I apologize up front for the title of this blog. If you are anything like me, you find it mildly annoying when vague, almost cheesy titles are used for things blog entries or chapters of books or what ever. So today, rather than use a title like: "Some Recent Thoughts" or "Latest News", I simply elected to use the date and state there is not a good title, because that is my fact and feeling today.
Today is another Sunday. We went to church. I got a new calling. I am to be the Scoutmaster for our local ward/neighborhood. I have known about the change for sometime, and in a recent conversation with a co-worker expressed some of my anxieties and hesitancy in participating in Scouting. My co-worker asked me why I told them I would do the job when I was not very excited about it. I thought for a minute......what do I say? Then I proceeded to explain that everything in the church is done on a volunteer basis, and so you do what you are asked to do and do your best with it.
I will do my best with the Scouts and I am sure that we can have fun I am just not sure how good I will be in getting them their rank advancements and merit badges, as I was awful at this as a kid.
I am not a shining example of explaining my beliefs, I know, but have tried to mention my participation in the church in casual conversation. My personal feeling is that here in Utah most people are aware of the LDS Church and have an opinion about it, either positive, negative or neutral. Most of my co-workers, from what I have observed are of other faiths or not religious at all. Nevertheless, these people are awesome and are my friends. I admit I am passive in sharing some of my beliefs, but I just don't want to be a fire hose, when a sprinkler is needed. I do however try to live my ideals, and I think those who I work with see that.
The subject came up at work some time ago that we should ban all discussion of religious activities at work. I hold this idea as counter-productive to building understanding between individuals of varying backgrounds. I rather share the opinion, that all people, of whatever religion or philosophy should be free to express themselves, and we all need to learn to tolerate such and ideological environment.
As Heather mentioned before in the blog, Christian's adoption will be finalized on August 25, 2008. This means we can have him sealed to us in the Temple. My belief as a Latter-day Saint is that families can be sealed together for eternity through the authority of the Priesthood. We have chosen the Bountiful Temple for the sealing location and this great event will take place on August 30, 2008.
I decided I would post a few of my experiences today because it was the second Sunday in a row that either a lesson or talk heavily referenced Elder M. Russell Ballard's recent article in the ensign "Sharing the Gospel Using the Internet". Of course that is not the only reason, but I found this an oddity and thought I should include something along those lines in this blog.
