Every Good Thing

To my respected friend, Jacob Pitt, on his 19th birthday

Jacob,

You asked for my “best advice” on your 19th birthday. I took this request seriously and thought about it deeply, praying about it, seeking some inspiration.

Everything I gathered can be condensed into five things:
1) A copy of a letter I recently wrote to Jason on his mission,
2) A book,
3) A few supplemental comments,
4) One more book, and
5) One final comment.

I hope this will be an embarking point for an exciting, glorious “quest of a lifetime” that will only end when we meet before the Lord at that great and last day. (See Boyd K. Packer, “Introduction,” Endowed from on High: Temple Preparation Seminar Teacher’s Manual, iv.)

I feel the assurance of the Spirit that if you will follow this advice the Lord will bless you with “exceeding great and precious” blessings.

Kevin Crenshaw

The Letter

The best advice always comes from through and from the Holy Spirit. Everyone needs something different. The Spirit can tell us precisely what we need. The question is, will we listen? Will we obey? (Will we “hearken?”)

With that in mind, I start with a letter I recently wrote to my son Jason on his mission.

Continue Reading »

Tags: Faith, False Revelation, Holy Spirit, Humility, Relationships, Revelation, Scriptures, Testimony

I sent out the following email today:

On its official www.lds.org web site, a letter from the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints requested the “best efforts” of Church members to support the marriage protection amendment in California. Such a statement is unusual for the LDS Church, which recognizes this as a serious moral, non-political issue:

“We ask that you do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time to assure that marriage in California is legally defined as being between a man and a woman. Our best efforts are required to preserve the sacred institution of marriage.”
(http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/california-and-same-sex-marriage)

The letter was read only to California congregations, but it doesn’t specifically limit the request to them; it appears on the LDS web site for anyone to read and consider. (See DC 58:27-8.)

What happens in California affects the entire US. For that reason, a few large, out-of-state donors are heavily funding the effort to make same-sex marriage the law in California. By contrast, protecting marriage is more of a grass roots effort. See yesterday’s AP news article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/gay_marriage_money

I can’t sit idly by and watch this happen. However, as a non-Californian I wasn’t sure how to help until now.

What You Can Do

You do not need to be a California resident to make a big difference.

As I’ve analyzed this, I conclude that we must act NOW, in the next 2 or 3 days. I personally recommend the following: Continue Reading »

Tags: Children, Gay Rights, Marriage, Religious Freedom

One thing I learned watching my father was the importance of teaching your children. My dad did this in a relaxed way in day-to-day conversation, more formally around the dinner table, and sometimes by issuing logical or theological challenges that left us thinking—and talking.

My father has a great command of words as well as ideas, which made for quick, memorable lessons. I remember many of these, but my favorite (which I’ve shared with others many times) is the “Parable of the Teargas Grenade.” Perhaps this was most meaningful because it was true, funny, and applied to my situation with laser-targeted accuracy.

Continue Reading »

Tags: Courtship, Fathers, Parenting, Stories, Teaching, Timing

In studying the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I encourage everyone I know to ask detailed questions and learn all they can. This, of course, in addition to the supernally-important process of praying and asking God for heavenly guidance.

Asking questions is the best way to get good answers, and there are many excellent resources on the Internet. Unfortunately, there is also a flood of misinformation. So where to look for accurate answers? The LDS Church Web site is doctrinally rock-solid. Another resource I like as a starting point for answers to more difficult questions is JeffLindsay.com. He does his research and is usually a careful thinker (in my opinion), he’s been linked to by the LDS web site on an issue or two, and he even has a sense of humor! Not a bad combination. However, perhaps the most scholarly approach is provided by the Maxwell Institute. Their articles are deep, insightful, and often peer-reviewed.

Temples, Respect, and Reverence

But what of the LDS temple ordinances, which members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hold as so sacred that they do not discuss them in detail outside the LDS temples? Special care should be taken when treading on this sacred ground for reasons of our own spiritual growth, propriety, and plain old-fashioned brotherly kindness and mutual respect. Continue Reading »

Tags: Ordinances, Symbolism, Temples

Years ago, while strolling across the BYU campus with a non-religious co-worker, I mentioned that I had majored in physics there and loved the sciences. Her reply betrayed a prejudice that I think is widespread today.

“I imagine it must have been hard for you to be religious and study science at the same time.”

My reply startled her visibly. I said something like this: “Not at all. I’ve found that truth is truth, wherever it is found. Truth in science never contradicts truth in religion. Conflicts only come from things we falsely assume to be true—false science or false religion.” Continue Reading »

Tags: Flatland, Knowledge, Physics, Revelation, Truth

About a month ago I installed the KidZui 3.0 web browser for kids for our youngest son, Michael. Now that his 30-day trial period is over, I’m sharing Michael’s review right here. (OK, I’ll discuss my perspective as well.)

Michael didn’t really have Internet access until KidZui. Why? Our old filtering solution was good but not perfect. I’ve since discovered K9, which is iron-clad and free. (Read my review here.) Nevertheless, K9 doesn’t provide any kind of starting point or home page for young surfers. KidZui fixes that problem and is easy to install, so I let Michael put it through its paces. Here is his expert opinion. Continue Reading »

Tags: Email, Filtering, Internet, K9, Kidzui, Parenting, PikLuk, Reviews, Web

Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord. (2 Ne. 3:12.)

More than a week ago, a thought came to me that I ought to call Keith Meservy, my brother-in-law’s father, and tell him how much I’ve appreciated his example and scholarship over the years. Since moving to Kentucky and Virginia I hadn’t spoken to him, yet I was a better person because of our past association. His quiet, encouraging manner and careful attention to spiritual things left their mark on me.

