Serving in the Kingdom

We all our given opportunities to serve in the Lord's Kingdom.  Some of them are visible and others are unknown to most members.  General Authorities, Stake Presidents and Bishops have highly visible callings.  Serving Sunday School or Primary callings are much less visible.  Yet the common thing about the callings is that they are both callings to serve.

A highly visible calling just means there are more people to serve.  It does not mean the person is more favored of the Lord.  Perhaps that is why women of the church are usually not the ones who complain about not having the priesthood.  They recognize that the priesthood is a call to serve, not a badge of worldly honor, glory or the ability to tell others what to do.  And women are also given the opportunity to serve.

Most General Authorities were once Stake Presidents and Bishops, however,  most former Stake Presidents and Bishops are serving as Sunday School teachers, Primary workers, Young Men leaders or other quiet callings in the ward.  The same type of callings that most of the women have in the church.

In the world we are taught the object is to move up in our position.  The higher up we move the more power, glory and money we can obtain.  In the Kingdom that is not so.  The Lord does not care what our calling is.  He only cares what we do with our calling.  And not just with our calling but with our personal life.

In the world we spend our time being judged and judging our performance compared to others.  In the Kingdom it is not so.  The Lord judges us based on our own knowledge, understanding and abilities regardless of what others do.  The Spirit instructs us on a personal level also and tolerates our errors individually.  Mistakes that would drive the Spirit away from one person will be tolerated in another.  We are only compared with our understanding and abilities and what the Lord expects of us.

My mother had a poem in her scrap book that I read many times growing up.

 

"Father, were shall I work today?"

And my love flowed warm and free.

Then he pointed out a tiny spot

And said, "Tend that for me."

I answered quickly, "Oh no not that!

Why, no one would ever see,

No matter how will my work was done.

Not that little place for me."

And the word he spoke, it was not stern;

He answered me tenderly:

"Ah, little one, search that heart of thine;

Art thou working for them or me?

Nazareth was a little place,

And so was Galilee."

—Meade MacGuire

 

Let us each do our best to serve in the Lord's Kingdom in what ever calling he has given us.

One Solution for Illegal Immigration

Throughout the history of the United States we have had groups of people immigrate, some legal and some not, who were not welcomed or were looked upon with disdain by some of those who were already here. At one time they were the Irish and at another time they were the Chinese. Now they are the Hispanics.

As we know, one of the reason the Hispanics are now a target of disdain is because many of those that come here, enter the country illegally. However, they come as the "tired," the "poor," the "huddled masses yearning to breathe free". Some may say they are just looking for a free ride or to improve themselves economically. Well who does not desire to improve their financial situation?

There is not easy solution to the illegal immigration problem. On one extreme, the throw them all out solution destroys families, causes fear, shows no compassion and is really not achievable. On the other extreme the grant them all amnesty solution has been tried before but without some type of real reform it just encourages more illegal immigration.

Can there be a solution in the middle that shows compassion to those who are here, encourages respect for the law, reduces the underground economy while helping cover the cost of those who immigrate. I think there is.

The solution lies in the system our government often uses to control things. The tax system.

Legal immigrants are inclined to become part of the system and work within the law to improve themselves and also the economy. Illegal immigrants are more inclined to become part of an underground economy out of fear of being deported. Since the government still has to support the cost of them living here without taxes coming in, the illegal immigrants become a drain on the economy. Also, the businesses that are paying them under the table become a drain since the business share of Social Security and other taxes are not being paid.

So how do we use the tax system to fix this? The solution is simple. Tax illegal aliens instead of deporting them. If they don't pay their taxes then you have a reason to consider deporting them if that's what it takes. Now it's not fair for someone to go through all the time and expense to come here legally and end up paying the same taxes as those who come here illegally. There could be a tax for being here illegally.

I propose that an illegal alien pay an additional 5% to 10% tax on his or her income. Also, the businesses that hire them can pay a matching 5% to 10% tax on them just like they do for Social Security taxes. This is in addition to all the regular taxes a legal resident would pay including Social Security. However, they would not be eligible for Social Security until they became legal. If they don't pay their taxes then the government could go after them like anybody else. Non payment of taxes could include a threat of deportation if necessary.

