M* Welcomes JA Benson!

M* is proud to welcome frequent Bloggerncle commenter JA Benson as our newest permablogger.

Joanna entered the world as a BYU baby. Continuing family tradition, she graduated BYU with a degree in Elementary Education and taught for several years. Growing up in Salt Lake County, her favorite childhood hobbies were visiting cemeteries and eavesdropping on adult conversations. Her ancestral DNA is multi-ethnic and she is Mormon pioneer stock on every familial line.

Joanna resides in the Southeastern USA with her long-suffering husband and five children ranging in age from 4 to 20. She is an avid reader and a student of history. Her current intellectual obsession is Sephardic Jewish history, influence and genealogy. She serves as a board member for her local chapter of Families with Children from China. She is the author of “DNA Mormons?” Summer Sunstone 2007 and “Becoming Hong Mei`s Mother” in the upcoming Winter Sunstone 2009 .

After receiving the invitation to join M*, JA remarked, “This must be destiny. Millennial Star was the first blog I ever commented on. ”

We couldn’t agree more. 🙂 Welcome to M*, JA!

Guest Post: We Wouldn’t Be in This Mess, If… We had been True to the Constitution

M* is pleased to present a guest post from Brother Earl Taylor, Jr., President of the National Center for Constitutional Studies.

About Brother Taylor:

 Earl Taylor, Jr.  has taught The Making of America Constitutional Study course to thousands of people over the past twenty years throughout the nation.  He has developed other study courses for a wide range of participants, from high school students to state legislators.

 Educated in Washington State and Arizona, Mr. Taylor graduated from Arizona State University and received his Masters Degree in Political Science from George Wythe College and Coral Ridge Baptist University.  He has had the privilege of being privately tutored by Dr. W. Cleon Skousen over the course of many years.  He became President of the National Center for Constitutional Studies in 1995, an organization founded by Dr. Skousen in 1971 as the Freemen Institute.  The purpose of the NCCS is to teach Americans the exciting message of the Founding Fathers – where they got their great ideas and how they put them all together into a Constitution for the establishment of the first free people in modern times.  In 1998, Mr. Taylor was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Law degree from George Wythe College and Coral Ridge Baptist University.  He also serves as a member of the adjunct faculty of George Wythe College.

 Mr. Taylor served as coordinator in 1985 of the Winter Conference for State Legislators where nearly 400 elected officials from 30 states met to study The Making of America.  He has written a special study guide for Boy Scouts to help them earn their Citizenship Merit Badges.   He also helped structure courses on the U. S. Constitution for college re-certification of public school teachers.
 
 In his desire to begin to train young people in this most important area, Mr. Taylor established one of the first charter high schools in Arizona, Heritage Academy,  where he has developed a special curriculum for the teaching of hundreds of students the exciting message of the Founding Fathers.

 Mr. Taylor has also been instrumental in encouraging the celebration of Constitution Week in many cities and schools throughout the nation.

 Mr. Taylor and his wife, Ruth, are the parents of ten children and reside in Mesa, Arizona. Continue reading

Diverging points of view on traditional marriage

I am grateful to hear the Church call for civility and respect for those with diverging points of view on the subject of traditional marriage.

While I support the Church’s position on traditional marriage, I have members of my extended family and a close, personal friend who disagree with the Church’s position.  In these cases, although we may disagree on this moral issue, there is no loss of love or respect for one another. Continue reading

Eventful moments and milestones

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I recently took a trip to Utah to visit family and celebrate my grandfather’s 84th birthday.

After serving in World War II, raising six children and working as a cook and a plumber to support his wife and children, he looks remarkably good for 84. His favorite line after each birthday is, “I have just 10 more years to go.”

My grandfather has lived a long and fruitful life. Seeing him last month caused me to reflect on my own life and what I have to look forward to.

Continue reading

Just a coincidence?

Last Sunday I picked up one of my wife’s books titled “Small Miracles: Extraordinary Coincidences from Everyday Life.” I could not put it down until I had read every page; devoured every story.

The book’s authors note in the introduction:

Coincidences have been variously defined as “luck,” “chance,” “a fluke,” “something out of the ordinary,” or a “random conjoining of inexplicable events that define our sense of the reasonable.

We firmly believe that coincidences are much more than simple accidents or quirks of fate. To us, coincidences are blessings, the spiritual manna that hosts of angles send down to illuminate our Path. They are vivid, striking, awe-inspiring examples of Divine Providence. They are acts of God.

While I read the various stories of “coincidences” in the book, I was reminded of the awe-inspiring examples of Divine Providence in my own life.

Continue reading