Oh, man...  I'm still reeling from the video I watched earlier tonight.  I've gotta read my scriptures, though, so.... Here we go. From verse 3 to verse 6 causes me to ponder various questions. If Jesus Christ is the Christ of only this world, then these verses tell us only of the wickedness of the particular nation which crucified ...

As some of you know, in addition to running this site, I also run a site called ldscompanion.org Today, I was rummaging through some of the artwork submitted by my users, when I found this piece. The artwork is well-done, and presents a Biblical message as well as a URL.  Well...  Not being familiar with the URL, I decided to see wh...

About a month ago, our bishop told us that the fast offering fund for the poor people in our ward is running low, and that we should consider giving a generous offering. I thought we should definitely consider doing so, but in the end, I forgot all about it. Today, however, our Bishop dedicated the entire sacrament meeting to the topic of sacri...

The first verse which caught me in the reading of the last half of 2nd Nephi 9 was verse 39. The question came to mind:  "Why would God need to have us "remember" the awfulness of sin?" ...  Well...  The answer is quite simple, really.  Because Satan laces all sorts of lies within the temptation of sin.&nbs...

Before I even begin reading this chapter, I've gotta let you know that this chapter intimidates me.  It is so doctrinally rich, I'm seriously getting anxious just thinking about having to decipher its contents here and now.  I know this anxiety is unfounded because I know that God answers prayers, and I've prayed, so... Let's get to it. ...

As I read this chapter, I found the question in my head, "why was Nephi prompted to put Isaiah in here?" One thing I'm noticing in this chapter and the last, is the writing style of Isaiah is quite starkly contrasted against the writing of Nephi.  It's wildly poetic. I enjoyed this chapter as much as I did the last.  I didn'...

I wrote for 2nd Nephi 6, that I was having a hard time understanding Isaiah.  Well...  This chapter is nothing but Isaiah, and I thought it was very beautiful. Verses 1-3 are poetry. I immediately thought of a person asking the question: "Where is the Lord now, during my time of suffering and trial?"... ...and this chapter...

I was gonna read something spiritual tonight, but I got sidetracked by American Idol. I started surfing around and before long, I came upon this video which, to me, is both absolutely amazing and freaking hilarious at the same time. I had no idea (although I'm not surprised) that so many people were doing remixes of his song "We Are Brot...

I think this is the first time I'm not really inspired at all to write anything. This is frustrating because I can tell there's a lot of meat to this chapter.  I guess it's partially because I really am not into the whole "gathering of Israel" thing.  That's horrible to say because it's such an integral part of the whole plan ...

I just got back from one of the best races I've been on.  It was awesome. I've only got a bit to write about it, so I'll write as much as I can. I took off around 10:20 tonight to see what kind of damage I could do out on the streets. I was cruising on state street in Orem when I found a Dodge Charger R/T who wanted to play.  The...

First and foremost, I want to thank you all for your support.  It really has been an incredible journey, and there are so many people who have showed support for this little dream of mine, straight from the beginning. That said, the road in front of me is surely going to be one full of suprises, twists, and turns. For those of you who ar...

 What a horrible, yet extremely personal and hopeful chapter.   The nature of it reminds me of the psalm of Nephi (2 nephi  4:15-end).  What horrible, horrible things were going on at the end, but it just amazes me, the strength of Mormon, and his constant prayers for Moroni - and his pleading to God for his soul to be brought b...

Okay.  I've used various verses from this chapter to prove that we had agency in the pre-earth life, but now I'm questioning myself.  Here's the basis: Verse 3 says this: And this is the manner after which they were ordained—being acalled and bprepared from the cfoundation of the world according to the dforeknowledge of God, on ...

I just got done watching and reading the talk given by Elder M. Russell Ballard, and it caused me to ponder my wife, quite a bit. Boiled down, the talk was given on how much mothers do, and how much we, as husbands, need to appreciate them. I certainly hope that I'm appreciating Sarah enough.  Heaven knows I've been in Elder Ballard's plac...

Wow...  What a day. We woke up in Winemucca after getting next to no sleep, and headed on down to Durham to visit Kim, Henry, and all the rest of the family.  We were going there to celebrate Juliia's graduation from highschool.  Good times.  Congratulations, Julia!  You rock! So, the 5-hour trip to Durham was relativel...

