prior to the Second Coming and I asked the class, "How then are we gonna be okay from all these bad things that will happen?" A popular, but very quiet girl in the back of the room (who I even have a hard time getting to read out loud to the class) mouthed something. I asked her what she said. Then she spoke up saying, "If we are close to God, then we will be protected." I was so "ploud" (if I can schnike that word) of her. It was perfect and way better than I could've put it. I wrote it up on the board and even used it for the entire next period. How true that is! If we will be covenant people and stay close to Him, He really will protect us. So, does God love His children? All of them? Does God love you? Even if "plagues" or hardships are coming your way, I testify that He does!