Lightening and Thunder...

We are having the biggest lightening and thunder session in California in all of my reccolection... It is quite the beautiful sight... All I need now is to see a Tornado and my wishes will be practically all fulfill.... I really want to see tornado before I die... I think it comes from the Wizard of Oz but no matter I just really want to see a tornado... When I retire I want to hook up with some storm chaser people and fulfill my dream.... I officiated 3 games at Knight High School and my old student and basketball player Jada Walker is the coach of the Highland team that played them... She is doing a good job as the coach... Night.... 39...

No Bishop yet....

We had interviews last January and I mean about 7 brethern was interviewed and the feeling is that a change was coming soon... We then heard that the change will come in September and now Bishop Dassler feels it might come on November 14th... It is difficult because the church is true and this is the Lord's church, but the ship is sailing but I believe that many buckets of water has been scooped out of the boat so that it would keep on sailing... I'm very impressed with Bishop Dassler and the professional way that he has handle it... I'm sure if we were in President Banfield's shoes we would understand why it has taken so long, but I have felt for Bishop Dassler though... McKenna gave a great talk in Primary today and we also had all the family in Lake LA here to celebrate McKenna's 10th birthday.... It is great to be a Grandpa... Night.... 39

Ruben Bravo is special....

Ruben is a student in my class... He is a brilliant student but is being raised from what I heard by some gang bangers type of people... I do not know them but I know that Ruben acts like a gang banger until he comes into the class and then he shines like a diamond... Today we were going over some of the propositions that are on our ballot and we were talking about legalizing marijuana and Ruben gave an intellectual argument why we should legalize it and then I had the students write their opinion and also tell me which way they would vote... Well the class came up even at 14-14 and the last paper I had to read was Ruben's... I knew which way he was going but I wanted to see how he would craft his argument on paper and then he stunned me... He argued that marijuana should never be legalized... I broke up into a belly laugh and told Ruben to come back to my desk and with a grin he told me he just wanted to shake up the class and that is why he argued for legalization... What a great young man and I am honored to put him into my blog.... Night.... 39

Being competitive is not a sin....

In fact if dealt with the right motive it becomes an asset to the Lord... This is a sample and argueably means nothing, but of the 2 Assistants to the President in our mission and the 12 zone leaders at one point, all of them, but one played competitive high school sports and a few played in college... We were all leaders and we all had an edge to ourselves... There are people who are trying to teach that being ocmpetitive is not condusive to the Spirit, but I maintain that if you are going to be valiant in the gospel then you have to be willing to battle, yes battle evil forces and not give into the competive nature of the evil one in trying to make us give up our integrity... It takes true guts to overcome a weakness of any kind and you will not be able to do it with a passive nature to deal with sin... It takes courage to be kind in all situations and control to follow the Spirit... A competitive person will not let minor aches and pains or sickness cause us to shun the work with a wimpy reason... And yet a passive person will convinced themselves that they are sick and will criticize people who are willing to go through a brick wall for there team, church or family and that was not listed in the order of importance either... I cannot believe how powerful and focus the Lord was when he was on the earth.... We saw "Secretariat" the movie and the drive to win is the grease in the wheel that brings joy into the lives of those who are driven to win and do what is right which is the same thing... I believe that the competitive ones that do evil have all kinds of chinks in their armor and really will not do everything it needs to win but will shun with fear at weak moments and then make excuses.... I love being competitive and I love the drive that is in me.... Some people look at my playing golf as foolishness but it gives me a release to air out emotions that help me cope with other things... And what is wrong with trying to improve on things in your life so you can come up a victor on whatever things you try to beat... Competition is what drives us and lack of competitiveness is luke warm or in other words not valiant... Think about it... Good night.... 39

Volleyball is getting old, but...

I sure love making the money that I am making... I made about $150 in 3 and a half hours... That is pretty good.... I worked at Palmdale and Lancaster really took it to them... Night... 39

I'm really happy for Corine...

It was nice to hear that Corine got the job with another company.... I forgot the name of the company but I know that she wanted a change and I am glad that she got it.... I golfed today and shot an 81... I was sluggish and that really bothered me... It has been fun having my mom here and she is really easy to have around the house.... She is cute with the TV thing and I am anxious when she gets HD.... I had an interview with President Beasel and that was a great experience... I love the church and though it was tough to drive down to Lancaster I still enjoyed the visit.... Night... 39

Nice Sunday....

It was fun having my mom here today... We have her room all set up and I appreciate the chair that Jake brought her and helping her set up her new TV... We didn't have PEC meeting this morning and we all thought that Bishop Dassler was going to finally get released and it didn't have it... Bishop looked a little, oh I don't know but maybe discouraged and I did something that I can't believe I did and that is sending him a text during Sacrament meeting telling him to hang in there and that we love him... Night.... 39

There's a new kid in town....

Yep, I picked up my mom yesterday from the airport at 12:30 in the afternoon and we promptly hussle home to watch the BYU game... We got her all settled and then this evening we went to Wallmart because she wanted to get lotions, toothpaste, and other essentials and oh by the way a new HD TV because the TV from Bo's room just wasn't big enough... She really cracks me up and I must say we had a lot of fun... She is so spry in her mind and easy to talk to... I enjoy telling her all the things that I did that I was afraid to tell her and see her reaction... She also took it well about the big clock that Isaiah brought down on himself... She was only worried about Isaiah... I'm glad to be on again and I started the Winter Season in golf statistics and I have played 3 times and shot a 75, 71, and a 79... I have Josh and Ryan on my mind all the time and I am determined to get ready for our golf tournament next August....Night.... 39