In the beginning...,

Good morning all,

I grew up in the Sugarhouse area of Salt Lake. In many ways it was Camelot. Great friends and tremendous memories I hope to share from time to time. During my teen years I became a bona fide sports addict. Part time Church attendance was the price I paid to find out what time the next game was. My seminary career lasted two weeks in ninth grade.

Through divine intervention the Lord made an extreme course correction in my life and I found myself submitting mission papers, to the surprise of everyone. Part of that preparation was receiving my patriarchal blessing from Zelph Y. Erickson, an elderly man who wore his righteousness in his countenance. This was the first and only time I would meet this great patriarch. After a few minutes of conversation I sat in a chair and he placed his hands on my head. Blessings are sacred so I will not explore the content except to say I was surprised when he uttered the following words: "I bless you that you may have an increased desire to read the scriptures and that your mind may be enlightened to understand the messages to be found upon the pages of these scriptures." To that point I had never opened the scriptures. I remember thinking to myself, "For that to come true something miraculous would have to happen." I felt no inclination at all toward the scriptures. Sports was all I cared for. Needless to say, something did happen. Actually, many things in the second year of my mission.

Near the beginning of my second year I experienced a deeply spiritual epiphany that taught me how to invite the Spirit of God when I studied the scriptures. Prayer became the mandatory and powerful first step. Personal study was where I experienced profoundly spiritual experiences. Personal study was my time to commune with God and feel His Spirit permeate my soul and nourish my spirit. My appetite for this nourishment is what drove me to search the scriptures. Knowledge was always a residual effect and not my main focus.

Like Joseph Smith, I came to know (albeit in a less dramatic way) of the love God has for all of His children and that His love is not contingent on anything we do. It is unconditional and available to all who seek Him. The restoration of the Gospel has never been about Church membership, (though membership is linked to discipleship,) it has always been about men and women overcoming the fall of Adam and returning to the presence of God. At times I wonder if that is not the best kept secret in the Church.

Studying the scriptures can lead us to knowledge but that is not an end in itself. Paul said people in our day would be "ever learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth." (2 Timothy 3:7) One of the many gifts the scriptures give us is the opportunity to feel the spirit that attends the word of the Lord. It is important to break away from the tendency to be destination driven, which only pushes you to reach the end. If we don't learn to "feel" after God by pondering the content and reflecting on its relevance we will remain members of the Church but never be disciples of Christ. Discipleship is the road to Eternal Life. Eternal Life is "that they might know thee, the only true and living God and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent." (John 17:3)