Prayer and Scripture Reading
Dear Family and Friends,
Welcome to this week's "Thoughtlet."
These words are my personal diary and a weekly review of ideas,
beliefs, thoughts, or words that will hopefully be of some
benefit to you: my children, my family, and my friends.
"The theme of last week's Stake Conference seemed to me to be
prayer and scripture reading. I wrote the following based on
the talk our Relief Society President, Beckie Schultz, gave
in the Sunday morning session on the 20th of February:
<![CDATA[ `When we pray
We talk to God
When we read the scriptures
He talks to us']]>
Before I write about prayer and scripture reading, let me
quote an e-mail from David Devor, my Kabbala Jewish friend
to set the spiritual tone for what I want to write about:
<![CDATA[ `1. First Important Lesson: Cleaning Lady
During my second month of college, our professor gave us a
pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed
through the questions until I read the last one:
"What is the first name of the woman who cleans this school
building?" Surely, this was some kind of joke. I had seen
the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired
and in her 50s, but how would I know her name?
I handed in my paper leaving the last question blank.
Just before class ended, one student asked if the last
question would count toward our quiz grade. "Absolutely,"
said the professor. "In your careers, you will meet many
people. All are significant. They deserve your attention
and care even if all you do is smile and say 'hello'."
I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name
was Dorothy.
2. Second Important Lesson: Pick up in the Rain
One night at 11:30 p.m., an older African American woman
was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to
endure a lashing rainstorm. Her car had broken down and
she desperately needed a ride. Soaking wet, she decided
to flag down the next car. A young white man stopped to
help her, generally unheard of in those conflict filled
`60s. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance,
and put her into a taxicab.
She seemed to be in a big hurry but wrote down his address
and thanked him. Seven days went by when a knock came on
the man's door. To his surprise, a giant console color TV
was delivered to his home. A special note was attached.
It read: "Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway
the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes but
also my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I
was able to make it to my dying husband's bedside just before
he passed away... 'God' bless you for helping me and
unselfishly serving others."
Sincerely, Mrs. Nat King Cole
3. Third Important Lesson; Always remember those who serve.
In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a
10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a
table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him.
"How much is an ice cream sundae?" he asked. "Fifty cents,"
replied the waitress. The little boy pulled his hand out of
his pocket and studied the coins in it. "Well, how much is
a plain dish of ice cream?" he inquired.
By now, more people were waiting for a table and the waitress
was growing impatient.
"Thirty-five cents," she brusquely replied. The little boy
again counted his coins. "I'll have the plain ice cream,"
he said. The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill
on the table, and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream,
paid the cashier and left. When the waitress came back, she
began to cry as she wiped down the table. There, placed
neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five
pennies. You see, he did not have the sundae because he had
to have enough left to leave her a tip.
4. Fourth Important Lesson: The Obstacle in Our Path
In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway.
Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove
the huge rock. Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and
courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly
blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear but none did
anything about getting the stone out of the way.
Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables.
Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his
burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road.
After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded.
After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he
noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been.
The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king
indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the
boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many of
us never understand: Every obstacle presents an opportunity
to improve our condition.
5. Fifth Important Lesson: Giving When it Counts
Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I
got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a
rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared
to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year old brother, who had
miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the
antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained
the situation to her little brother and asked the little boy
if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister.
I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep
breath and saying, "Yes I'll do it if it will save her life."
As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his
sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing the color returning
to her cheek. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded.
He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice,
"Will I start to die right away."
Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor; he
thought he was going to have to give his sister all of his
blood in order to save her.']]>
I was so impressed with the talks at Stake Conference, I used
my notes from the talks as my lesson on prayer and scripture
reading for Family Home Evening on Monday night. The part of
this lesson I want to repeat to each of you reading this note
is quotes from the various speakers at the Saturday Night Adult
Session and the Sunday morning General Session of Stake Conference:
<![CDATA[ `Robert Steed, 2nd Counselor in Stake Presidency: YIPs are
Young Impressionable People, and BOGs are Bitter Old Guys.
The Samaritan woman at the well was a YIP and each of us is
this woman at the well. We must lift our head, incline our ear,
and look to the Savior to not become a BOG.'
`Sister Tonya Donaldson, Primary President Katy 1st Ward: Prayer
is the first simple step to return to God. Adults who pray will
understand the atonement. The second step is to read the
scriptures. Faith in Christ comes as we read the scriptures.
Members old or young who read the scriptures proceed.'
`Sister Leah Dailey, Katy 1st Ward: Faith in Christ must lead
to action. `Work out your own salvation' is a statement of
action. She met someone who was born again, and they told
her `The Book of James in my Bible is stapled shut.' We
need to build faith and spiritual self-reliance.'
`Lloyd Womack, 1st Counselor in Houston Texas Temple Presidency:
In Ether 2:23 the Lord said to the Brother of Jared: What will
ye have I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?
