This chapter, to me, is all about following the Spirit. Verses 3 and 5 are among the most potent in all of scripture. "Feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do." "...the Holy Ghost ... will show unto you all things what ye should do." Doesn't get any clear...

All the other times I've read this chapter, it's been mostly about the whole baptism thing.  Now, I don't discredit the sermon given about Christ being baptised, and the necessity for our being baptized to make it to heaven... ...But this time, something else struck me. Ya know...  I love having chats with people about the Gospel.&nbs...

The beginning verses of this scripture were the ones of focus today. For the past 2 chapters (or more), the Lord has been chastising the Gentiles, should they fall into the pride cycle and not repent. The beginning 2 verses of this chapter basically says, "even though the Gentiles were bad, don't get on your high-horse, thinking you're any...

I know a lot of the posts this year have been on the spiritual topic, but, I write about the events of my life, and so I guess this is what ya get. Today was awesome. If you've read my previous posts, you'll know that today I sang in the choir, gave a talk in sacrament meeting, and taught the 15-16 year old doctrine class. It was wonderful. ...

Wow...  What a testimony of the Book of Mormon, and of the prophets who wrote it. This whole chapter is a rebuke against people who don't accept the Book of Mormon.  Reading chapters like this strengthens my testimony concerning the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.  I mean, what are the chances, if the Book of Mormon were false,...

Well....  From the first eight verses of this chapter, I could write pages.  The first verse itself is a great testament to the veracity of Jacob 4:13, which states that the Holy Ghost "speaketh the truth and lieth not". Because we all can be under the influence of the Holy Ghost (and worthy members have the opportunity to ha...

Imagine for a moment you had no idea about the atonement of Christ. Now imagine you sitting there and listening to what I have to say. And the first thing you hear are the words, "God demands perfection for salvation." Not sure about you, but for me, that creates a sort of sinking feeling inside...  I put "perfection an...

About a week ago, I began thinking I needed another project.  I really was getting to thinking about how I spend my time, and how I can better use the time I have. Nothing popped out at me, until yesterday. Yesterday, I got a call from one of the people in my ward, and he asked me if I would teach the 15-16 year olds in their gospel doctri...

In the beginning of this chapter, I didn't realize that the book to which the verses were referring was the Book of Mormon. I guess this chapter answers the question, "What is in the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon?".  The answer is quite simply found in verse 10:  "...for behold, they reveal all things from the foun...

Ya know, I sure am glad that Nephi wrote verse 22 of this chapter.  In all of scripture, this is the only chapter which uses the word "flaxen" to describe the way Satan tempts us. Flax is a fiber from a plant which is used to make linen.  Linen isn't known for its strength. Satan indeed does "lead us" with very ent...

Last spring, I modified my car - and then modified it again. The 2nd modifications entailed me re-programming (or flashing, or tuning) my car's computer.  One thing I didn't realize at the time was that evidently, a standard protocol for most tuners out there is to turn off the O2 sensors which monitor emissions after the catalytic converter...

So, these chapters are pretty small, but for some reason, I think there's quite a significance in this one.  Not quite sure if I've found it yet, but the reason I think this, is - originally, this text was not included in the scripture - and it is Christ talking himself.  I wonder why Moroni felt the need, or was inspired to include it?&n...

I've been watching "So You Think You Can Dance" now for about 3 years.  For me, I think it's better than American Idol.  These young people are .... amazing. Well, a couple of weeks ago, there was a dance done which had the theme of "addiction".  It was done by Mia Michaels and the two dancers who danced were fa...

I am by no means a "versatile programmer" in the general sense of the word.  I know of many programmers who are much more well versed in various languages and best practices methodology.  In fact, I am not even a computer science graduate, and I don't have a masters degree in anything. *BUT* I do have a lot of experience i...

When I'm not listening to music, I love listening to a few AM talk radio programs.  Well, about six months ago, one of my favorite radio stations, KNRS 570 AM radio, changed their streaming program that let people use the Internet to hear their content. This change effectively shut-out all Linux users.  I chatted with 4 other Linux use...

