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

Ephesus

Paul got around. Ephesus is right on the Aegean Sea, on the coast of present-day Turkey. Yesterday he was in Galatia, which was much more towards the middle of Turkey. And when he actually wrote these letters, he was in Rome... So the man could travel. He probably walked. Today's item of interest comes from chapter one in Ephesians. Verses 18 and 19 are particularly interesting: 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power This is not the first time Paul talks about an inheritance. In Galatians he talks about the inheritance that comes of being part of the Abrahamic Covenant. He notes that we are joint-heirs through and with Christ. In Ephesians, he uses the word "adoption" - that we are adopted as the Children of Jesus Chris...

Engaged

Three Dog Night got it wrong.  One is not the loneliest number. They were more accurate when they said Two can be as bad as one.  I really wonder how people can survive Without being fully engaged. How they live through each day Without the intimacy I so very much crave... Maybe I am unusual in my desire  To have this intimacy, To want to feel that soul So close to my own Sharing light and warmth, Sharing love and passion, Sharing life. Alas! Alas! Alas! For when I do seek to share It is often only to be rebuffed Denied Or used up, Sucked dry, And left an empty husk.  I want SO MUCH to share And all I have is the cold, digital world Of typing out a blog.

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...