U 93 and Family Matters

I'm watching U 93, another exception to my decision to avoid R rated movies. I remember the day the world changed. Perhaps I had dreamed intimations of that day. I cannot say for sure. But when I was called into the living room of my parent's home by one of my sisters and watched the World Trade Center being destroyed by a devilishly clever innovation in warfare, I sensed that not only my nation but my family would be impacted by the act.
In France my son Sam was serving a mission. When he heard the news he said he knew that if he had not been serving the Lord at the time, and was home in Provo, he would have gone to a recruiting office right away. As it happened, Same was still in France when the decision was made to invade Afghanistan because of Taliban support of AlQuida, the organization that had planned the use of American Airliners as bombs. When Sam eventually returned to the US after finishing his mission, he returned to college. He finished his degree in Mathematics, applied to graduate school in Electronic engineering, and joined the Army Reserve. In early 2005 he entered boot camp and began his training to become an American soldier. As a reservist he was not immediately deployed, but he was waiting to do so. He returned to college and completed a semester of graduate studies before his division was organized and it was time for him to take additional training in his specialty. He was home when I broke my ankle on January 31 of 2006. Then he was gone again. After some additional preparation he was flown to Afghanistan. Today there is activity there. The American forces are combining with the Afghans to drive the Taliban out of their strongholds. I haven't heard from Sam by blog or e-mail for some time. I pray that he is not in danger, but of course, that was his accepted path. He put himself into a position of risk, and I am proud of him. Proud and prayerful.

Yokes and Burdens

One day I heard something that really enlightened me about a scripture that had been unclear to me. "Take my yoke upon you" was the message. At the time I first heard it and for some time after I thought it was a request for me to take more on myself for the sake of Christ. I was willing, but I wondered how it fit with the promise that in Him I would find rest. It seemed I was being asked to take on even more than I already had to deal with.
Then I listened to a woman who described the nature of yokes. They are used in many areas of the world for both humans and beasts of burden. A good yoke is personally fit to the individual man or beast. It is specifically designed to make it a lot easier to carry whatever weight must be borne. When Christ asks us to take his yoke upon us, he is offering relief, not additional work. His yoke is easy and his burden is light, not the heavy, aching burdens we must bear without the help of the yoke he offers us. Loving, giving, finding joy, creating beauty, offering gratitude, forgiving, staying our frantic pace and contemplating wonder, all come with taking on his yoke.
Life has given me many opportunities to exercise the qualities He asks of me. Forgiving is possibly the hardest part of the yoke, and now that I look back on the path of my life, I can say I have forgiven and it has always blessed me to do so.

The Start of Hmmmmm

I will post my thoughts on various subjects on this blog now and then. Today I want to publish the UVAG newsletter which is almost finished as far as formatting is concerned. This isn't a particularly deep thought, but it's what is mostly on my mind, that and getting my website and home page prettied up for public viewing. Who knows? I may become famous or infamous for some reason and people will start to access my various musings.

Learning to use this blog

Each site has it's own protocol for signing in and making comments. It will be interesting to continue this experiment. I made some major renovations in my Xanga account, basing my background on one Sam uses.

Sometimes I am a Thinker: August 2006

Sometimes I am a Thinker: August 2006
I like the look of this 'skin' so I won't try to mess with it. I borrowed Sam's background image from his Xanga site to make my own Xanga look better. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery as they say.

Making Sure My Identity is Secured

Several years ago I wrote a dozen books I called the Chronicles of Okishdu. While it is unlikely that the books will ever be conventionally published, I began using the name Okishdu for a number of purposes online. Recently I created another identity for a different purpose and soon found that many people used the same name. Therefore, I am going around to various blog provider and securing the name of Okishdu in each one.