Motivation

at 06/27/11 12:33AM
I was thinking the other day of what motivates me to serve the Lord and walk in his ways. I feel that since we're all different, we probably have different things we think about to keep us on track.

For me, it's the thought of heaven.
I realized this when I was thinking about all of my favorite hymns, and most of them were about heaven. My favorite verses in those and other hymns were about heaven. Many of my favorite scriptures are about heaven as well.
I have to remind myself to keep my eyes upward on the final goal, prize, and destination and not glance down and get tangled up in all of the muddle of life and its daily problems.



So, my question is, what motivates you?

Are you like me, and remind yourself that there is something better and completely perfect ahead? Or do you remember God's love and grace to get you through the day? Or, do you look at God's creation and realize His awesome power? Do you use the amazing spiritual family he provided for us? Or do you have something else you concentrate on when the world is throwing its darts?


As a disclaimer, I'm in no way saying that only ONE of these can be your motivation, nor should be. But I do think we may have our own special secret ingredient that helps us when we need it most. And I'm just curious about what you might say :)
  • mladyman
    The older I get the more I realize that I make lousy decisions on my own. I just don't make good choices. And if I didn't have the Bible as my guide, my life would be such a train wreck. Every time I had a problem or a decision to make and followed a Bible principle, I came out all right. Every time I didn't follow a Bible principle and went with my gut instinct, I flamed, crashed, and burned. So one strong motivation I have is, I just cannot navigate my life without God. I really try hard to just turn my whole life over to God; it makes not only my eternal life secure, but really saves me a lot of problems, grief, and stupidity in my life here on earth. I just can't handle life on my own. Period. Full stop.
    by mladyman at 06/27/11 10:59AM
  • joyfulsong
    I love God! I love Him for creating me, saving me, sustaining me, giving me love, hope, peace, forgiveness, grace and most of all His Son. I love Him for this and so much more and I don't want to disappoint my Father.
    by joyfulsong at 06/29/11 12:43PM
  • windham4life
    I definitely think about Heaven as a motivation also. And I think about God's power...He spoke and the world was created! I think about how He knows everything, like mladyman was saying, I want to trust Him to direct my paths!
    by windham4life at 07/02/11 10:17AM
  • jenlew21
    Creation....it never lets you down as a couple of the other things could.
    by jenlew21 at 07/04/11 2:34AM
  • utterly_revamped
    Heyyy you. I wish you remembered me!
    by utterly_revamped at 08/30/12 6:35PM

Well hello Pleo World!

at 05/02/11 12:31AM *
Yes, it has been a looong time since I have been on here....since last summer, actually.

To those who are actually curious, you may be wondering what has happened in my very exciting and very interesting life.


- I did finish summer school. It was not exciting
- I had a birthday, and went to a Dave Matthews band concert. It was exciting.
- I had classes. Most were not exciting.
- I took Tolkien. It was very exciting.
- I watched Aggie football. It was exciting.
- I got my Aggie ring. It was very exciting.
- I ate a tone of food during the holidays. It was sort of exciting.
- I had spring classes. It was not really exciting.
- Daniel got a job in Southlake, TX (Fort Worth area). It was exciting.
- I was home alone during the week for two months. It was definitely not exciting.
- We got a rental house in Bedford, TX. It will be exciting.
- I have two papers and three finals in the next two weeks. It will not be exciting.
- I have one Spanish class to take during July. It will not be exciting.
- I graduate in August. It will be exciting.




Wasn't that fun? ;)
  • sheshe
    The moving to Bedford part is exciting to me!!
    by sheshe at 05/02/11 9:02PM
  • pepsi_lover
    I just noticed your friend list is in alphabetical order by last name lol with the exception of Daniel, of course :)
    by pepsi_lover at 05/02/11 10:30PM
  • mladyman
    I'm certainly excited!
    by mladyman at 05/03/11 11:24PM
  • blueeyes
    Sounds like things are going well!
    by blueeyes at 05/03/11 11:26PM
  • alwaysmilin
    i graduate in august too!! :) woot!
    by alwaysmilin at 05/11/11 1:54PM
  • blueeyes
    Yes, we would love to see you all! We have actually seen Daniel, but not you!
    by blueeyes at 05/13/11 10:35PM

12 days left of summer school....

at 07/26/10 11:56AM
Tempted to do a parody of the 12 days of christmas :)
  • shutterfly
    Oh, lets hear it!!!!!
    by shutterfly at 07/26/10 3:59PM
  • mladyman
    On the 12th day left of summer school my true love gave to me ...... a very large cup of caffeine!
    by mladyman at 07/26/10 4:57PM
  • pepsi_lover
    On the 11th day of summer school my true love gave to me ...... 11 random handouts and a very large cup of caffeine!
    by pepsi_lover at 07/27/10 1:28PM
  • highflyinwhyteman
    10 cups of ramen
    by highflyinwhyteman at 07/27/10 11:01PM
  • shutterfly
    You have to Google this!!! straight no chaser youtube
    Reminds me of show choir!!!
    by shutterfly at 07/28/10 10:35AM
  • mladyman
    9 bags of M&M's!
    by mladyman at 07/28/10 2:28PM
  • mladyman
    8 Harry Potter movies and a very large cup of caffeine.
    by mladyman at 07/29/10 6:47PM
  • jenlew21
    Cute pic! I'm back on now. :)
    by jenlew21 at 04/08/11 3:35PM

07/02/10 10:25AM

On Tuesday, Daniel and I met with two Mormons on campus. I had run into them the week before, and stopped to talk with them and gave them my number. I was actually surprised when they called to meet, because I had told them I know a lot about their religion, and disagreed...I mentioned Galatians 1:6-10.

