Well I Did It Isn't That Enough?

As a young boy, I learned a very important lesson that has impacted my life a great deal. I learned that "it's not enough to just do something, you must do it right the first time." My dad told me this many times growing up. This principle was illustrated to me by the trips my dad and I would take during my summers growing up. When we would go bug collecting we would pack a few things; a white sheet, a generator, and light bulbs. We would then go to our predetermined canyon and find an isolated place. Once we were at our destination, we would string the sheet between two trees and hook up the lights. We used two different types of lights, multi-vapor lights and black lights. Depending on what type of moth we were trying to catch, determined what lights or watts were needed to pull them in. After setting everything up, the real work would begin. We would have to keep checking the sheet at different times to see if anything new was on it. My dad would check it about every two or three hours. More times then not there would be something new on the sheet. This may seem like a lot of work to do for some moths, but I learned a great lesson in doing this. I learned that if something is worth it to you, then you must do everything you can to get it. It's not enough to pack up all the gear and not go out. Just like it's not enough to pack up all the gear, go out, and not set it up. We must put everything we have into it.

It is the same as we grow in our own lives. We need to decide how bad we want to come close to Christ. We need to decide if we will be like the man in Matthew Chapter 19, where a rich man came to Christ and asked how to receive eternal life (Matt 19:16). Christ tells him to "keep the commandments". And the man replied I have since my youth. Then Christ extended this invitation. "Then sell all thou hast...and come follow me." (Matt 19:21). At that time the man went away sorrowful. (Matt19:22) What type of man will we be? We must make the choice today. We can not follow Christ only 50%, or even only 90% of the way; we must go all the way. As a missionary, I have seen many people that will meet with us and even pray. However, they are not willing to read continually or go to church. We must be willing to give all of ourselves to know God better and to strengthen our testimonies. Which in turn answer some of the bigger questions such as; is God really there, does He love me, is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints the church of God today, does the priesthood have authority from God to act in His name, and is it lead by a prophet of God today? If we want to know these things, we must be willing to do all that we can. Think about it, when Christ was paying for your sins in the Garden of Gethsemane, did he say, "oh wait, the game is on today I can't do it," Or "sorry everyone, it is cutting in to my free time, maybe later." He has given you everything and wants you to be more happy in this life and to be closer to Him. All He asks is for you to pray two times a day (morning and night), read at least 5-10 minutes a day, and to go to church weekly. Can't we give Him our all? For without Him we would be eternally lost! Let us give Him just a little of our time.

The Chase of a Life

There it is!! Run!! Jumping over sage brush, Oh there its goes to the left! Look out here it comes to the left of you!!! swing you got it!!!

This is some of the conversations that would happen to me when I was growing up when I would go on bug collecting tips with my dad. I bet when you think of bug catching you think of a little kid or girl skipping though the woods. This is far from what it really is. you’re running jumping, falling and getting cuts.

One of the bugs I loves to collect are day flying moths, called Hemileuca.  The reason I love to collect them is because they are a day flying moth. Which means they have a little more strength and agility then the normal butterfly, so the chase for them is more rewarding intense. These Moths would take me on a course of jumping over sage brush, leaping over ditches and ending up anywhere and everywhere. As I remember these chases it reminds me the chase God puts on us, the chase for a testimony.

This chase is never easy, but is always worth it in the end. As Christ says in Matt 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you;seek, and ye shall find;knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

three things, and all action words. Just as we seek in the 

scriptures and study them it’s never just read once and we’re done. But continually feasting on them, then we shall find. Asking is prayer. It is a scary thing for some people to ask God for something. But as we see in the scripture James 1:5 and in Moroni 10:3-5, we are told time and time again to ask him. Also we must knock. This is where it really turns to action. We must go to church, we must meet with missionaries, we must physically get up and do. We must open the door to Christ. as we see in this picture there is not door handle door handle for Christ, we must open the door for him. We must get up from our lazy boy (the comforts of the world) and go to him. 

I had to do the same things growing up to get my testimony. I couldn’t trust my parent’s testimony anymore. I needed to know for myself. So I did all the same steps, prayer, study the scriptures, and going to church. I did this course for 3-5 months. Finally it hit me as I was mowing a lawn, It’s true and you know it. When that thought came to me a warm peaceful happy feeling came over me. These feelings were the same fruits of the spirit which are talked about in Galatians 5: 22-23.

The road is often times long, the battle is hard. But when you catch that testimony it is always worth it. This testimony can change you for the rest of your life. It brings you closer to God, your relationship with him is more personal and you know he loves you. I am so thankful for this gospel and that Christ is truly at the head of it and gives modern day guidance though a prophet of God. Just like he has always done it in the bible.