Dude. You Have the Scriptures on Your IPod?!

A paraphrased story from my #2 son:

We have recently moved to a small town in western Ohio.  My #2 son is one of only two young men in the local high school (as far as I know).  He is participating on the football team and just the other day the team had a meal together.  At the table where he sat, the conversation turned to the practices of Mormonism.  The report of the conversations went something like this:

“So you believe there should not be any sex before marriage.”

“Yes”, my boy said.

“Seriously?”

“Yes”

“What would you do if a pretty girl came up to you, unzipped your pants, and gave you a hand job?”

“I would probably slap her face.”

“No you wouldn’t”

“Yes I would”

“What about Adam and Eve, they weren’t married”

“Yes the were”

My son then pulls out his IPod and goes to Genesis 1 to show that Adam and Eve were husband and wife.

“Dude.  You have the scriptures on your IPod?!”

The boy seemed to handle it pretty well.  And seems to have no fear.

Obama’s Flip-Flop

President Obama recently changed his position on the issue of gay marriage.  This adds an interesting twist to the upcoming presidential election between himself and Mitt Romney.

Just What the World Needs – Another Eagle Scout

My oldest son, Ken, just passed his Eagle Scout board of review and has completed all the requirements for the Eagle Scout award.

Ken is a senior at Sturgis High School (Michigan).  He enjoys participating in the orchestra and also plays the guitar.  After graduating from high school he hopes to serve a mission for the church.  He has always dreamed of being a paleontologist some day, and will probably start out doing the geology path once he starts school – unless he changes his mind.

His eagle project involved organizing an effort to provide local elementary schools with audio CDs of selected books.  As a result of this effort over 60 audio CDs/books were provided to the schools.

In addition to the required merit badges, Ken enjoyed earning the archery, rifle shooting, space exploration, music and art awards.  He served as the patrol leader, and also as troop chaplain.  He also earned the ‘On My Honor’ and ‘Arrow of Light’ awards.  All of this was not easy for him, and we are pleased with this important accomplishment.

John Nielson (1937-2010) May he Rest In Peace

My father died today.  We had known for a while that something was not quite right with his blood, and recently found out that it was leukemia.  Apparently a very acute type.

My father spent his entire career teaching Geography at Ricks College, along with several religious classes.  He served for nine years in the Presidency of the Rexburg Idaho North Stake, along with many other callings.  He served a mission in Australia as a young man, and served another mission in Kenya recently with my mom.  He had six children.

He contributed a few posts to this blog.  He compared Mormonism to Taoism here, wrote about the atonement as a process here, and made a lengthy comparison between the gospel and chess here.  He even had an article published in Dialogue about Christ’s World Government here.

My father was an excellent example of faithfulness and duty to his family and to the church.  The older I get, it seems the more I become like him.  I will miss him very much.  My firm belief in the resurrection and the eternal nature of the family gives me great comfort.

‘Til we meet again, dad.