Let Brotherly Love Continue

  That's Drew, he's my big brother. He has always been that example to me that a big brother should be. He has always been one of my best friends through my whole life. When we didn't have a radio in our car on the way to school he would sing "Jukebox Hero" to me every morning. The best way I can describe our relationship together is "He's my Boy".
He has always lead me through my life even if he didn't know it. We always had fun together, I remember one time he was teaching me how to box in our basement (why we had boxing gloves anyway is confusing to me too) but he was teaching me how to box and in that moment I learned that your suppose to keep your hands up in front of your face or you will get punched square in the nose. My brother is bigger then me so a punch to the nose wasn't on my wish list. But as crazy as it may sound I love that memory with my brother, I loved riding around in his car with him listening to music but him singing was always a close second. My junior year when I was getting dressed to go to Prom, he was being my "Alfred" from Batman. He put my vest on me and then my coat and squeezed my face.   There are a lot of memories about my brother that I will never forget.

Thank you Alfred

My brother left on his mission to Orlando,Florida December 2009, he opened his mission call 3 months earlier. The night that he opened his call was the night I started reading the Book of Mormon. Because the example that my brother set by going on a mission changed my life forever. From that night on it took me a year to finish reading, mean while my brother would email me once a week to encourage me to serve a mission. Because he did that I followed in his foot step and he has supported me every step of the way. And now my boy is all grown up and setting yet another example for me. This weekend, March 24th 2012 he is getting married to a girl he loves very much. Not only is he getting married but he is getting married in the St. George Temple. What a wonderful thing that is. In the temple marriages are preformed by the power of God and by the power of God they are not "till death do us part" but the marriage is for time and all eternity. When Jesus Christ was on the earth he gave us the power to seal on earth and in heaven. If you have a Bible handy check out Matthew 16:13-19. For those of you who don't have it, here it is

Super models

"13 ¶When Jesus came into the coasts of Cæsarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?

 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.

 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

 Jesus gave us the authority to seal our families to us for time and all eternity that we may always be with them as long as we follow the example our Savior, Jesus Christ set for us. So to my brother and his wife I say congratulations and thank you for the example!

Bubba Gump Shrimp

"Forrest, lets sleep with our backs together so we don't get our heads in the mud". Bubba

A simple phrase uttered in a simple movie, but lets explore what is going on in this statement that Benjamin Buford Blue or Bubba just made. But first lets back it up a bit and get a little history on the relationship between Forrest Gump and Bubba. We see them first meet in the bus where nobody wants Forrest to sit by them so Bubba with charity in his soul welcomes Forrest to sit by him. Then from there their friendship bloomed and they made plans to open a shrimp boat company together, you may know it as "Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.", then Bubba enlightens us with the different variety of shrimp. Then in the heat of battle we come to the statement that was made in the beginning of this blog! Now lets explore what this statement means on the surface shall we? Well, lets be honest that was a rhetorical question because your already along for the ride. Alright, I would say there is some degree of service going on here because they are leaning together so the other one doesn't get his head in the mud. Hebrews 13:1 "Let brotherly love continue". That scripture is clearly evident in this expression. Now if we look deeper into it, they are really supporting one another and keeping each other from falling into the "mud". But what does this symbolize? Your right probably nothing but in my head they are supporting and caring for one another and what does that for us in our lives? What place can we go to feel supported and lifted and re-energized for the week and cared for? You may have come up with a lot of answers but what I came up with is ........................(drum roll please).........................              
                                                           CHURCH!!!!! 
If we go to the Bible in the new testament to the book of Ephesians ch. 4:12-14 it says
 12" For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;"

We see why Christ set up his church when he was on the Earth so he could help us and lift us and perfect us! We go to church to have that support of leaning against our brothers and sisters so we can keep ourselves out of the "mud" or sin. Church is were we go after a long week of being tempted by Satan to sin so we can feel re-energized by the word of God and by fellow Saints. But even though church is only once a week, that doesn't mean we can only be supported once a week. It means that God gave us a way to get through the week on our own and those things are the scriptures and prayer. So during your week lean you back against prayer and scripture study and then go to church so you can feel that added measure of support. So please take Benjamin Buford Blue's advice and lean back to back (go to church) so you can keep your head out of the mud (sin).