My prize

In case you are a "Little Life" reader only and not a PAD reader - my Fancy Simple Prize came today and it wasn't lipgloss. Check out PAD to see what it was.

20 things I'm grateful for

The fine people at Fancy Simple (By the way I haven't gotten my prize yet) have suggested we write out 20 things we're grateful for.

There is some what of an order to this.

1. God
2. Jesus Christ
3. Holy Ghost
4. My family - I have been a pain to deal with for the last three years and they have been very supportive.
5. My girlfriend Nina - I'm amazed at her patience and her forgiveness.
6. My friends.
7. My digital camera. I love sharing my life with the world with one snap shot at a time. It was the best father's day gift any one could ever give me. I love my dad for it and I am so grateful for my opportunity to do PAD.
8. My health. I spent a lot of time as a kid being sick. While I still get sick more often than other people, I'm still thankful for the improved health I enjoy. I don't spend as much time sick as I used to.
9. My truck. I'm not a very material kind of guy, but I do appreciate the blessings of my truck. My father helped me buy it and it has allowed me some experiences I doubt I could ever have had any other way.
10. Garden State. What? A movie in my top ten things? Yes - because this movie, more than any other, moves me beyond the depression of lost into a direction of hope.
11. America. Despite all of the stupid things that happen here, I still appreciate all of the blessing I have by being bred and born under the flag that stands for freedom.
12. Baseball. My father was a complicated man when I was growing up. We didn't always have a lot in common and furthermore his work constantly took him out of the country. But every summer he made time to take Chad and I to baseball games. And as we would watch the A's lose, my father would talk to us, share stories with us, and make us feel like we were the only kids with their dad at those games.
13. Myspace, facebook, and blogger. I don't think I would remain as close as I am to friends any family if it wasn't for those three networking sites.
14. Good TV. I just love TV that inspires me and makes me think differently. It's rare now days, but it is worth it.
15. Good book writers. I will always be impressed that Mitch Albom got me to cry the tears that my therapist tried for two years to get me to cry. And it turns out my therapist was right - it felt so good to do it.
16. mechanical knowledge. I know people that can't hear of a problem and then know how to fix it with their tools and a 2x4. I am so grateful for the gifts and talents I have been given to build and fix things in this world.
17. The charity of others.
18. Forgiveness
19. Family traditions. We don't have many, but I love the ones we do have. Even though some of them are morbid.
20. knj. Without her, I would have never believed in myself and I wouldn't have done so well. It's weird, but I knew I loved Nina from something KNJ had taught me.

Faith of our fathers and our Homeless

This is the last entry I will be making for Fancy Simple for a while. This week they have been talking about faith and today the faith question came almost full circle. I talked in the past that Faith without works is dead. It does you no good in my mind to have faith in anything unless it inspires you to action. Have faith in a higher power hopefully gets you to show worship of that higher power by doing things that higher power would have you do. If you have Faith that this next year the Chicago Cubs will finally make it to the World Series (and Win for once), you might show your faith to buy tickets and go to one of their pathetic games (that they will probably lose).

Faith requires action.

Fancy Simple suggests that I tell you about how my faith inspires me. I'd like to share three instances.

Faith in my God has resulted in me feeling the importance of bearing one another's burdens. This Sunday is Veteran's day. We have three major generations of war in our lives. We have our Grandparent's war (WWII), our Father's war (Viet Nam) and we have our generation's war (Invading Iraq to have a piece of the oil market). We have 3 sets of soldiers that sometimes just want to talk. Right now I am doing part-time construction at the home of a 90 year-old woman who loves for me to eat lunch with her ("Just like my Charlie used to when we built this house..."). And as I sit there and eat with her she tells me stories. Stories about growing up. Stories about living with "Japs" and "Negroes." Stories about her husband and his war the pacific theatre. And I listen to everyone of those stories. Of course there is work to be done (termites to find, wood to replace, sheetrock to install), but she wants to talk. I think that is important to do. Listen to those who have gone before.

For my second item I want to talk about doing what's right even when you realize you're probably getting screwed. I am not a change guy. I used to be. My brother's best friend Ryan can tell you stories of when I was a young pup, Ryan used to throw dimes and nickels in the street just so they could watch me chase after them. But not any more - change is just something that weighs me down and slows me down. So when I go to the store and they give me change back, I throw it into my ash tray. Then when I come across many of the homeless people in Antioch I give them some of my change. I have heard people say that I am just throwing my money away. In stead of begging for money - these people could go out and get good jobs. I don't care. I have faith that they will use the money for their good. "Their Good" is a very loose term in my head. If buying a gram and getting high is what they think is good for them, then I don't care. I just know that to not share something that I'm not going to do anything with isn't good for me.

