From 14-0 to 14-1

Tiger Woods had something of an incredible streak going. 14 times he had led a major championship going into the final round. 14 times he had closed the deal and won. This last weekend was the final major of the year, and Tiger built up a 2 stroke lead over the rest of the field going into the final round. I literally chalked up his major count to 15, forgot about the fact that there was a major going on, and went on with the rest of my life. Then Sunday, as I was writing emails and getting in touch with people, I saw someone's status on Facebook mention something about Tiger losing. I didn't believe it, my mom taught me you can't believe everything you read on the internet, so I went to the source of all sporting truth, ESPN.com to confirm the fallacy of my friend's status.

The cover page picture was of some Asian dude holding the Wanamaker trophy. I checked my watch to make sure it wasn't April fools, and then saw my world spin into a mass of confusion. Tiger Woods... blowing a two-shot lead on Sunday?!?!?!?! My world was upside down. It was like the day I found out Santa Claus isn't real. (Sorry if I blew that for any of you). Horrible feeling.

I know Tiger is human, but he is such an extraordinary golfer. We have never seen the likes of him. Part of his success is that he has his competitors wondering if he was in fact human on the golf course. He still has 14 major titles. He has still won nearly 50% of the tournaments he has entered this year. He just had surgery and is the leading the money list of 2009. If past disappointments in his career are any measure, he will bounce back, start a new streak and move on. But he has never had a disappointment like this, so no matter how confident I am that he will bounce back... there's this small doubt that says things won't be the same.

Thankfully, when it comes to something that is actually important, we have Someone who we can look up to that won't ever leave us feeling the way Tiger left me feeling this past Sunday. We have Someone who is the same "yesterday, today and forever." Someone whose word will always be fulfilled. I thought I knew Tiger; maybe I did. Maybe he just had a bad day. He did have a bad day. But that's not good enough when it comes to making the type of sacrifices that God is asking us to make. If God were to have a bad day, in that moment when I needed Him - it would be a lot worse than looking at my Tiger pictures feeling like maybe I should replace them with Roger Federrer pics. But God doesn't have bad days. He is steady. He is constant. He is Someone whom I can put my full trust in. Someone whom I know will support me in just the right way as to help me to become more like Him.

Lights out!!!

Last night I had quite the unique experience. Quinn and I decided to go to the Los Angeles Temple to do an endowment session. We arrived 10 minutes before the 6:30 session began, and somehow were able to change clothes in time to avoid waiting an hour for the 7:30 session. Our quick dressing abilities would prove to be essential in helping us to have the marvelous experience that we had.

Much of the things that happen in the many temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are kept secret. Many people speculate upon the reasons why. The reason is simply this: the temple is a sacred place, the House of the Lord. It is a place where to enter we must maintain certain standards which separate us from the rest of the world. It is a place where once we enter we shed the clothes that we entered in for white clothing. It is a place where we essentially leave the world behind to enter a holier sphere. Our secretiveness about the temple helps us to maintain the temple as a unique place, a sacred place. As such, the details of my experience can only be shared if you want to take a trip to the temple with me; as for this post, I will only give a vague description of the happenings, and a little principle that I had reinforced as I reflected upon my experience.

The temple is a place of repetition, but where even amidst repetition, new principles are learned. I was sitting in the endowment session, listening and thinking about the covenants that are made in the temple, when all of a sudden, the lights went out. The darkness only lasted a moment as the emergency lights came on. Even with the emergency lights on, the room I was in was still dark, but you could still see some light creeping in under the doors from the hallway. My first thought was the circuit to the room was overloaded. We were quickly moved to another room, which had half of it's lights on. We resumed the session, whereupon the whir of electricity once again left us sitting in the dark. For some reason there was enough electricity to hear what we needed to, but that was it. No emergency lights, and no power to anything else.

After learning in the dark for a few moments, the temple president, and a few other workers entered brandishing flashlights. Their attitude was one "The work must go on." Although finished the ordinances required a bit of improv, the work was done, and the 30 or so people that we were representing had the opportunity to accept the ordinance we performed on their behalf.

The experience had me thinking much about a scripture which I have recently committed to memory:

For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.

2nd Nephi 25:23

Within this scripture lies one of the powerful if... then... statements of the Book of Mormon. Such a promise has brought me so much peace in my life, as the experience of trying my hardest and coming up short of my goals is a familiar one. Each time it happens, I find comfort in knowing that if my best effort was truly put forth, the grace of Christ can make up the difference; through His sacrifice my efforts become enough, and they are accepted of God.

As I went through the temple in the dark, I couldn't help but think of how easy it would have been for all the workers and the temple President to have just said "What are we to do? Without electricity we can't lift this, we can't see that... We tried, it wasn't within our power. Better luck next time." Instead, they recognized the importance of the if clause of the promise and went about fulfilling their part. As they did so, God provided the necessary small miracles which allowed the work to go forth. In the future, when it comes time to ask myself if I have truly done all that I can do, I will look back fondly on the temple workers of last night, and give that question a little more thought.

Playground adventures

Last weekend I got to go to San Francisco with Quinn to visit my sister. The deal was that her and Jeff would buy Quinn and I tickets to the A's baseball game if we would babysit Sophie on Saturday night. For me, the trip to SF wouldn't have been complete without a night out with my niece. As for Quinn, he was going to be able to talk with Sister Dawson for mother's day, so regardless of the other things that were done on the trip, it was going to be a good trip for him.

Saturday night came along, and we decided to take Sophie to the park to play. Jeff gave us directions, we grabbed a kickball, a whiffle ball and the stroller and set out. We figured that the park would have a playground, but we apparently parked on the wrong side of the park, and all we saw was a field filled with high school kids dressed up for prom. We thought that would be a great place to play soccer with Sophie and so we set up shop. After seeing Sophie chase the ball around for awhile, I finally caught a glimpse of a slide, and so we starting making our way over to the playground.