Sunday, I received word that he passed away peacefully after a battle with leukemia. Continue Reading »

Tags: Bible, Book of Mormon, Contention, Example, Friendship, Humility, Mistakes, Spirit World, Teaching, Truth

“Declare in my name, in solemnity of heart, in the spirit of meekness, in all things. And I give unto you this promise, that inasmuch as ye do this the Holy Ghost shall be shed forth in bearing record unto all things whatsoever ye shall say.” (DC 100:7-8.)

(Powhatan Ward LDS Church, Richmond Virginia Midlothian Stake, 20 Apr 2008.)

My Life-Changing Experience in 1999

In 1999, I heard Elder Henry B. Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speak at a regional leadership training meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. It wasn’t his speaking ability that impressed me, but a flood of inspiration and great desire to change my life that came as he spoke and taught by the power of the Holy Ghost.

His words were not overpowering or emotional or awe-inspiring. It was the content and the result of hearing them that made the difference. As he spoke, the Holy Ghost inspired me, and I knew precisely what God wanted me to do and change to please Him best. Elder Eyring testified that if we actually did what we felt impressed to do that day, spiritual blessings would follow. I obeyed, even though it was sometimes hard. My life changed forever.

Now I Listen More Carefully

Since that experience, when Elder Eyring speaks, I listen perhaps a little more carefully than usual, though I know through the Holy Spirit that each the Twelve is a true and living, modern-day apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Uncharacteristically, this past General Conference (April 2008), I had trouble understanding the focus of his Saturday morning talk, so I studied and pondered it for this speaking assignment. Today I’d like to explain, then elaborate on what I believe he was teaching about “the true and living church.” Then I’ll connect it to the concept of a “living prophet of God.” Continue Reading »

Tags: Callings, CFS, Faith, Humility, Joseph Smith, Prophets, Repentance, Service, Sustaining, Teaching, Weakness

Though I rode the train many times on my mission to Brisbane, Australia, I could never shake my fear of stepping into the wrong car and going the wrong direction.

Feel the same way? Let me explain where I think this blog is headed in the months just ahead:

• Dating vs. Courting. We struggled with dating questions in non-LDS areas. Who do you date? When? Why? After much thought, prayer, and late-night discussions with more than one teenager, we’re excited about our answer. So were others in our ward and stake when they heard it. Maybe it will help your family too? (Preview: “Dating is a friend thing, courting is a marriage thing.”)
• Reviews of family-friendly technology and solutions. Keeping kids (and parents) safe takes some work nowadays, but fortunately, others have done it for us already.
• The Resurrection and the Atonement. Why was the atonement a prerequisite for the resurrection?
• Supermassive Black Holes and the Book of Abraham. (Yes, you read correctly.) Just discovered a decade ago, SMBH shed profound “light” both on the processes of galaxy formation and the Book of Abraham (cosmologically, symbolically, and especially spiritually).
• Exciting new ways to contribute to family history research. This is both for my very-extended family and everyone in general.
• Review of Ghandi: The Story of My Experiments with Truth. I recently read this and came away with great lessons about covenant making/keeping and consecration. There’s a lot to learn from Ghandi and our Hindu brothers and sisters.
• Discerning Truth. The “Mormon” Church believes in continuing revelation. However, since there is “opposition in all things,” continuing revelation implies that false revelation is also possible. How then, exactly, would we tell the difference between true and false revelation? And are there even more important considerations than that one in seeking, receiving, and following inspiration? (Yes.)
• Web site for Calvin P. and Elsie Midgley and Semilunar Biopsy Repair. We can get the word out about this groundbreaking surgery and the lives of these great people (Lake County, Illinois). It isn’t hard to do. Maybe somebody, somewhere, will pick up the ball and run with it. Without the help of those of us who know about it, those searching won’t find it, because the articles are now buried.

If any of this sounds interesting, I invite you to subscribe to this blog by clicking on the links at the very top right corner. Share your comments and thoughts, and we’ll explore these things together.

Tags: Black Holes, Courting, Dating, Ghandi, Jesus Christ, Midgley, Revelation, SBR, Truth

I’m no stranger to Web filtering technology. As a former geek power-user and current father of 10, family online safety has been an interest and project for over a decade. I’ve researched and fought with home networks and monitored and analyzed and put many programs through their paces. I’ve used BESS, Cerberian, WinProxy, and NetNanny 5.6 from Content Watch, which is a decent program. All of these operated in our Windows home network environment. I even bought a BESS proxy server and started a venture when no alternative could be found in rural Kentucky.

Then we bought a Mac.

What a rude awakening! Filtering options are limited in the Mac world. When I faced serious customer service issues with the most obvious choice (to the point of being afraid to call them!) I was motivated to search further. That was a serendipity.

The results: I found K9, from Blue Coat Systems, which now offers a robust filtering solution for the Mac. Better still, K9 (Mac or Windows) is completely free to families and home users. Highly recommended.

K9 offers an impressive, fully-customizable array of blocking categories, easy Web interface, usage reporting, email alerts of questionable use, a three-strikes-and-you’re-out option I’ve wanted for years, custom site overrides (permanent and temporary), P2P and IM monitoring, a safe search engine option that ensures search engines are accessed for the safest results, time limiting, anti-phishing, an online site rating checker (missing for NetNanny 5.6) and more.

Wow!

If you are a corporate or organizational user, you’ll need to buy a license (presumably after the beta period is over if you’re a Mac user). The single license price for non-home use is $30/year.

Feel free to post your own experiences and comments about K9 here.

Tags: Children, Family, Filtering, Freeware, K9, Mac, Reviews