Because He Lives

Happy Easter, Friends.

 

 

 
They are starting to put ads on our blog. We do not approve these and are not getting any residuals whatsoever, so I apologize for the content. I’ll see what I can do about it.

Hinge Moments

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“It has long been an axiom of mine
that the little things
are infinitely the most important.”
Arthur Conan Doyle, Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

“Let me tell you something big:
Give importance to little things.”
Mehmet Murat ildan

“Sometimes the little opportunities
that fly at us each day
can have the biggest impact.”
Danny Wallace,  Yes Man

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My son, Connor, loves cars.  One of his favorite shows is Great Britain’s Top Gear (and we thoroughly enjoy the show along with him). Whenever I point out a car on the road, “Oh, that’s a pretty car,” Connor will chime in with the make/model/year, gas mileage, perks and quarks, and if a competitor’s version is better or worse.  He’s no expert, but if you hang around Connor long enough, you gain an appreciation for fine cars.  Maybe that’s why this car caught my eye.

The Lord is Pleased

“When you find your path,
you must not be afraid.
You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses
to show us the way.”
^{― Paulo Coelho}

“Have no fear of perfection –
you will never reach it.”
^{― Salvador Dali}

I have been keeping up with some of my missionary friends since being home from my mission. One in the field told me they were feeling down because they thought they weren’t doing enough to talk to people and that they were failures because of this. Hearing this, I dusted off my soapbox and gave my two cents on the matter. I thought the advice was equally important for those who aren’t missionaries to hear as well. So here we go –

Do You Know a Superhero?

“My own heroes are the dreamers,
those men and women who tried
to make the world a better place
than when they found it, whether in small ways or great ones.
Some succeeded, some failed,
most had mixed results…
but it is the effort that’s heroic, as I see it.  Win or lose, I admire those who fight the good fight.”
George R.R. Martin
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“I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people.”
Maya Angelou

I’ve always wanted to be a superhero.  Admit it, you have too, huh.  To fly through the air at the speed of light, swooping just in the nick of time to save the day, the damsel, or the next downfall.  Pulling out some super strength like laser vision, mind melding, levitation – I don’t know, anything that defeats the super villain and restores peace and justice.

Yeah, I’ve always wanted to be a superhero.

Only the spandex suits…leeeet’s just say that the only way I’d don one of those puppies is if it were in slimming black and lined head to toe with factory grade Spanx.  Then again, this middle-aged body in spandex just might be horrifying enough to vanquish all villains for good. One look, and in Medusa-like fashion they’d turn to stone or run screaming for the hills. (Hey, I may have pegged my super power!)

True Heroes
My family is a big fan of superheroes – cinema and comic book alike. But today, I’m gearing this post toward true heroes. Unlike our masked avengers and caped crusaders, true heroes are hard to identify.  They don’t look like heroes.  For instance, let me get right to it and describe a few.

Beware the Ides of March

“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.”
Martin Luther King Jr.

“All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.”
Matthew 26:52

March 15, 44 BC Julius Caesar was killed in the Capitol by members of the Roman Senate.

He had been warned this day would come. A soothsayer had hailed him one day on the streets and said, “Beware the Ides of March!” (Ides meaning the day dividing the month in half – March 15). Then his wife started having dreams about him being murdered. He received notes and hints from several men of plots to kill him. But Caesar had ignored these portents and walked merrily into work one fine March morning and wound up in a pool of his own blood on the marble floor.

It’s a pretty big bummer to be stabbed 23 times by colleagues and rumored family members. But I don’t think the real loser here was Julius Caesar. He’s got a Shakespeare play bearing his name, not to mention a pizza joint and a pretty delicious salad.

Nah, I think the assassins got the bigger disappointment.