Road Trippin!

One of the things I really enjoy is travelling. I do a lot of it for work, but that is not the travel I am talking about. That travel gets lonely as I spend a lot of time away from my family. However, there are times when even time away from my family is mitigated by the fact that I am leaving the sub-zero Iowa weather and heading to much more temperate climates, but I digress. I am talking about leisure travel, particularly with my family. 

I have had the opportunity to take Clara on some trips with me for work which has sent us to destinations around the world. We have been to a couple of tropical destinations, but our favorite was a trip to Europe two years ago. On this trip, we visited Prague, Rome, London, and Scotland. My work took us to Prague and we extended to the other destinations afterward. Clara tells me I am “type A.” and if it is true, I believe it comes in handy while traveling. Because of my control issues, I like to plan, and for this trip, plan we did. I can honestly say, and Clara would agree, that this was a dream trip, particularly the United Kingdom portion of it. We are repeating it next year with her parents.

Travel is obviously fun when it is just the two of us, but we also really enjoy travelling with our kids. I am not talking about loading them on a plane and flying them off to some magical destination. No, I am talking about a good old fashion road trip! We have made wonderful memories over the past several years as we have driven across the central and western part of the United States. We have been to Yellowstone National Park, Glacier National Park, the Grand Canyon, and Lake Powell. On each of these trips, we have a plan on where we want to end up at the end of each day, but it is a time to let loose and see what comes our way. This has allowed to see a campground outside of Mt. Rushmore that looks like home from the Flintstones, the worlds largest drug store in Wall, South Dakota, and a random Native American gift shop so we could eat fry bread tacos. I can’t forget staying the night in Roswell, New Mexico, sans alien encounter.

Sometimes things don’t always go as planned and we get sidetracked and roll into our hotel a lot later than expected, or after 14 hours in a car, someone throws up. That being said, we look back fondly on our road trips and look forward to the next one. One of these days, I might stop being cheap and actually fly my whole family to the island destination Clara and I have been fortunate to enjoy…someday.

-John

Feeling Grateful

I gave a talk in church yesterday. The topic I spoke on was the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As I studied this topic, I became very aware of the love our Heavenly Father has for all of us. To give "His only begotten Son" to atone for our sins. I am grateful not only for Heavenly Father's love for us, but the Savior's love for us as well. After all, it was He alone who could bring to past the atonement. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland explains why.

This infinite Atonement of Christ was possible because (1) He was the only sinless man ever to live on this earth and therefore was not subject to the spiritual death resulting from sin, (2) He was the Only Begotten of the Father and therefore possessed the attributes of godhood that gave Him power over physical death, and (3) He was apparently the only one sufficiently humble and willing in the premortal council to be foreordained to that service.

As I further studied this topic, I was led to the topic of repentance. I think we oftentimes don’t talk about the repentance process deep enough when we relate it to the Savior’s atonement. Sure, we know we need to repent to be cleanse of our sins, but do we understand the need of our own suffering during this repentance process? Elder Dallin H. Oaks talks about the need for our personal suffering.

Why is it necessary for us to suffer on the way to repentance for serious transgressions? We tend to think of the results of repentance as simply cleansing us from sin, but that is an incomplete view of the matter. A person who sins is like a tree that bends easily in the wind. On a windy and rainy day, the tree bends so deeply against the ground that the leaves become soiled with mud, like sin. If we focus only on cleaning the leaves, the weakness in the tree that allowed it to bend and soil its leaves may remain. Similarly, a person who is merely sorry to be soiled by sin will sin again in the next high wind. The susceptibility to repetition continues until the tree has been strengthened.

When a person has gone through the process that results in what the scriptures call “a broken heart and a contrite spirit,” the Savior does more than cleanse that person from sin. He gives him or her new strength. That strengthening is essential for us to realize the purpose of the cleansing, which is to return to our Heavenly Father. To be admitted to His presence, we must be more than clean. We must also be changed from a morally weak person who has sinned into a strong person with the spiritual stature to dwell in the presence of God. We must, as the scripture says, become “a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord” (Mosiah 3:19). This is what the scripture means in its explanation that a person who has repented of his sins will forsake them. Forsaking sins is more than resolving not to repeat them. Forsaking involves a fundamental change in the individual.

This caused me to look back at the times I have gone through the process of repentance. It was during those times where I felt the suffering from decisions that I made and was able to truly lean on the Savior, pleading for His help to change me.

So, I am grateful. I am grateful for Heavenly Father, who in His infinite wisdom had a plan for us to be able to return to Him. I am grateful for our Savior, who was the only one who could carry out the atonement and volunteered to do so. Finally, I am grateful for my own suffering. This has given me greater appreciation for Christ’s suffering and has allowed me to become stronger and even changed.

-John