So why should a business hire illegal aliens if they have to pay an extra tax for them? For the same reason they do now. Either because it cost less or the illegal aliens will do work that the business can't get anyone else to do. It can cost less by setting the minimum wage for illegal aliens to be lower than it is for everyone else. Even if it were set just low enough to cover the 10% tax that would still be more than many illegal aliens make and they earn it above the table.

This accomplishes a few worthwhile things in my view.

First - It shows some compassion to those who are looking for a better life. How many of us are descendants of immigrants - most legal and some not.

Second - It establishes a penalty for operating outside the law – being an illegal alien. And the penalty stays until they begin operating within the law - become a legal resident or citizen.

Third - It puts part of the monitoring responsibility on the businesses that hire illegal aliens. If the business does not pay their share of the taxes they are on the hook for tax evasion.

Forth - It eliminates a large portion of the underground economy since they lose much of their incentive to hide. There will always be those who join the underground economy – legal resident or not.

Fifth - It allows illegal aliens to move out of the world of fear into a quasi legal world where they can have self respect and work on becoming legal.

My New Toy

I broke down and bought one of the toys I've wanted since I was a kid. I used to have to plow our garden area as a kid. It was about a third of an acre. We had a front tine tilled that work good. I used to wish we had a fancy Troy-Bilt tiller and I think my dad did also.

I no longer have the yard to justify a large tiller. So I bought a Mantis tiller. It is a cute little machine that weighs in at 24 lbs with a 25cc engine that holds a third of a cup of oil. That little 1.1 HP motor does the job.


I took my boys out with me and we went to work. So far we have dethatched and aerated the front lawn and plowed our little garden plots. It removed enough thatch on the front lawn to completely fill our 64 gallon yard waste tote. I finally got to use the snow shovel I was given for my birthday to load the thatch. We have not received any snow since I got it.

I'm not sure how the front yard will survive from out attack but we had a good time working on it. I just need to fill in a couple depressions in the yard and reseed now. Hopefully later this year it will look better then the patchy moss filled lawn it had become.

Happy Birthday

We’re gonna be in the Hudson

(image credit wsj.com)

One year ago on Jan 15, 2009 Flight 1549 landed in the Hudson river after a bird strike. Watch a reconstruction of the whole flight created by Ecosphere3D

More information and videos can be found on the Ecosphere3D website.

Move in Day

The happy couple has moved into their new home.  They just need to get everything put away.  It's a nice apartment with plenty of room.  After their bed was set up they got right to work building the night stand. 

 




Reviewing the instructions together.

If I had a hammer.

Mission accomplished.


I would like to give a big Thank You to Brett and Lacy.  Rebekah's father(Jamie) arrived Wednesday morning with the truck containing all Nathan and Rebekah's stuff.  Brett and Lacy who live on the bottom floor hauled everything up to Nathan and Rebekah's 3rd floor apartment.  They also brought Jamie back to the apartment after he returned the rental truck.  When we showed up in the evening all we had to do was empty the van.

The trip there and back went well.  I drove 1900 miles in 52 hours.  Over 1000 miles was through snow.  Idaho cleans their roads much better then Oregon and Washington.  We only had one real close call when two cars went sideways right in front of us blocking the whole freeway.  No contact was made by any one that I saw.

Jamie (Rebekah's father ) and Alex and I were glad to get home.

Our Newest Baby Takes Off

After several long years of waiting the 787 has finally taken off. (Only 2 and a half years late) I spent over a year with my "desk" in front of the left wing while it was in the factory. And it has been constant work since then.

I'd like to say thank you to all my coworkers who put in many hours to make the flight a reality. I wish I could say we were done but now we have to get everything taken care of so we can start delivering the airplane.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. Although I wish I had a better camera.



This helicopter flew all around taking IMAX movie pictures.



CNBC cameraman

I love it when a plan comes together

Debbie's 50th birthday is Sunday. She has been wanting to do something fun together and has let me know. She also has been amazingly patient in not knowing what we were going to do.

Sherri called me 4 to 6 weeks ago and asked if we were going anywhere for Debbie's birthday. I had not planned anything yet so she asked if they could all make a surprise visit and I said yes.

In the meantime, Debbie has brought up what we are doing for her birthday a few times. When I didn't know what to tell her, responding with worthless answers like usual, she made a booklet up for me with ideas. It was actually a pretty good booklet. I had not heard from Sherri in weeks and was kind of nervous. I called Sherri to ask what was going on and she let me know they were all coming up on Friday.

