Come Follow Me

Today members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints started the new Sunday schedule of worship and a new curriculum of study. The three-hour block that began in 1980 was shortened to two hours; one hour for sacrament meeting and fifty minutes for Sunday School and other priesthood and auxiliary lessons. The new curriculum titled “Come Follow Me” will be used for all Sunday School, Primary, Young Men and Women classes, as well as priesthood and relief society instruction.

Elder Cook in his October General Conference address that explained the changes were more than shortening the Sunday meeting times, but included four purposes for the changes:

1.     Deepening conversion to Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthening faith in Them.

2.     Strengthening individuals and families through home-centered, Church-supported curriculum that contributes to joyful gospel living.

3.     Honoring the Sabbath day, with a focus on the ordinance of the sacrament.

4.     Helping all of Heavenly Father’s children on both sides of the veil through missionary work and receiving ordinances and covenants and blessings of the temple.

As member of The Church we can come closer to the Savior Jesus Christ by improving our individual and family gospel study program and improving our Sabbath worship. The Church’s role in the salvation of its members is more of a supportive role and places the major responsibility on families and individuals.

This week my wife and I continued to have scripture study together by reading the Book of Mormon. For our individual scripture study program, we are now reading the “Come Follow Me for Individuals and Families” lessons. Today when we came home from our Sunday meetings, we discussed what we had learned from our individual study. It was a fun experience to be able to discuss the scriptures we read during the week on our own and the impressions we had received, and I know if we continue to do this each week our testimony and understanding of the scriptures will deepen and our love for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will increase.

When the rich young man came to Jesus and asked what he needed to do to have eternal life, Jesus to him that he should keep the commandments and then the young man said he had done that all his life. The young man then asked, “what lack I yet?” Jesus told him to sell all he had and then “come, follow me” (Luke 8:22). We have all been given the same invitation to come follow Jesus Christ. We may not have to sell all we have, but we each have something that we consider as precious as the young man’s wealth that we must be willing to “sell”. Are we willing to sell whatever it is that is keeping us from coming closer to the Savior or will we go a way sorrowing because we are not willing to sacrifice our ‘wealth”?

My wife and I are excited about these changes and the opportunity to accept the invitation to come follow our Savior. As we increase our personal and family gospel study it will bring us closer to the Savior and at the same time, we will grow closer as a couple.

Your comments and questions are welcome.

The Unwilling Super Bowl Fan

My grandson asked last week if they could come watch the super bowl at our house and I told him we have never watched the Super Bowl and had no plan on starting. He called and texted me while still in church meetings today and I finally called him back at 4:20 (10 min before the game was to start) and said they had no place to watch it. I said they could come if it was ok with Grandma. He said she already said they could and they were on their way to our house! Guess I did not have much choice in the matter.

You have to understand that my grandson is the avid NFL fan and that I am not. Give me a good college game and you're not going to get me away from it. But I have never have been an NFL fan. So I watched my first Super Bowl game today. In the previous 50 years I may have watched two or three minutes of the game.

When the Falcons got up 28 to 3 my grandson was ready to go home he did not want to watch anymore and he was trash talking the Falcons. I tried to convince him that if he was a true Patriots fan that he needed to support his team even when they were losing. He didn't want to have anything to do with that. He was ready to give up and there was no way they were going to come back. The biggest comeback in Super Bowl history was a 10 point deficit and the Patriots were down by 25.

My daughter said they needed to stay and watch the end of the game. The second half was totally different. The Patriots could do no wrong and the Falcons could get nothing going. By the time there was only two minutes left, the Patriots only needed one more touchdown and a two point conversion to tie it up. My grandson was a fan again and he was excited and screaming and yelling as was my daughter and everybody else. In the end the Patriots won in overtime, the first overtime in Super Bowl history.

I guess if you're going to start watching the Super Bowl this was a good one to start with. While I'm still not a fan of the NFL I am a fan of my family and will do most anything for them even watch football on Super Bowl Sunday.

If I was going to put a gospel spin on this lesson it would be to never lose faith in something you believe in especially when times are tough and everybody else is doubting or saying negative things, or making fun of your beliefs.

Those of us who believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ know that we are on a winning team. And even though we may be in the fourth quarter towards the end of the game and losing, the Lord's team will in the end be victorious. Even though it looks like our foes are going to be victorious in the end they will lose, they will be destroyed, and there will be no victory celebration for them.

The Prophet Joseph Smith speaking to the Saints in 1842 in Nauvoo said: "brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren, and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad." (D&C 128:22)

May we never lose hope or faith in our captain, The Lord Jesus Christ and in the one who is calling the plays, our Heavenly Father. We are on the winning team and will prevail in the end.

Your comments and questions are welcome.