Heart like a lion

What a message. Click here if you want the lyrics.
The takeaway message that I can see in this is get up! Get up and change! Sometimes when we do something we know to be wrong we feel like there is no turning back. That we can't change and repent for knowingly "kicking against the pricks" and disobeying God. But we can! We can change where we're headed and have a change of heart. So i learned something pretty cool in this talk that I read. Because the Bible was originally written in Hebrew and then was translated into other languages, the word that was used for "repentance" was "shub". The Hebrew word "shub" translates to "to turn from". The message of the Old Testament is to "shub", or to turn from sin and back to our loving Father in Heaven- to leave unhappiness, sorrow, regret, and despair behind and turn back to our Father's family. There we can find true happiness, joy and acceptance among his other children.

Then, in the New Testament (which was written in Greek), the writers used the Greek word "metanoeo" to describe "repentance". And "metanoeo" means a change of mind, thought, or thinking so powerful that it changes one's very way of life. This is very interesting to me because I had always had this dreaded feeling about repentance. That it was so painful and it was just going to hurt more. I think I had that perception because of what happened when the Bible was translated into Latin. When they did this, the word "metanoeo" was translated into the Latin word "poenitere". And that word means "to punish, penance, penitent," and finally repentance! So the meaning of the word from turning away from, changed to a "Latin meaning that involved hurting, punishing, whipping, cutting, mutilating, disfiguring, starving, or even torturing!" Its no wonder that it seems so scary for us to repent!
So now that we know what repentance is not, lets get out and do what it is, and what this song is telling us to. Because our lives are not a practice run. We live once on this earth, so we need to act now. Because life is very precious. You never know when something is going to happen, or when you're gonna be leaving. To quote Rebelution "You better get up, You better get out, You better get up and turn your life around, You only live once, You better act now, cause you never know when It's gonna come back around".

What happens when we die?

In Fear and Faith

This a prob the biggest and most debated topic of any religion. And I hope to be able to help you see this clearly. When our spirits are separated from our bodies (physical death) where do our spirits go? Because we are made up of body and spirit right? So our bodies are laid to rest in the ground. Our spirits return to the "Spirit World" where we are to wait until our resurrection and judgment.

The Spirit World is made up of two sections, "Paradise" and "Prison". Paradise is a place where those who have been and done the things that they were supposed to while in this moral existance. Here they rest from, as the scriptures say, "from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow". Those in the other part of the Spirit World have a chance to repent. In prison is where those who have once rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or have not had the opportunity to hear it get that chance. Peter talks about this in his epistle. He says "Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."(1 Peter 4:5-6) 

The one who unlocked the door to let us in

These places are only a pit stop for us though. We wait here until we are Resurrected and Judged. Until all that God has for us is accomplished.

We have a loving Heavenly Father, and His plan is perfect. He knows our hearts and our intents. John 3:16, He wants us to live with Him forever in His kingdom. And we all have that opportunity if we will but yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and do what is required of us.

Here is a quote from a song from the band In Fear and Faith, "In this life there's only wrong and right,
So don't forget you have a choice!"

Father's Day Poem

Here we go,

 When I leave this earth, I want it to be known
About the man who raised me, & got me all grown
Who taught me how to be a man, to work hard and be good
The man who set an example, and did the things that I should
Who never gave up trying, through life's sore trials
A man who followed Christ, in what seemed like desolate miles
Miles of pain, of loss and death
He was by his daughter's side when she took her last breath

A man whose life, is illuminated by hope
His heart tied to my Mom's, with Love's unfrayable rope
Sealed for eternity, to not so perfect kids
I hope to be one day, the kind of man he is
And raise kids of my own, in truth and soberness
My Father is a great man, this is my witness

-Brock Butler-

Alright, I just wanted to post this because I love my Dad. I know that he loves me too. I've come to realize in just the past year and a half or so that I am slowly becoming my Dad. And I hope that this process continues. Just like I said before, I hope to become the kind of man he is. Love ya Dad

Scarlet Letters

Well its been a while, and I just had an idea, so i think I'll try running with it. But I have been talking about tattoos with my companion (both of us have older brothers with them). Anyways, I was just thinking that they are a lasting reminder of the choice they made at one point in their life. And no matter where they go in life, they will have that to show. My brother has a full sleeve plus some, and getting them removed would be way very painful and way too expensive. So he wears them around always. And others can look at them and (as much as they shouldn't) judge him. He wears his own "Scarlet Letter".
Everyone will make a mistake or two in their lives. And in my case, a couple three billion, but not all of my mistakes are going to be broadcast to the world. Have you ever thought about how there is a constant stream of people, one right after another, who are being caught for things that they've done years ago. I mean just look at the news. First its Jim Tressel getting busted for being dishonest. And furthering his dishonesty with more dishonesty, and now hes trying his hardest to get out of the spotlight by "resigning". Before anything gets any worse. Before anymore damage can be done to his dishonest reputation. So he can try his best to hide from his sins, but my brother can't. But I would rather be in my brothers situation where he doesn't try and hide from his sins like a 6 year old that has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. No, my brother has faced up to his mistakes and has repented, sought forgiveness and made a determination to not repeat those mistakes. On the other hand, we have another public figure who has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar the Governator Arnold. He committed adultery and had a child with another woman. But while he was in office when all this happened, did he try and take responsibility? No, he threw dirt on top of it and hoped it would just go away. And now that he has not been honest with those who trusted him with a government position, his wife, or himself, the rest of his life will be negatively affected. The stench of his mistake will last the rest of his life. And the same goes for Jim Tressel. Although Jim may have gotten away and off much easier than he would've, he will still have to face up to those at another time.

So I guess what I'm getting around to is that we all have made mistakes. Mistakes that create feelings of guilt and shame. But the good news is that we can have those burdens lightened (Matt 11:28-30) if we will turn to the Savior. And just because we don't have to wear around a giant sign that says we screwed up, doesn't mean that we don't need to repent. And when we repent, there are steps that we take. It isn't just a "oh I'm sorry" and then just keep going out to do it again. We follow the steps that are wonderfully laid out in this blog by Elder Davis.

"For ^aGod so ^bloved the ^cworld, that he ^dgave his ^eonly begotten ^fSon, that whosoever ^gbelieveth in him should not perish, but have ^heverlasting ⁱlife." John 3:16