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Sun - Apr 01, 2018 : 10:51 am
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Solemn Assembly and Hell Week
 Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend the first solemn assembly I remember having attended.  As I raised my hand in my bedroom while sustaining President Nelson, tears welled up in my eyes.  I felt as if I was partaking in something very important.  I was with Luci and Leah.  Everyone else in my family was out doing other worthy things.  It was very moving to know I was sustaining a new prophet in this world.

It was a good end to a week that was probably the most frustrating week of my life.  No joke.

On late Monday afternoon my studio's computer's motherboard stopped working.  Three months prior, the same thing had happened with the same computer's motherboard, which had only had 9 months of life.  My studio computer prior to that had lasted 4 years, and then I sold it.  Needless to say, the last two studio computers have had rotten luck.

When the motherboard goes out, it doesn't usually affect any other components, meaning that the hard drives are usually still good.  This was most likely the case when my motherboard went out on Monday.

I ordered a new power supply, motherboard and CPU, and they arrived on Thursday morning.

I plugged in all the new equipment, and while doing so, I wondered if the wires from the new power supply were compatible with the old ones which were already routed through the case.  In all the years of my building computers, I had never been in the situation where I could used old PSU wires with a new PSU.  I reasoned that if the plugs were the same, that they must be compatible.

I continued plugging everything else in, all the while feeling a bit of trepidation because if this didn't work, I wouldn't be able to get my song done this week, and my funds were also getting low (well, I don't have any funds at all..  Just credit, and that is getting low, too).  Anyway...  I stared at the power button considering that it might not power on, but expecting it would.

I pressed the button on the case to power the computer on.

The moment I did, the motherboard lit up and the fans started turning, but at that moment, I heard what sounded like frying computer components coming from the direction of my hard drives and CD drive.  I let it stay on for about 5 more seconds when I started smelling burning electronic components.  About 2 seconds later, my mind went to the power supply compatibility question I had had.  I immediately powered down the computer, feeling an intense, almost paralyzing fear at what I almost assuredly knew.  I had just fried my CD drive along with all of my studio hard drives, and my Linux drive.

I sat there for a second while my world stopped.

I knew I needed to go pray, so I went down to the dry-room, slowly knelt down, feeling numb.  The words immediately came to my mind, "move forward".   I said nothing, I felt numb, but I knew those words had come from God.   God knew what was at stake.

So I got up, went upstairs, and continued trying to get this computer up and working so I could continue trying to make a living in my studio.  The numbness slowly went away as I marched on.

After I verified multiple times that all my hard drives were dead, ideas came into my mind as to what I needed to do to get the computer back up.  I had a hard drive with backup information that I could use as a temporary studio drive, and the SSD drive I was using as my OS drive could continue being used as such, but with a new OS installation.

After about 3 hours, I had it running, and continued installing my studio system which ended up taking an additional 12 hours.   I got most of everything up and working by 2:30am Friday morning.

At this point, I still had my weekly song to write, as well as the video to produce - and only 2 days to do it.

Let me pause here and say something...

I am methodical when building computers.  I realize that if I make a mistake regarding data, I can erase important data.  I've been doing things with sensitive data both personally and professionally for decades.  When I was considering the PSU wire compatibility, it wasn't in haste.  I remember looking at the PSU and considering carefully that if the socket was compatible, it was reasonable that the wire-pin configuration would be compatible as well.  All that was needed to verify this was for me to look at the pins in the wires.

I say this because it would have been not only possible, but very easy for the Spirit to have whispered to me while I was considering this wire compatibility something like, "check the pins - they might not be compatible".  Spiritually, I was in-tune - and I feel this was well within the Spirit's power to have done this.  Yet, there was nothing.  Nothing to save me from the inevitable destroying of the drives.

And so they were destroyed.

Another aspect of this week which seemed unfortunate, was that my wife's birthday was on Tuesday - the day after.  I knew this and had planned on writing Sarah a love song of sorts, and had begun doing so earlier on Monday, and had the piano parts, chord progression and lyrics all written right before the motherboard failure.  Thankfully, I used Google Drive to write the lyrics down, but everything else would be lost when I fried my drives.  This week was definitely not going as planned.

Oh, also, to add insult to injury, this week just happened to be a week that was packed with studio sessions.  I had to cancel 7 sessions.

So....  at 2:30am on Friday, my new studio computer was functional.  It would take a miracle for me to produce my song and release it by Saturday.  It usually takes me between 30 and 40 hours to get a song and music video written and produced.  I had two days now.  Oh, and also - this weekend was General Conference, so I really wanted to watch the conference sessions on Saturday.

Anyway...   I got about 5 hours of sleep on Thursday, and I woke up Friday feeling *amazing*.  I was 100% ready and committed to getting that song done.

As I sit here typing this Sunday morning, I'm still in awe at how it all happened.  I began at 9:30 am, and through consistent hard work, the song was done and more beautiful than I could have hoped by that evening.  I used 2 more hours to write an "outro" song while streaming on Instagram.  Unbelievable.

Also worth noting was that nothing was ever done in haste.  Each part was methodically worked out through the normal process - I just seemed to be filled with unending energy, and as soon as one part was done, I felt the energy to start the next process and was happy to do so.  There is no doubt in my head nor heart that the Spirit of God was pushing me forward that day.

The next day, Saturday, I quickly got the video footage shot, and put together.  I also had to go with Collin, Luci, and Sarah to help serve dessert at the Food and Care Coalition for 1.5 hours.

Anyway, I ended up getting the music video done, released, and promoted by 6pm and was able to watch the Priesthood session.

God is good, and when it is His work or purpose, then things will work out.  There is no doubt in my mind that right now, I am to do a weekly song and music video, and even when it seemed like *everything* was against me this last week, it still happened.  God is able to complete His work, and it's amazing when we are part of that work.

Onward and upward, friends!