It IS a Big Deal

What up, guys?!

THE BEARRIE BISNUS:

It is the end of yet another semester.  Congrats... and good riddance!

I just wanted to take a second and ask you guys for some Bearrie Prayer...  I have been really stressed out over what is going on in Russia over that last few weeks.

I don't know if you have heard, but the Ruble has TANKED... a lot of it due to oil prices and a large part of it due to the sanctions that the US has put on Russia... I mean, this summer I was getting about 35 rubles to one US dollar... and now it is at about 70.

This is just a bad bad thing for some of my homies who pay their rent in US dollars but get paid in Russian Rubles... or who have taken debt in US dollars.  Essentially their expenses have DOUBLED in the matter of a week or so...

It is just an all around bad situation and Russia could use some Bearrie Prayer power... and actually, I could use some Bearrie Prayer power.  To calm my nervous soul!  haha, thanks.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Outside of that prayer request here is a thought:

I have been thinking a lot about how the LITTLE THINGS really add up.  And when we let those little things slip, we start to take a hit.

I know I know... we hear this ALL THE TIME... but it is SO true!!!  I have seen this take effect in my life MANY times over.

Let's walk through a few scenarios...

Let's just say we miss one evening prayer... that was no big deal... in fact we probably wouldn't think anything of it... then we miss again two days later... "no biggie"... then it becomes regular... and pretty soon, we have, one "no biggie" at a time, severed our communication with the most powerful being in the universe.  That IS a big deal.

Let's say we miss priesthood because we are "spiritually full" after a full course of sacrament.  Alright, you'll be fine.  Then we are traveling the next week and only go to sacrament again.  Then we go to our cousin's homecoming in a different ward... and pretty soon we haven't been to our priesthood meeting in over 2 months.  The quorum suffers.  You aren't there to build people up.  You aren't there to be BUILT up.  That IS a big deal.

Let's say that we don't read our scriptures one day, but we count the inspirational quote we read on the nice billboard count... the next day we read them, but with our eyes closed because we were too tired after a long day of slacklining and swimming... Then finals roll around and we don't have enough time to study the word of God... but we cram our day with the word of Man (and all that crap they tell us about the theory of relativity and fluffy stuff like that)... then our break rolls around and we go on a two week backpacking trip and we didn't want to lug our quad out there with us... when we get back we are out of the habit and forget where our scriptures even are.  And pretty soon, we are stuck trying to figure things out on our own without the words of the prophets.  That IS a big deal.

Let's say that we decide that we can't pay tithing on this pay check because we are way behind on a ton of other expenses... we need to buy more fruit and spinach for our green smoothie obsession.  We say we will pay it back.  Not a big deal... it is totally in control.  Then the next week, we realize that we need the money that we were going to use to pay the tithing back for a christmas present.  And in fact, we need more for that christmas present than we had planned so we have to skip paying tithing this month as well... pretty soon we haven't payed in over a year.  That IS a big deal.

We can go through any commandment or any SIMPLE THING and run a similar scenario.  If we let the small things slip... what we thought was not a big deal... suddenly becomes a VERY big deal.

2 Nephi 26:22

"...yea, and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever."

As the new year is rolling around, let us make some KICK BUTT New Year's Resolutions to always do the simple things... and to rebuke that "ah, it's not THAT big of a deal" mentality.  Because, when we cut through all of satan's tricks, we can really see that it IS a big deal.

Love you guys!  Merry Christmas!

Integrity

Bearrie Bidness

I just want to spread the word on TextbookJudge.com. My friend Logan Rogers helped start this company and they just went live. Its a cool site and they could use some help. spam your learning suite messages with this thing. This guy is building a sweet website for Provo Peddler's for free so we really owe him one.

Devo

Other than that I just want to share a quick thought that I was thinking about today.

In the scripture we are asked to have integrity. For instance, "walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart" (1 Kings 9:4).

What is integrity? I'm not sure if I completely understand the answer to that question (maybe something to think about more). But I like a couple of things I learned about it today.

I was in the library doing my homework and I started thinking about my life. I thought to myself: If I got married right now and had a kid, would I feel good about the example that I am to them?

That was an awakening thought for me. There are some things in my life that I wouldn't want my wife to follow my example on. I thought that if I had a son that were to do his best to live his life just like mine that there would be some things that I would be embarrassed of. I would have to make some changes in my life if I wanted to be a powerful priesthood leader in the home. None of us are perfect, but I feel that I needed to do just a little bit better on some things. Little things like having a good daily scripture study, and praying earnestly, going to the temple regularly, serving others, and learning at church.

I feel like these are things that I have had mastered better at previous times in my life. I know that all those things are actions which reflect true principles and not only because I've learned about them but because I've tried them in my life and seen them work. So why do we stop?

Here's a generic example that I've seen in myself and others a couple of times in life. We want to become someone who is y (we'll say y is some desirable trait like charitable, honest, hardworking, spiritual, etc.). In order to become y we'll have to work at it by doing x (we'll say x is an action that helps us achieve our goals like doing acts of service, getting to church on-time, getting a job, or whatever it might be). However, instead of spending our time doing x, our actions are much more consumed with doing z (some other thing that is not reflective of, or helpful to achieving y). In this confusion we often forget about x and we never become y. But what's sad is that I'm not sure if we ever completely forget about y (at least in most cases). If that is true, then we spend our life wanting deep inside to be one thing and living our lives achieving something else.

That's a sad reality. I think that our actions should be reflective of our vision in life. I think one of the ideas of integrity is being true to what you know, and part of that includes the vision for who you want to become. I know that we do not develop this kind of integrity on our own. We need the Lord's help: for the power to change but also for the power to cleanse us and forgive us because we will likely mess up a little on the way. I know that the Lord loves us and wants to help us. I believe that He wants us to be successful and happy in our lives. I imagine that He is eager to help us accomplish  our dreams and goals. We should trust Him and ask Him for help. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

 

How to make "being faithful" look cool?

So Sunday school sparked a very interesting question today.  It's one I have struggled with my whole life.

We talked about different Old Testament stories... Daniel and the lions den, Shadrak, Meshak, and Abed'nego and the furnace, and Esther.  

Daniel was not going to stop praying to the Lord because of Darius' decree.  This differentiated him as a believer.

HOWEVER, Daniel was also there with Shadrak, Meshak, and Abed'nego, BUT, he was not thrown in to the fire?  WHY?  Was he going along with the idol worship?  Was he doing his best to assimilate, while waiting for an opportunity to teach and differentiate himself as a believer later?  Curious.  His friends got tossed into the fire because of their belief and desire to differentiate themselves as believers.

Ester never really followed traditions of the Jews.  She prepared banquets in the "Syrian style", she lived in the palace with the king who had NO IDEA that she was a Jew.  She actually hid the fact that she was Jewish!  That doesn't sound like differentiation of faith at all!  But later in life, she was in a position to really help out he people, because of the way she was able to assimilate into the Syrian way of life.  Interesting.

All of these people were in a different position on this Sliding Guide of Differentiation and Assimilation.

Some may say that this is a terrible example.  You may be right.  Weed is never good... BUT, there must be a way we can, and should, go about "shutting someone's offer down"...

But really, where is the boundary?  How can I be that "example of righteousness" and still be "normal" or "cool"... that is the struggle.  As members of Christ's church, I think we have a responsibility to make being faithful look cool.

Here is a real life experience I had on my mission.  I think that it applies a little better than the weed:

My companion and I met a wonderful Armenian man on the street.  He was out with his young son and daughter.  His Russian was not great.  He invited us over to his house the next day.  We showed up to a VERY poor apartment. There were 3 generations all in a two bedroom home.  

My companion and I sat down and started the normal chit chat.  After a few minutes, this man's wife came out with very small cups of coffee.  It was made very 'fancily' and you could tell she was VERY excited to share with us.  They said, "we have this special Armenian coffee that we have been saving for the right occasion."

This kind of thing happened all the time in Russia.  We got offered tea, coffee, and vodka almost on a daily basis.  But this time was different.  There was a serious amount of love in this gift.  It was very different. I have never had a hard time with dealing with questions concerning the word of wisdom.  It just hasn't been a challenge for me. But in the moment, I felt like I should drink this coffee.

But, what did we do?  As 'good missionaries' do, we declined as politely as we could.  We didn't drink the coffee and rejected the gift.

And I am telling you, immediately after we declined, and to this day, I wish I would have just drank that coffee.

The lessson pushed forward... But the vibe, and the spirit, of the lesson was just different.  Long story short, we never got into that apartment again.

Now, I'm not saying that if we would have drank that coffee that they would have taken more lessons and been baptized, but, I am saying, that even though we 'did the right thing' I honestly feel that I was a bad representative of my religion.

Questions I thought outside of class:

- did something so strong like supporting Prop 8 so vigorously in California do more damage than good?  Was it too far on the differentiation side of the scale?

- is my lack of a 'clean cut' appearance too far on the assimilate side of the scale?  Should I try and differentiate myself as a disciple of Christ by being cleaner?

- is it okay to go for a bike ride on Sunday with a non-member friend who can only ride on that day? Is it worth the 'sabbath day violation' to build a friendship that can later help create missionary opportunities?

- when is it okay to just 'lead by example' or, on the other hand, when should I 'get bold' and share a pass along card or a BOM?  Is one or the other too far on one side of the scale?

I think that these questions can give us the answer - it is completely situational.  

Our Sunday school teacher brought up a really cool example of how he, in grad school, got invited to a hockey game on Sunday by a close friend.  This was a pretty big deal, because hockey was his friend's life.  He was WAY into following the local team.  Long story short, our Sunday school teacher said he thought he would be a good missionary and tell his friend that he doesn't go to sporting events on Sunday.  His friend was offended and their friendship dwindled.  He has regretted that decision ever since.  He wished he could have seen how attending a game on Sunday could have sprung their relationship into something much more meaningful, and later he could help his friend understand his views on Sabbath day observance. 

I really liked that story.

But hold on, this is kind of a dangerous principle to talk about.  This is why we never really hear about it in young men or young women's.  I think that if we let it, we can justify behavior that is NOT OKAY.

I am not worried about you guys doing that... Except for maybe Zach, he is from Ballerado and all anybody ever does there is smoke weed.

But, like in all things, we can look to the Savior to see what we should do.

Mark 2:16

And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?

What was Jesus doing hanging out with the publicans and sinners?!  They are bad!  They are evil!  

WRONG.  

They are people.  Christ loved them.  Christ "broke" the Sabbath to heal them.

It's the classic, "love the sinner, hate the sin".  BUT, I think that it goes further than that.  I think we need to be able to balance how we appear to the world.  Mormons often come across as very self righteous.  People do not respond well to self righteousness.  We need to figure out how to reign that in and balance how we strive to differentiate ourselves.  At the same time we must assimilate to be in a position to do missionary work and teach others of the joy of the gospel.

I hope that this post makes sense and that you all don't think I am looking for an excuse to go drink coffee, smoke weed, and skip all my Sunday responsibilities.

Let's make 'being faithful' look cool.