In encouraging news, the Public Policy Institute of California’s most recent poll shows 49 percent of Californians oppose same sex marriage and 45 percent support.  You may recall that the PPIC poll in October 2008 showed Prop. 8 in California losing by a significant margin.  As you may know if you’re reading this post, Prop. 8, which protected traditional marriage in California, won 52 to 48 percent.

My take:  the violent, hateful reaction to Prop. 8’s passage by homosexual rights activists actually hurt their cause.   The scenes of people picketing LDS temples, hurling racial epithets at African-Americans (who overwhelmingly supported Prop. 8 ) and molesting an older lady daring to carry a cross really hit home with some swing voters, who if anything are more supportive of traditional marriage in California than they have been in a decade.

Continue reading →

Writing frustrates me.

Sure, I get great ideas now and then, and I jot them down, but later when I sit down to flesh them out, I too often find that my notes aren’t enough to fully recapture the moment, and it is lost.  I miss my lost, unexpressed epiphanies. Continue reading →

My neighbor is an evangelical Christian.  He belongs to one of those mega-churches and has Bible study at his house once a week.  A few days ago, we went skiing together so we had a long time to talk.  We talked about many neighborhood issues, and then I turned the subject to religion.  “You know, I’m a Mormon,” I said.

Continue reading →

My wife and I went to the temple yesterday and did initiatories.  She loves doing initiatories.  We try to mix things up a bit on our monthly trips:  endowments, sealings, initiatories and the occasional baptism.  My favorite place remains the sealing room.  But my wife says she loves the quiet and Spirit behind those curtains doing initiatories.

And she points out that it is one of the few places in the Church where you can see women performing priesthood ordinances.

Continue reading →

This is a guest post by Ray, who describes himself as the following:

Ray is a husband of 21 years and a father of six children (including four daughters), so he understands fatigue and emotional trauma.  He participates a little bit, here and there, around the Bloggernacle.  He agreed to step it up and come out of his shell to share some things with us.

My oldest son received his mission call today, Friday.  He will be reporting to the MTC on June 24th for three weeks, after which he will travel to the Washington, Everett Mission for the remainder of his two year service.

This is a very concise, sincere post – focused on a simple question:  What advice would you give my son before he enters the MTC?

Continue reading →