On healing

A guy in my congregation has cancer. This one's gonna kill him without some sort of divine intervention. It's been 25 years or so since I was close to someone in this condition. He's my age, has a bunch of kids.

I've been thinking a bit more about the gifts of the Spirit and how they are manifested (see 1 Cor. 12). I'd guess at one time or another every Christian wonders about the gift of healing and how that works.

I've come across healers. There was one in my congregation in Detroit. I found one in my congregation here. (I keep my eye out for them as you never know when one might come in handy.)

In the LDS faith we have a prescribed way of administering through the Priesthood. I wonder though about the gift of healing. I'm sure I don't understand how that works. How, for example, does it work when a woman has that gift? What would it look like for her to exercise that gift?

I don't believe I have that gift. I'd like to have it right now.

I'd be interested in hearing stories about how the gift of healing has been exhibited.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

How did you come to know Him?

I served an LDS mission in Ohio a few years ago. It was a wonderful time. My 'purpose' was to teach people the gospel and invite them to be baptized. I met some wonderful people and I look back on those two years as a sacred time in my life. I learned quite a bit, as you might imagine, during that time. One thing I want to mention now is that I learned to love to talk with people about religion.

A couple of weeks ago I was traveling on business. I went to the hotel exercise room to run a few miles. A lady, about my age came in and did the eliptical next to me. We said good morning and went on our way. As I was leaving, I noticed that she had a copy of the Bible with her.

That morning I thought about her and that Bible a bit. I thought that says something about her that she'd bring a Bible with her to exercise in the morning. The thought came to me that I would really enjoy to hear the story of how she came to know God.

I decided that I'd start asking people, "How did you come to know him?" and start collecting stories of people's foundational experiences with God.

I'm shy by nature. I tried it the first time yesterday with a colleague. It went OK. At one point she said something like, "You're not going to like it." I said, "There's no judgment on my side whether your story is a 'good' story. I just want to gain strenght by hearing about your faith."

She told her story. I listened. I'm better for the experience.

In the LDS faith we have meeting called "Fast and Testimony Meeting." For 45 minutes or so, the pulpit is open for anyone in the congregation to come up and share their faith. It used to be my least favorite meeting. Now it's my favorite. This meeting is the congregational meeting, generally, the first Sunday of the month. If you're near an LDS building sometime, stop in. You will hear people tell of how they came to know him. You can tell your story.

I'm less interested in teaching and more interested in hearing and sharing and in gaining strength from the strength of those around me.

Peace to you on this early Wed. morning from the timeless AZ desert.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

What's Important

Today was a great day. I had a great afternoon at work. Then after work I headed north and drove through the Arizona desert in the rented Solstice with the top down (I'm in Phoenix traveling on business).

It was a beautiful sunset. I was thinking about how timeless the desert seems and that led to me thinking about the timeless people in my life. Some I've known all my life others are more recent. I'm thankful for them all.

The timeless things in my life are becoming more and more important to me.

I'd like to type more, but it's slow on the iPhone and after spending all day in front of the computer at work...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone