7-yr-old perspective of Evils of Alcohol

Dallin on Family Traditions

Jonah and a Whale of a Tale

(true story from this summer)......

Last night, just after we had concluded our typical Monday family get-together, someone was knocking at our door. As my son answered the knock, we observed a young man anxious to visit with the “parents of the house”.

He politely introduced himself as Jonah from Baltimore. He was associated with a youth sales team of “inner city” youth. Jonah had a miracle cleaner to present. My son, Michael had just baked a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies. So my generous wife offered him a couple of cookies.

As Jonah performed his product demo, we had an interesting discussion regarding overcoming obstacles. He was telling of some of his encounters with customers in his door-to-door sales contacts, the most spectacular being the “gentleman” who answered the door with a double barrel shotgun! The man's wife began asking him product questions with the shotgun pointed to his chest. As Jonah casually answered her questions, he began demonstrating his cleaner by shining the chromed barrels of the shotgun! She bought his product!

Now, whether Jonah was stretching the reality, or not, is of minor significance. I believe the tale has merit. As we work toward our successes in life and business, we will encounter “opportunities” (a positive reference for challenges). Our growth and success is totally dependent upon our response to these opportunities!

IN GOD WE TRUST,....

Following are the words of a young man...17 1/2 year old Michael:

I heard a song on the radio the other day, and it made me start to think. The song was talking about how America seems to have disappeared , and that the people have lost their spirit of patriotism.
Well, I think he was somewhat correct in his song because we (if you look around) don't really take time to think about the freedoms we have, or at least should have. But we have so much to be proud of, and grateful for. Think about it; we choose who runs our country, we choose who represents us in government, AND we all share the equal right to run for these offices ourselves! Besides that, we have the right to keep our own weapons: guns, knives, etc... We have the right to own private property, we can build and operate our own business; and all this was bought with the blood of brave men, who believed in freedom. They gave their lives so that we could have our freedoms, and we have kept those freedoms for over two hundred years now,(a very rare length of time for such a thing) and now, after so long, they are being threatened by ignorance and apathy!
Do you know what our flag represents? It represents freedom from tyranny! Red for the blood shed in defense of liberty; White the purity of the hearts of those who gave their lives for our country, and blue is for the justice, hope, perseverance, and vigilance. The flag represents those who fight for freedom and justice in the wars, in the courtroom, in the schools, or in any other setting, public or private.
I hope we can all have confidence in knowing that the flag represents us.

“In God we trust!” that phrase has, of late, faded in almost every place it has been stamped or engraved. On our coins, where it has been kept more out of tradition then any other reason, it has been moved to the edge, where it is less visible, and where it will be much more likely to fade away. God is the true founder of our nation, and that is why we have been able to overcome impossible odds, not only on the field of battle, but also in the councils of government; the men who formed our government were not people who had been in offices of state, they only studied the writings of those who had. They must have been working under the direction, and inspiration of God. God knows everything, and He is able to give us guidance, and council.

IN GOD WE TRUST,....
And in us God places His trust!!
Michael
2011

Creating........

ON BECOMING THE TRUSTED AUTHORITY

In my lifetime, I have felt the exhilaration of being “the trusted authority” more than once. As I reflect on those circumstances, I can see that there was a power and a confidence (and a certain responsibility) accompanying the Trusted Authority position. It is exciting to now meet Greg Habstritt, at a time in my life when I better understand the importance of mentors and coaches and how they can help direct that power and help me keep the momentum.

I have attempted to develop a life habit of reading only positive and uplifting books, and sharing them with those in my personal circles. Recently, we have decided, as a family group, to share our positive learnings in a blog called GladCasting University. Whatever my weaknesses have been over the years, it is critical that my children learn to change the world by sharing only positive messages and each becoming Trusted Authorities in Positive Life Experiences. In doing this, and converting just ten percent of their circles of influence, they will make an irreversible impact in the world!

Presently, I am reading Soldiers, Statesmen, and Heroes (Jay A. Parry, 1990). He shares an awesome example of the concept of The Trusted Authority, when Congress called upon retired General George Washington to serve (and lead) the Constitutional Convention. “Few could dispute that he was the most trusted man in America.”

Our greatest need as a nation is to produce an entire generation of Trusted Authorities to resolve and repair our errors of past and present generations! We need this message to be shared and implanted in the hearts of our youth!

(Rick Lutes)

One Nation Under God

written by 14 yr old Nick.....

The founders all believed in God and wanted to be one nation under God.

They built this great nation on that belief and hope. We should be proud to have been able to still, more than two hundred years later, believe in God, for the most part. But we have forgotten the other part, the “one nation under God” part of that.

The English philosopher, John Locke, who lived from 1632-1704, is considered one of the great pioneers of modern thinking, and made great contributions to the studies of government, politics, and psychology. He went to Westminster school and Oxford university, and later became a tutor at Oxford.

He wrote in his Essays concerning human understanding a method in which people can know that there is a supreme creator:

1. I exist therefore I am.
2. A something cannot come from a nothing
3. An object as complex as a human body cannot be created by chance; therefore, we were created by an intelligent being.

Locke said that an atheist is irrational and out of touch with reality. Evolutionists, who believe we came from a few dust particles floating in space, are just as irrational, if not more so.

In Anglo-Saxon, the word for the ultimate good is “God”.

Some attributes of God, according to john Locke are:

1. Reason. He has amazing reason, and he has created us with the same reason.
2. Compassion and love. He loves each of us and cares about us all.
3. A sense of right and wrong. He knows what is right and what is wrong for each of us to do.
4. A sense of humor. We know he has a sense of humor by looking at all the unique people around us.
5. A great artist. He is the best artist in existence. We know this by looking at the beautiful world around us.
6. Great wisdom and patience. He is and has all wisdom and power. He is a great example of patience. If he didn't have patience then we would have been destroyed ages ago.

We could go on and on.

Locke said that the human mind starts like a waxed tablet, smooth and ready to use for writing. We start life without any inborn ideas, but, over time, we develop ideas and knowledge.

We don't begin with a knowledge of God, but we gain our knowledge of God as we grow. We must know for ourselves that God is real.

There are countless men and women out there in the world today who try harder and harder each day to “prove” that there is no God. They use supposed “scientific methods” to prove that we came from a lizard that crawled out of a puddle somewhere.

We must see through their lies and find the truth: that God is real; he doesn't need to prove anything to us, but we need to prove ourselves to him.

This is my solemn witness: God created each and every one of us. God created the beautiful world for us. God is who we depend on and God is who we are responsible to for our mistakes. God alone can tell us what we need to do.

Let us remain One Nation under God.

N. R. Lutes

2011

Michael on Legacy!

Michael and I were running errands the other day, one of them was to photograph "Big Daddy" Roth's headstone. While at the Manti, Utah cemetery, I asked Michael to provide a brief and extemporaneous talk on Legacy. This video was the result....