What are You Thankful for?

Thanksgiving in Yuma.  Not a lot to write about, and unfortunately no pictures.  I really like posting pictures.  Pictures rule.

School was out for us on Tuesday, and so we had all day Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off.  Thursday was the Turkey Bowl, and although my knee is still very unhappy, I had a great time.  Must have been 30-40 guys that showed up, so much that we split into two games and just had a blast.  I only caught one pass, but since I was mostly hobbling on the field, it was the only pass thrown to me.  That's 1:1 baby!

Thanksgiving dinner was at the parents of my Elder's Quorum president.  Follow that?  Dinner was great, conversation and company was great, and even the lemon meringue pie was great.  It was even pleasant to sit around the table with grown adults and share and discuss our political beliefs, without anyone "getting offended".  I put that in quotes because I'm sick of being PC.  Boo hoo.  Get over it.

I have to say one of the highlights of the holiday was the movie: The Muppets.  When I found Eron had already taken his family and Mom took my family, I decided to see it myself.  Loved it!  So many simple, intelligent jokes, laugh-out-loud moments, and nostalgic times that I just couldn't stop smiling.  There were so many moments that I just wanted to jump up and sing along, even to those songs I'd just heard for the first time.  It was awesome.  I've got to give a shout out to Jason Segel.  I saw him on Jimmy Kimmel the other night, and he was so much the machine behind this movie.  He insisted it wasn't fair that it had been 12 years without a muppet movie, because that meant an entire generation without even knowing who they were.  So he got everything started, he was one of the writers, and he starred in this epic comeback.  Jason, you're the man!

Gave a talk in church today.  I'd been thinking about it a lot this week, and yesterday I sat down to give myself an outline of what I wanted to say.  This morning I review again and I felt I was in a good place.  Then I get to church this morning to find that one of our speakers couldn't show, and I was encouraged to fill extra time.  Of course I was also told that getting out of church early is not a sin!  Surprisingly, the first talk was from a beautiful young woman who just returned from her mission in Oakland, CA, followed by a musical clarinet number.  Both set such a power and humble tone to the whole meeting,  that I was a bit intimidated, to say the least.  Still, I said an extra prayer and when all was done, I really felt I kept what I should have kept, and skipped what wasn't needed.  I spoke of us being in a time of war, and referred to a number of verses that perfectly describe the wickedness of our day, in the Nephite times.  Then I referred to father Lehi for suggestions on what to do.  I was surprised to find in the first 5 verses of 1st Nephi that Lehi did the following:

1. He was aware of what was happening in the world around him, politically, religiously, and spiritually
2. He listened to the warnings of the prophets
3. He prayed
4. He acted on the answers he received

Isn't that precisely what we all should be doing right now, politically, religiously, and spiritually?  I then went to insight Brother Ladle gave me 20 years ago.  There are 3 groups of people in Lehi's vision, in terms of the Iron Rod.

1. Those that never find it.
2. Those that cling to it, find the fruit, then are ashamed and fall away
3. Those who hold fast, press forward, and heeded not the mocking of the great and spacious building.

Which one are you?  Which one am I?

I'm thankful for time to get a better grip.