Well.. Yesterday, I was running on what I thought would be a low tank of sleep, but I didn't really ever get tired. I ended up having a fairly full day, spending most of the afternoon with Steve, and then practicing with Plan B from 7:30 until 10pm. Man, what a blast that is. I love playing with them. I love music.  Anyway, I arrived ho...

I chose "Amazed" as the mood for this entry because it just fits.  I had no idea what would be involved with getting this studio build ready to go, but it seems as though it's all coming together. We've got a truckload of materials coming on Monday of next week, and I have the entire week off to begin the build. Hopefully I remem...

I decided to document Friday's happenings of the 2008 Ed Roth (Rat Fink) Memorial Reunion because they were a bit funner than Thursday's.  So.... Here's your boring report of Thursday.  hehe...  It was fun playing, but to me, it was more like a practice session for what was to come Friday and Saturday. The video pretty much sums it...

Okay...  We just got back from a little trip up to Ryan's house so he could sign us up for a loan that'll make it so we can make quite a bit of money saving up for life insurance (too much info for one paragraph to sustain, so.. we'll leave it at that) Anyway, on our way home, it began to snow, and snow quite a bit harder than I've ever see...

Well... Today was the big day at church with the blessing of the newest addition to the Jones family, Samuel Jones. The blessing went well, even if I did botch the proclamation of the power by which the blessing was given.  I'm glad God is a forgiving God. The spirit of the meeting was wonderful, and it testified quite powerfully of one sp...

Ya know... I think these chapters are meant to teach us how frail the hearts of men are.  Okay... Here's a good question..  How long did it take the Nephites to go from "seeing the sign of the birth of Jesus Christ" (this is *Christ* we're talking about here.  *The Messiah*.  How long did it take them from seeing that ...

We had the awesome opportunity to work, once again, with Herod The Fink last weekend, and ended our session with some serious improvements to some songs we had already recorded. We totally re-invented the introduction to Desperate Husband's Chorus, which now is sure to give a healthy round of grins to all that hear it.  We also put a pretty ...

I'm not in the mood to write much, but since it's a goal, I'll keep it. One thing I noticed and had a question about was why Nephi, Sariah, and Sam didn't know where to go in Lehi's dream.  Verse 14 lays it out quite plainly. The first thing that came to mind was Lehi was the leader of the family.  He was the director and it was his d...

With all that I've noticed about making covenants this time around, I can't help but notice that this chapter has some very interesting words. I really do wonder where the line is with covenants we make.  In the days of the Book of Mormon, people would rather die than lie or break a covenant.  This is made abundantly clear with the eali...

Wow...  What a day. We woke up in Winemucca after getting next to no sleep, and headed on down to Durham to visit Kim, Henry, and all the rest of the family.  We were going there to celebrate Juliia's graduation from highschool.  Good times.  Congratulations, Julia!  You rock! So, the 5-hour trip to Durham was relativel...

The MOST ridiculous trial bike video I've ever seen. More than half of what this guy does shouldn't be possible. A-freaking-mazing. http://www.flixxy.com/inspired-bicycles.htm...

Wow...  Moroni doesn't mix words, does he...  Reading this through as much of an objective filter as possible, I'd say there's some serious judgements going on.  Moroni blatantly calls Ammoron a "child of hell", and tells him that his brother went to hell.  heh...  Pretty gutsy, if ya ask me.  Going off of wh...

Beginning this chapter, another testament to the correlation between peace and keeping God's commandments is apparent.  Giving "strict" heed to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel undoubtedly brings peace. Now, on a totally different note, I wonder where Korihor came from?  It just says that he came into the land.  Was ...

I'm so glad that the vacations for the Jones family for 2007 are OVER! Holy cow, I'm quite done with driving in a car with two kids who love screaming.  Anyway... Yesterday, we woke up, got some quick breakfast, and then got in the car to head out to see 3 people take on the LOTOJA bike race (I assume LOTOJA means "LOgan TO JAckson&...

 So, before I even begin reading this chapter, I've gotta say that this is one of those chapters which is seriously deep in doctrine.  I could probably spend the better portion of 2 or 3 days studying this one.  That said, I don't have much time to spend now, so I'll get as far as I can. Verse 1 : An "exceedingly high mountai...