Skip to main content

Elder Ballard's Message

So, I am creating this blog in response to the call of Elder Ballard in the Ensign to use the Internet to share ideas and stories with people. I like to write, and I sit at a computer all day long. I also have come to know certain truths in my life through experiences that I would like to share. I love to discuss things with people, though I don't know how many people will ever look at this blog. If you have any questions about me or what I think, I will be happy to discuss it with you.

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is something that touches everything I am and do. My fondest hopes for myself and my family center around Christ and I know that we can be together forever.

I am imperfect, and I am still learning about myself and the world around me. The more I learn the more I seem to be ignorant of. But there are some things that I have come to know as true.

I do not disparage anyone else's experience, needs, or beliefs. There is much that is good in everyone, and one of the things that I try to do is find the good in everyone and everything. But where there is something, there is usually something that is higher, more pure, more enlightening. My quest in life is to refine myself and my ideas to be more effective as a father, son, husband, and member of the Church.

I am not a leader of the Church. I am not representative of anyone or anything else. These ideas are my own, and I am fallible. Please look to the Lord, the Source of all truth, for the ultimate answers. I only offer what my experiences have given me. I hope that anyone who reads this will understand the spirit in which it is written.

This is also my personal blog. I have another blog for my professional ideas that I would send you to if you are interested in city planning or urban issues. Here I want to have an outlet for my personal ideas (religious, philosophical, etc). I find this convenient because I am thus able to help people (myself included) separate the world of the job and my personal life.

Comments

The Herd Mom said…
Nice post! I just put up "My LDS Beliefs" page over here in respose to Elder Ballard's suggestion. I look forward to seeing more testimonies pop up online.

Popular posts from this blog

Is this thing still on?

 Does anyone even blog anymore? I remember when it first got started and everyone was having a blog. I like writing, and I do a lot of it in my professional life, but not everything makes it onto this blog, which is where a lot of my personal thoughts come out. I put more into Facebook lately, too, because it's a little easier. But there's something to be said for this long-form writing exercise, and I think I will continue here periodically. You don't mind, do you? Well, in my last post I wrote about how difficult things were for me at the time. That changed in July when I finally got a job working for the State of Utah. I was the program manager for the moderate income housing database program, and that meant I worked from home a lot but also went in to Salt Lake when needed, mostly on the train. It was a good experience, for the most part, and I'm grateful for the things I learned even in the short time I was there.  In October I started working for Weber County in t...

The Other Art

I'm not sure we appreciate photography as much as we do other art forms. Part of this comes from the reality that surrounds and permeates a photograph - it's very, very real, and the photographer strives for clarity and crispness in the representations. Perhaps this is why black and white images continue to be relevant - they strip away extraneous information (color) and leave us with something that is at once familiar and also non-existent - for nothing exists in black and white. Nothing. I also think that pictures are becoming too common-place... Everyone has a camera in their pocket, and while that's a very democratic thing (everyone can express themselves in a picture easily and readily, and can find an audience for these images, which are casually taken and casually viewed, and perhaps just as casually forgotten) I think that we embrace that casual attitude, and it spills over to all aspects of the media, making it impotent. So I read this article this morning: h...

A Romantic Encounter

Him (tears in his eyes, heartbroken): I want you to know that I love you, that I'm sorry for my weakness and frailties, and that I will try and do better. I think I am doing better than I was before, and I just want to please you and make you happy. I am very grateful for your continued patience as I try to be the kind of man I want to be. Her: You need a haircut. It's getting a little long.