I had scheduled to take Thursday off so I could do something with Debbie before all her sisters came. Everyone had got colds a couple weeks ago and I ended up catching it the end of last week so I actually worked from home Monday through Wednesday or laid around depending how I felt.

I told Debbie we would go somewhere Thursday but I was sure where to go since I didn't know what her sisters would want to do. I decided Wednesday we would go south for the day and she had also decided that is what she wanted to do. I had not figured out how to handle not staying at a hotel. She finally asked a question that gave me an out. I have a lot of meetings with Japan on the phone and computer. So when she asked, I said yes I had a meeting Thursday night at 7:30 that I had to be back for. I then told her not to worry about the rest of the week - that I had it planned and I would tell her about the rest of the week Thursday night.

She was amazingly good about it. We went out Thursday and had a great time. We came home it the evening for my meeting. Sherri called and told me Marcy's plane was late. So when 7:30 came by and Debbie asked about the meeting I answered that they didn't need me. That worked.

Sherri called again to say the plane was later. Debbie asked if I was going to tell her about the rest of the week. It was 8:30 and she was ready to go to bed and there was no keeping her up. She had been up since 4:30. I told her I needed to go work on it and could tell her about it at 10 if she was awake. She went to post her blog about the day and then go to bed.

Luckily the girls were smart enough to tell Brian and Jody to come to the house since they were already in Marysville waiting for the others. They rang the doorbell just as Debbie finished her blog and I answered the door. I looked at them kind of strange for a sec until I realized who it was. No one had told me they were coming. They came in and spent the next one and a half hours talking with Debbie on the couch. Debbie was starting to wonder when they were going to leave.

The door opened at 10pm and the five girls come in yelling like they were mad at each other as they walked up the stairs. Debbie had no clue what was going on until she saw them and then she screamed. It was lots more noise for the next hour and a half. A great day. Thank you everyone.

So Happy Birthday Debbie!!!

And

Happy Anniversary Brian and Jody.

More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation

So President Obama has figured out something else that ails our nation. This time it is summer vacation. To be fair, Obama isn't the only one who thinks this way.

"Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe." Do we always have to keep up with the Joneses.

We have child labor laws that were enacted to allow children to be children. We send then to school 6 hours a day to learn. That turns out not to be enough for many people. Many teachers seem to think if they are not giving kids a bunch of homework they are not doing their job. So the poor kid has about 8 or 9 hours of education a day if the want to get a good grade. Now the president thinks that is not good enough. So much for the child labor laws doing the kids any good. What ever happened to the idea that children should be able to enjoy being a child.

Sometimes I get the idea that some people think that children just new assets for corporations that need to be correctly programed to serve the good of the whole.

Apparently how many hours children spend in school does not necessarily make them smarter. "Kids in the U.S. spend more hours in school (1,146 instructional hours per year) than do kids in the Asian countries that persistently outscore the U.S. on math and science tests — Singapore (903), Taiwan (1,050), Japan (1,005) and Hong Kong (1,013). That is despite the fact that Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong have longer school years (190 to 201 days) than does the U.S. (180 days)."

How about instead of lengthening the school year we go back to teaching the basics. There is really no reason a kid in elementary school needs to use a calculator to do his math and having memorizing multiplication tables would not hurt. I think we are easily caught up in all the new fangled methods when many times the old methods work just as well.

President Who

President West became Brother West on Sunday.  The Elders Quorum has a new president.

It's amazing how simple the keys are passed to another.  I realized I was going to be released a few weeks ago and I was disappointed.  The spirit takes care of how we feel.  I no longer have any desire for the call and I'm looking forward to serving in my new calling which you will hear about after I am sustained.

My Favorite Wife II

(: My Bedtime Snack :)

My Favorite Wife

I often tell Debbie she's my favorite wife and she is.

Yesterday I looked around for cinnamon rolls after reading Sue's blog and Debbie's response. There were no cinnamon rolls to be found. However, Debbie noticed my longing look and there were cinnamon rolls for breakfast this morning.

Yesterday was not a loss though. During the day my favorite wife went out and picked some apples and made the best apple pie. She than sat with me and watched a movie while we had hot apple pie and ice cream with fresh homemade caramel on top.

Debbie's definitely my favorite wife.