After having killed one thousand and five of their own people, and having realized they didn't really want to be killing their own people, I imagine the anger of the Lamanites went to pretty extreme levels. I can't imagine the scene which must have taken place at the city of Ammonihah.  That has got to be one of my favorite "God's justi...

I'm gonna step out on this one because this topic has been a hot one in my head for quite some time now.  Not only with AJAX, but frameworks in general. To Framework, or Not To Framework...  That is the question... When I began programming, there were no frameworks for PHP, JavaScript, or AJAX (not sure if AJAX even existed back then...

Well... I figured I'd better write about this because I didn't have the sense to take any video of the actual party. I recorded myself going TO the party, but nothing more.  Crud. It was a good LAN party, too.  We played last Friday and Saturday.  We had the usuals there, Me, Shane and Shaun, but there were two people who never had...

After reading this chapter for no more than 30 seconds, I simply must type. I love verse 3. Many, many times have I been in a doctrinal discussion with someone and the other person just can't "get" what a scripture or principle means.  Verse 3 could explain why that happens to us. Some things we just can't understand without th...

My first question comes from the first verse.  "Why would anyone be 'worried' about the law of restoration?"  Well...  Let's take it from the potential perspective of someone in Corianton's situation.  I guess if I had sinned with a harlot while I was on my mission, I might be a bit worried that the whole "what ye...

After reading this chapter for no more than 30 seconds, I simply must type. I love verse 3. Many, many times have I been in a doctrinal discussion with someone and the other person just can't "get" what a scripture or principle means.  Verse 3 could explain why that happens to us. Some things we just can't understand without th...

I'm so glad that the vacations for the Jones family for 2007 are OVER! Holy cow, I'm quite done with driving in a car with two kids who love screaming.  Anyway... Yesterday, we woke up, got some quick breakfast, and then got in the car to head out to see 3 people take on the LOTOJA bike race (I assume LOTOJA means "LOgan TO JAckson&...

Although I've got quite good at it, I've been in web development for too long.  My passion has always been in music, and it's about time I did something about it. Knowing that I need to keep my family safe, and having been bitten some by risky endeavors, I'm taking baby steps at first, but it's now official. Advanced Budget Studios is offi...

Growing up, I used to have a mis-conception that those who erred against God in their ways were best suited for rebuke the way God gives it in the scriptures.  I was ignorantly judgemental, and for a long time, couldn't understand why people tended to shy away from my tactics. Reading the beginning of this chapter brings back a lot of those ...

Okay...  I know it's a little bit late, but I thought I needed to write about my B-day anyway.  It was the 14th, and evidently, the 16th, too. So, the 14th began with a great time eating lots of great food.  Pancakes for breakfast, my best friend Scott took me to my all-time favorite Thai restaurant and we got some insanely delicio...

 Wow...  When I wrote this in March of 2009, "During this year, I both think and feel (logically and spiritually) I will be stretched more than I've been stretched in years.  This one's gonna be a toughy.  As for now, I feel anxiously optimistic.  Yup..  That about hits it on the head."  I had n...

 So, this chapter seems to be about the rise and fall of the people, and the rulers who ruled both in righteousness and wickedness. It seems to mow through a genration with each verse that goes by - very quickly.  I guess this chapter would be a good one to illustrate the Lord's prophets making promises, and then keeping them through la...

I just got home from Jovi's baby blessing (Brandon and Chloe's first baby) and it was a pretty cool experience. Today was a good day because I thought that it was gonna be .... not good. Yesterday night, I stayed out a bit too late, and thus didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night.  In fact, on my way home, my good friend Steve bought me ...

Okay..  I've never thought of this before, but, how convenient do you think it was for Samuel to climb up on a wall, built around a city most likely to keep people out?  Yeah, I don't think it could have been that easy.  How often do we find any reason at all to get out of doing what God wants us to do?  Well, God told Samuel he...

Well... I figured I'd better write about this because I didn't have the sense to take any video of the actual party. I recorded myself going TO the party, but nothing more.  Crud. It was a good LAN party, too.  We played last Friday and Saturday.  We had the usuals there, Me, Shane and Shaun, but there were two people who never had...