The Brother of Jared went up on a mountain and prepared 16
stones and asked the Lord to touch them that they might
provide light for the voyage across the sea. The mountain of
the Lord in our time is the temple. We need to go to the temple
regularly to get inspiration from the Lord as to what we should
be doing in our lives to cross the seas in front of us.'
`Mike Pickerd, Stake President: He was in the Bishopric in 1997
with Don Keller and Steve Feil. The Stake now has 3,600 members
and grew 3% last year. ... We need to evaluate our priorities.
It is wrong conventional wisdom that more is better and less is
undesirable. It is wrong when children do not learn hard work
and the value of delayed gratification. The average child sees
40,000 commercials per year, and children need to learn life
has meaning beyond our own happiness. The key is to put major
effort into the spiritual side of our lives.'
`James Gillespie, 1st counselor in Stake Presidency: It is
most important we not lose our bearings. Remember:
1. the Savior will return in power and glory.
2. There will be a destruction of the wicked.
3. No one knows when it will happen.
4. The faithful will study the scriptures and watch for it.'
`Beckie Schultz, Relief Society President, Nottingham Country
Ward: When we pray we talk to God. When we read the scriptures
God talks to us. As we continue to study, pray, and learn our
testimony grows.'
`Vince Felt, Katy Second Ward: Gave a strong testimony of a
Nigerian Islamic man who saw a copy of the Book of Mormon at
a friends house, read it, prayed about it, and it struck his
heart deeply. He has been in prison for 16 years in Egypt
and Vince was his Home Teacher. He has been sustained by
prayer and by reading the Ensign, his whole connection with
the church other than Vince's Home Teaching visits.'
`Maynard Olsen, Texas Houston Mission President: Like teeth
we all need to be cared for daily:
1. Daily personal and family prayer. The only enemy the
Nephites had was in the mirror.
2. Daily personal and family scripture study. His 8 year
old has read the Book of Mormon 8 times since last summer.
3. Hold Family Home Evening weekly.
4. Keep the Sabbath Day holy. Too few churches encourage
honoring the Sabbath these days.
5. Pay tithing.
6. Go to the temple often.
7. Endure to the end.
It is a damning doctrine to say the only thing I need to do is
to profess to believe in Christ:
1. The time will come when no man nor woman will endure on
borrowed light.
2. Humility is key.
3. Need to repent so we don't carry around baggage.
As a young intern a young girl was brought in with a chicken
bone stuck in her throat. He took the wheelchair and was
running with her to the emergency room down an incline. The
wheelchair got away from him, crashed into a door, she fell
on the floor, and he fell on her. He saw and picked up the
chicken bone and said, `You sure are lucky! Usually we have
to do that three times.'
`Mike Pickerd, Katy Stake President: 12 Sources of Light:
1. Our Savior Jesus Christ.
2. Keeping the commandments.
3. Prayer is a source of light.
4. Sharing the Gospel.
5. Faith.
6. Inspiring music.
7. Art and video. There is a dark side that is vulgar,
immoral, or otherwise unwholesome.
8. Scriptures are a source of light.
9. Testimony.
10. Patriarchal and Priesthood Blessings.
11. Service.
12. Temple attendance.']]>
In his talk, President Gillespie also described how his father,
who is a General Authority, set up a teleconference for his
whole family, and used the time to teach his children and
grandchildren the kind of eternal truths I have written about
in so far in this Thoughtlet on prayer and scripture study.
I expect everyone would not be interested, and I am very
interested to know if any of you would be interested in this
type of a audio supplement to the Thoughtlets, say monthly,
including an opportunity for each individual or family
participating in the teleconference to give a brief update
on what is happening in their lives. I would like this, and
look forward to feedback to see if any of you would also.
For the rest of my Family Home Evening lesson on prayer and
scripture reading, I read from a talk by the late President
Marion G. Romney titled `Why We Should Pray.' I would love
to read this talk to all of my children and Grandchildren,
and think this would be a worthwhile way to start out this
type of a monthly family teleconference.
As far as my week, it went pretty slow. I was still feeling
pretty sick. On Monday Paul called from Germany wanting to
know if I knew a guy he was working with. Turns out I didn't.
However, it was nice to talk to him, and Rob happened to be
in my office when he called, so the two of them also had an
opportunity to talk. The week before I had set up to meet
Dennis McMullin at the monthly POPs Meeting (Pioneer Oil
Producers). I didn't look at my calendar, and forgot. I
looked at my calendar and saw my mistake when Rob was in the
room. I felt terrible. I have missed two lunches with
Dennis in the past. Three strikes and you are out. I left
several groveling messages. However, Dennis called a week
later and told me he was sick and had been at home all week
and he did not go to the lunch meeting. I felt relieved.
But I didn't know that as I took Rob home and was feeling
bad for my mistake.
Greg Branning and Christian Singfield got together a couple
of times this week. However, there was not a reasonable
business fit, and so it didn't go anywhere. Christian also
called Roice and talked to him for several hours about the
software plans he is attempting to raise money to undertake.