I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ

This was an interesting election year. Especially for Mormons in California. Following the request of the Prophet to support Proposition 8, most members worked hard to successfully rally the cause. However, the news did their best to find those who disagreed.

I read an excellent article in Meridian Magazine the other day. The article quoted a talk Elder Neal A. Maxwell gave at BYU in 1978 about our day. In part it reads, "“Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions.

This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . .

Each of us needs to decide for ourselves what we will do when those in the great and spacious building point their fingers at us. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15 I hope to ever keep it that way.

What if Mormons are right and Catholics and Protestants wrong?

The Belfast Telegraph had a great article today. I just had to provide a link to it. For those of you who don't want to read the whole thing here is a snippet.

'Given Christian teaching, does it make more sense to baptize dead adults rather than live babies?"

"What’s the difference, anyway, between baptising the dead and baptising babies? A tiny infant will have as much understanding as a dead person — none at all — of the complex philosophical belief-system it’s being inducted into when baptised".

"Indeed, given that all Christian Churches believe that the soul lives on after death and retains understanding and consciousness of self, doesn’t it make more sense to baptise dead adults than live babies?"

Why can't more men send flowers?

When did you last send flowers?

Community Service

Tonight is family night. Tonight I also had a meeting. What better thing to do for family night than to teach your children about community service.

After dinner I informed Alex and Daniel that we were going to the library for family night. So we went to the library where we spent 40 minutes in our home owners association meeting. They were actually quite good. Alex sat mostly still and Daniel wandered around in the back of the room and played with the door quietly. They were ready to go home when it was over so I took them into the library for a few minutes and we left. Mom had treats when we got home.

Goodbye to Our Missionary

Yesterday was a day at the temple. We went to both the Salt Lake and Jordan River Temples.

Ready to enter the MTC.

Saying goodbye to Mom before he walks in.

First instructions as he gets his badge and lunch card.

Opening up his pocket for his badge. They were giving seam rippers to the missionaries with their badge. Both the other missionaries who walked in with him needed a seam ripper too.

Japan Kobe here he comes!!!

Relief Society with the Elder-ly

We had a great day at church today at the care center with Grandma. We were 15 minutes early for church but Grandma and most the others were already there saving their seats (wheelchair positions). Grandma had two chairs next to her with signs that said reserved. Priesthood/Relief Society was first.

The Relief Society President came up to us and said "Hi" and started to ask if we wanted to go to Priesthood down the hall. Grandma's arm immediately shot in front of Andrew as she exclaimed "No no! We enjoyed a nice Relief Society lesson. All 3 meetings took just over 2 hours.

David showed up at the end of church and spent about a half hour with us visiting Grandma while Andrew played with the wheelchair.

Baby Steps for Father's Day

Father's Day is coming up so I guess I should try to be a better father. I have never been into sports much and even less so since I moved to Washington. When I read the paper I don't even look at the sports page. Not to say I don't like sports, it's just I have so many things on my to do list that I don't get done, and sports has been a very low priority on that list.

Needless to say, most of my children suffer from my lack of sports interest in that they are not the first, second or third picks when it comes to physical activities. They are kind of nerds. OK, no kind of about it but they come by it honestly.

Anyway in my attempt to be a better father and get my boys to do something outdoors I bought a croquet set this week at the same time I was buying a new trampoline. I am informed that the trampoline is my Father's Day gift. Anyway Daniel and Alex mowed the lawn yesterday and I went out with them today and played a round of croquet. They enjoyed it but were not up to a second game. I think I'll just take baby steps with them for a while. Maybe I'll get them to like some place that is not next to a computer.

By the way Andrew and Nathan went camping tonight with the singles ward. Andrew took a movie and his mom's computer with him to keep him company. Baby steps for the 20 year old too. Boy is he in for a shock next month when he gets to the MTC.

She's Still As Wonderful As Ever

Twentyeight years ago on Sunday April 6th I asked my sweetheart to marry me. The best thing that I've ever done.

Some things are better left unsaid so I will skip how I asked her. At first we were just engaged to get engaged. By the end of the day we had picked our wedding date and were engaged. For some reason it wasn't a surprise to anyone. We had been dating two months and bets had already been placed on when we would get engaged.

I had this picture posted in my dorm and used to look at it while listening to The Rose. It had just been released and was played all the time on the radio.