The last piece of faith in action comes from a comment my sister made. This is the holiday season and there are people in need of food. She is planning on donating to the food back. I whole heartily endorse this. Growing up in Fremont, my mother used to go to the store and get canned goods for our food storage. When the Second Harvest people would come to our door I would slip into our food storage and find them all of the Homeless Corn we have. What is Homeless Corn, you ask? It's creamy corn. Every time I've worked at a homeless shelter, they have had creamy corn for their occupants. I'm not sure if it's be cause homeless people love creamy corn or if, like me, eating homeless corn inspires them to not be homeless, but I do know that my mother was constantly seeing her homeless corn go to those that needed it.
Why donate to the homeless? Call it karma or call it faith, but I believe that it is creating a security net. You never know when tragedy will hit your life. One day you may be a rich person in the hills of Malibu and the next you are eating homeless corn at Qualcom Stadium. But by giving now you are having faith that if you ever need it, someone will give to you when you are in need. Even if all they are giving is Homeless Corn.

Building Faith

Today's challenge from Fancy Simple is to give a photo of faith. This building inspires faith in me. I believe that in this building families can be sealed together forever. I have faith, that as my family is sealed for time and all eternity, I will see my mother again.

(By the way - this building is the Rexburg Temple in Rexburg, Idaho. There are open houses starting the last week of December for anyone in the general public that wants a look inside.)

Faith Questionaire

Let me first state that I'm really hoping that this week's challenge from Fancy Simple doesn't distract from the most recent Dead Animal Series Break Through. We CANNOT forget these poor creatures.

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That said, Fancy Simple has posted a questionnaire for today's function of faith. Below are my answers. Comments are always welcome as long as you identify who you are. (Anonymous posts will be deleted.)

What is faith?

To answer this I take from the Book of Mormon. "Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." Additionally I take from an old Scoutmaster of mine,"Faith without works is dead. Or Faith without works isn't Faith." I think faith is an action word and a describing word.

Who or what has most inspired your faith?

I think my mother has inspired my faith the most. My mother had a lot of struggles in life and was tried over and over again. Yes she stayed true to her faith in God. Despite all that happened to her she still always prayed and hoped that God would grant her a better day. He blessed her with small miracles over large miracles and medium size blessings over huge blessings, but she still remained faithful to God and her faith in Him all the way up to the moment she passed from our presence to His.

Which celebrity faith craze most intrigues you?

I'm not sure I ever really follow celebrity faith crazes. I try to be respectful to what people believe and I don't really notice the crazes. However, I have noticed that there is a growing religion that worships the lives of performers over the acts of performers. It used to be that we revered actors and actresses for their abilities on the stage or the silver screen. However now we tend to care less about talent and focus on lifestyle. I have a friend who comes home from work every day and turns on the TV to watch Entertainment Tonight. He is enthralled in the lives of celebrities. It is his religion and it has its own rules and its own doctrine. And each night he sits in front of the TV worshiping the lives of the celebrities. Faithfully he dives into their lives and lives through them vicariously. Instead of riding his bike or taking a college course or even volunteering at the library reading to little kids, he comes home to join the religion of living vicariously through others. Celebrity Worship is a very interesting faith craze that intrigues me. I don't understand what makes the lives of celebrities better than our own lives.

What do you do to maintain and/or grow in your faith?

I think that faith is maintained and grown by exercising faith. I have been unemployed for the last several months and largely I tried to find work on my own with out supernatural help. Then I decided to exercise faith. I prayed to God to know the direction I should take. I felt a reassurance that teaching was where I belonged. I then prayed to be helped on the tests and the applications to become a teacher in California. Over time I received that help. I know that I did well on the test not by my own doing, but because of the faith and prayers I entrusted to my God.

Who do you have faith in?

God, and everything that goes with that.

Do you pray? What do you pray about?

I pray often. I pray for health and safety for my self and my friends and family. I pray for instruction. And I pray (most often) to say my gratitude for the blessings I have been given in my life.

How do you share your faith with others?

By writing blogs.

What (or who) prevents you from being faithful?

I think my self doubts and my impatience prevent me from being faithful. There is that old adage that God's time is not our time, and God's vision is not our vision. I grow weary not knowing the end from the beginning and I grow impatient when the blessing I desire now isn't being given to me now, but is instead coming down the road. I feel like giving up sometimes when things don't go the way I think they should go. Eventually, though, I see the ways of the Lord clearer and know that the things He through in my way actually blessed me.

Do you have a faith-related pet peeve? What is it?

My only faith pet-peeve would be the one stated earlier. I have a hard time seeing why people waste their time having faith in something that doesn't make them better. Having faith in the lives of a celebrity scares me a little. Even having faith in a devil brings people to action. Faith in the vicarious lives of celebrities doesn't usually move people to action.

Faith

The fine people at Fancy Simple have posted another challenge - one that I think about constantly. My Sister-in-law has asked me to attempt more postings at Fancy Simple and so this week I'm going to make an attempt.

The challenge specifically for today is to post our favorite quote on faith. There are so many to choose from, but my mind immediately goes to the apostle Paul and his writings to the Hebrews in which he says: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

There is so much that I have Faith in, but the most central to me I think is the faith I have that I will see my mother again some day and that my family will be one eternal organization.