On Tuesday a head-hunter named Hank Renner called. It felt
good to think someone was interested in me. Turns out he
wasn't. Oh well! He was interested in knowing if I had
any references for others who could fill some positions he
had open.
I spent Tuesday at the Westchase Hilton at the annual
Spotfire Energy Conference. I had spent some time helping
Sam Mentemeir at Anadarko prepare a talk about how they
are using Spotfire to deta mine GDC's geophysical rock
properties database. Sam had a motorcycle accident and
broke one of his legs in two places. So he was not able
to come. Brian Locke agreed to take his place. He
worked with me on Friday, when I was sick, his wife and
daughter were sick, and he ended up too sick to give the
talk. At the last moment Brian O'Neill stepped up and
ended up giving the talk. It turned out very good. I
could have given the talk, and it was felt by all that
a customer presentation gave more credibility. We also
had a poster and a PC with a live demo. There was a lot
of interest in the material we had put together. I was
pleased with the response.
I spent Wednesday back at the Westchase Hilton in a special
Spotfire training course. I am not a programmer, and so
some of the stuff was over my head. However, I was pleased
I went, and think there will be some good results come out
of this day I spent thinking about the bigger GDC picture.
After the training I went back to the office to work with
Tony Traweek on getting all of the logs loaded into OpenWorks
so we have Landmark projects as Tile Study deliverables.
Thursday morning I met Parker Gay from Salt Lake at 7:00
for breakfast at Denny's, which used to be JoJo's, at
Wilcrest and I-10. Because of a lack of logs to digitize
and my meetings, Rob either drove in or did not come to work.
At 9:00 Thursday morning I had a meeting with Scott Stolz,
GDC's web page builder. Les Denham participated in the
meeting. I laid out what I think needs to happen, and the
next week, I learned that I was being assigned to make sure
the web is up to date and a useful marketing tool.
Friday was a catch up day. Andrea and I watched our three
TV shows in the evening: Enterprise; JAG; and Numb3rs. It
was raining a little on Saturday, and I spent most of the
day working on the Infinite Grid(SM) indexes for my book
`An Open Mind.' There is a lot of work that needs to be
done to create the framework in my mind. I was hoping to
have it posted on-line in January, and I'm writing this
Thoughtlet a week late and it is already March. Oh well!
Saturday night Andrea and I went to see a movie about a
dog named after a grocery store: Dixie Winn. Great movie
for Grandkids, and for me.
To round out my week, and my thoughts on prayer and scripture
study, I wrote five possible stanzas for Prime Words on Sunday:
<![CDATA[ `People desire guidance
And have at all times
A blessing can enhance (a)
Helping our lives rhymes'
(a) Chelsea Short, Nottingham Country Ward Sacrament Meeting
Youth Speaker on Patriarchial Blessings, 27 Feb 2005
`How far is Heaven
It's not very far
When you live close to God
It's right where you are' (b)
(b) Brother Jack Hardy, Katy Texas Patriarch, Nottingham
Country Ward Sacrament meeting, 27 Feb 2005
`Laying my hands on their head
The Lord taught me as I gave
My first Patriarchal Blessing
His words future roads pave' (b)
`We would rather
Build boys
Than mend men (c)
One of life's joys'
(c) Gary Jones at the Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet, quoting
Thomas S. Monson, as quoted by Greg Branning in Nottingham
Country Ward Gospel Doctrine Class, 27 Feb 2005
`Joseph Smith was a prophet because
He talked and taught like a prophet
He lived and died like a prophet
He gave evidence Jesus is the Christ' (d)
(d) Hugh B. Brown recording, at Sherie Fitzgerald fireside at
the new Klein Stake Center, 17 Feb 2005.]]>
I hope you each have a good week. I hope you will remember the
things I strived to teach by word and by example regarding
prayer and scripture study."
Since the 38th week of 1996 I have written a weekly "Thoughtlet"
(little statements of big thoughts which mean a lot to me).
Until the 43rd week of 2004 I sent these out as an e-mail. They
were intended to be big thoughts which mean a lot to me.
Over time the process evolved into a personal diary. These notes
were shared with my family because I know how important the
written word can be. Concerned about how easy it is to drift and
forget our roots and our potential among all of distractions of
daily life, I thought this was a good way to reach those I love.
It no longer feels right to send out an e-mail and "force" my kids
and my family to be aware of my life and struggles.
Everyone has their own life to lead, and their own struggles to
work through. I will continue this effort, and will continue to
make my notes publicly accessible (unless I learn of
misuse by someone who finds out about them, and then will
aggressively
pursue a legal remedy to copyright infringement and I will put the Thoughtlets
behind a password).
The index to download any of these Thoughtlets is at
http://www.walden3d.com/thoughtlets,
or you can e-mail me with
questions or requests at
rnelson@walden3d.com
(note if you are not on my e-mail "whitelist" you must send 2 e-mails
within 24 hours of each other in order for your e-mail to not be trashed).
With all my love,
Dad
(H. Roice Nelson, Jr.)