Daniel and I both had looked at a few issues beforehand. Daniel focused on the qualifications of elders, because most of their missionaries refer to themselves as "elders." I had looked at the question of marriage in heaven in Mark 12 (that issue was on the card they gave me). Both of us agreed to begin with the topic of where Joseph Smith received his authority, on the basis that if you can't establish that, you lose the authority of the Book of Mormon.

They never fully established Smith's authority, but claimed that he started the church because he felt that none of the ones already established were following God's word. Neither of them understood our argument for having a "restoration" based on the Word. We asked how they knew that Smith was a "prophet" and they said that had prayed about it and felt that it was true. When Daniel began to point out the fallacies in that argument, one of them got really defensive, and I could tell he was getting very angry.

As to our questions, neither of them knew the answers in any way, shape, or form. When Daniel read them various passages about elders, they honed in on the different word usages (bishop, elder, overseer, shepherd, etc). When I pointed out that they were the same word in the original Greek, they looked...dumbfounded? When I showed them the passage in Mark 12 (if a man has a wife, he dies, and she marries the brother, etc...which man is his wife in the resurrection), they looked confused and said they would ask someone in their church.



Both of us left with the feeling that they weren't interested in sharing with us much, because a) they didn't have their Bible or a Book of Mormon (only a pamphlet) and b) they had scheduled another meeting exactly 40 mins after ours. We encouraged them to read the Bible. they kept saying that they love the Bible and read it often, yet they knew nothing about the contradictions.


Even though nothing really came out of our meeting, Daniel and I pray that maybe we've prompted them to study the Bible more and ask questions.
  • kaceyatthebat
    Mormons don't typically want to convert people to their faith. They want to make sure everyone knows about God and if you do, they really don't have much use for you. My brother and I studied with them about Joseph Smith being a prophet and how the Bible teaches that we should test prophets to see if they are false or not. Obviously, many of his prophecies are inaccurate. However, when you try to confront Mormons, they really don't want to talk anymore. They believe that conflict sort of zaps the Holy Spirit out of the air and they are left feeling a little shaken. Good try talking to them and I hope it increased your faith and confidence, even if you weren't met with open arms. You'll find that future experiences with Mormons will largely mirror this one, if you talk with them in the future. "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gives the increase."
    by kaceyatthebat at 07/02/10 11:41AM
  • joyfulsong
    Good job!
    by joyfulsong at 07/02/10 11:42AM
  • baseballcraz32
    Next time you meet - Ask them if they have anywhere to go. They will say No most likely, then later when you're giving your arguments they will say they have an appointment.
    Also one thing about the elders shepherds etc. They are different words, but in 1 Pet 5 and Acts 20, all three are used interchangeably talking about the same men.
    Not trying to be overly picky, good job though!
    by baseballcraz32 at 07/02/10 12:13PM
  • windham4life
    When we spoke with some mormons, the exact same thing happened to us as Kacey was saying. When we found contradictions, they started saying they needed to go because they didn't want any conflict. They didn't even want to talk about it, they just said, "Well now we are just going in circles and it's time to go."
    by windham4life at 07/02/10 12:26PM
  • mladyman
    Good for you studying with others; any time you tell the truth about God in a loving way He is glorified. And who knows, maybe something you said sank into their hearts and will resurface another day. You have done really well.
    by mladyman at 07/02/10 3:04PM
  • sylvanhistorian
    My family spent several months studying with a couple of Mormon missionaries. They really are almost brainwashed to repeat the same information repeatedly and go into their testimony and how they prayed and discovered it was true via prayer. We also heard the same thing about elders. It's rather heartbreaking.One of the missionaries ended up in tears after most meetings with us; I think he was absolutely convinced that we would just pray and find Mormonism so wonderful we'd convert immediately. Part way through the summer he got a sudden transfer out of state; they didn't even give him a chance to say goodbye to us.
    It really is a case of planting, someone else watering, and God giving the increase because their beliefs are SO ingrained in them and their church is SO controlling that it can take years before the wall breaks down and they actually begin to look at things in a more investigative fashion. Glad you guys got the opportunity to plant! :)
    by sylvanhistorian at 07/03/10 10:30PM
  • brandontherunningman
    I had a good friend in high school that was mormon and we studied. And similar to this, it didn't get anywhere. He was about to leave on his two year mission in Chile as an "elder". The point that I completely dumbfounded him on was: What do the books of mormon (3 I think; Book of Mormon, Doctrines and Commandments, and Pearl of Great Price) add to the Bible that makes salvation more complete? What do they do to increase the salvation we are already guaranteed if we follow it? In my opinion, if there's nothing to make it a more perfect salvation then it's useless to me.
    by brandontherunningman at 07/04/10 4:07PM

06/29/10 5:02PM

Daniel and I are going to meet with some Mormons in a few minutes, let you know how it goes this evening!
  • beccas
    y'all will be in my prayers, hope it goes well! :)
    by beccas at 06/29/10 5:07PM
  • missy
    I hope it goes well!
    by missy at 06/29/10 5:58PM
  • mladyman
    So, how did it go?
    by mladyman at 07/01/10 7:24AM
  • sheshe
    Can't wait to hear the report!
    by sheshe at 07/01/10 9:10AM