After playing on the swing, the slide, and some silly game with a dime; Sophie ran over to those little springy toys. Realizing that description helps no one, I have attached a picture of what I consider to be a springy toy. Sophie somehow managed to get herself on the thing, whereupon she made her little grunting sound and pointed to the other one, located right in front of the one she was riding. Knowing that is her way of saying, "get on the springy toy Andy"; I quickly obliged.

Although the toy was somewhat uncomfortable to sit on, I found that being 165 pounds makes for a lot more exciting ride. If I threw my weight around I could literally bend the horse (I sadly did not have the opportunity to ride a locomotive) to the ground, both forwards and backwards. I was thoroughly enjoying myself, when I took a glance over at Sophie, who was holding on to the handle bars with her head thrown back, trying as hard as she could to mimic me. After throwing her head back, she would lean forward, and the little horse would give little ground to her weight. It was ridiculously cute, and I wish I somehow had better command of the English language to paint a better picture so you could get an idea of how adorable the scene was. But alas, I will rely more on your imagination than on my writing skills.

I love replaying that scene in my head, because just thinking of it makes me smile. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought about how amazing it is that Sophie was following my actions. I wasn't trying to get her to do it; I was actually lost in my little reality of being a rodeo star, and before I even realized it, she was copying what I was doing.

Examples can make a huge impact in our lives. I find it is easier to live up to my standards when I see other people living their own. I find it easier to study harder if those around me hit the books hard. If that's the case for me, then I am sure that if I can somehow learn to follow the admonition of Christ to be separate, and build my foundation upon Him, I will in some ways make living right easier for those around me. Then hopefully one day, as I am riding my springy horse, I will take a peek over at one of my friends and see them embracing the Gospel as I have tried to do.

Today is the day of miracles

I had to wake up at 6:30 this morning; a Sunday morning mind you. Those who know me well, know that isn't early. I thought I would try and elicit sympathy from those who don't know me well.

There are certain events that regardless of what time I have to rise from bed, I will do so with a smile on my face. Golf is one of those such occasions. Playing with Sophie would be another... unless she's poopy. Then I would wake up at any time after Tammy changes her. Priesthood meetings are another, and that is the reason I arose early this morning.

I left the house with plenty of time to get to the church and relax before the meeting started. However, when I turned my car on, I couldn't shift it out of park. Regardless of what I did, the car would not cooperate. I have had that happen before, and tried all the tricks that worked in the past. Nothing. I said a quick prayer. Nothing immediate. I called my mom. She told me to try the tricks I had already tried. She then said she would help me get in touch with my pops. We hung up and I had the distinct impression to lift upward on the brake pedal and then try again. I followed the impression. I ended up making it to priesthood before the first speaker had started.

No mountains were moved, no angels were seen, no voice was heard. But I know that I saw the hand of the Lord in my life this morning. Such events happen daily in my life. Recognizing them is something that helps me remember that the Lord is on my side, and that He cares enough to be a part of my life. Without a doubt, if you too have sought help from your Maker, if you look with spiritual eyes, you will notice the miracles that have happened in yours.

A little experiment

Below I have posted one of my favorite quotes. As you read it, pay attention to how you feel. Read it a few times and ponder it for a moment, being sure to stay focused on listening to your heart.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Marianne Williamson

If you had to describe what you felt, I would imagine words like love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, warmth, or hope come to mind. Such feelings are bound to fill our hearts when we are engaged in good works; other activities are bound to cast them out. The key to a happy life would be to learn to do that which invites such feelings, and to avoid the things that drive them away.

Almost sounds too simple to be true. Try it for the next two weeks. You'll find that through small and simple means, great things can come to pass in your life.

Since I'm without a valentine...

On my couch the past two nights has been sleeping one of my good friends. In my dictionary I define good friends as someone who helps you to reach your full potential: I have realized that my life has been full of such people.

I started my life being born into a household of friends. Friends who fed me, cleaned my diapers, and helped my learn the fundamentals of life. They taught me how to make more friends. They taught me everything I have ever needed to know to be happy. They have always been there and will continue to be there for me.

I then began making friends who weren't obligation to love me. Friends who helped me learn to share. I had friends who showed me what it meant to develop talents, by outworking me. Because of them, I tried to do the same. I have friends who showed me what it meant to be a friend, when they would stand by me, when I didn't deserve it. Friends who turned the other cheek as I failed at trying to do the same for them. I have friends who I saw stand up for their beliefs, their standards when it would have been easy to cave. They made it easier for me to do the same. I had friends who helped me decide to go on a mission, because they never wavered in their desire to go. How could I not dedicate two years, when they who had so much more to lose were so steadfast in their decision?

And most importantly, I have a Friend who came into this life, born in a manger. He lived a perfect life, and He was mocked, spit upon, lashed, and eventually crucified. A Friend who bore the weight of all my sins; who gave a sacrifice so great, that if I become a better Friend to Him, He will help me become like Him.

Stake Conference

Stake Conference only comes around twice a year. I can not help but think that that's not enough. The messages that were shared were inspired, and the Spirit that I felt was just what I needed to keep plugging along. One of the themes that stood out to me reminded me of Elder Oaks' talk, The Challenge to Become.

I was reminded of the fact that we are not on this earth to complete some sort of checklist; we are here to become something more. It is not enough to do a good deed daily, we must become charitable. It is not enough to have faith, we must become faithful. It is not enough to know Christ's teachings, we must become like Him.

As I sat listening to the speakers, I couldn't help but wonder what it is I'm becoming...