The Last Policeman

The Last Policeman, by Ben H. Winters, is a fun read.  If you enjoy thinking about the end of the world, that is.  If you don't then it's really more of a depressing read.  But it has its bright spots, even so.

Winters' protagonist is an earnest, newly promoted detective named Hank Palace.  The end times are upon us and the whole world is aware because humanity is facing the impending arrival of an extinction-level cosmic collision.  For some reason Hank seems to be the last person left trying to hold together civilization as things progressively fall apart.

There is a mystery at the heart of the novel, and watching it unfold gives the reader a reason to stick with the story.  More intriguing to me was the observations of the characters about how the world had descended into disarray as society unravels and individuals deal with their mortality staring them in the face.

Hank is the ultimate Boy Scout as he pursues truth and justice against all odds, the whole world either turned against him or profoundly apathetic to his cause.  His perseverance is reassuring, that even against impossible odds some people will still do the Right Thing.

I've been intrigued with this sort of doomsday scenario ever since we got the double cinematic whammy of Armageddon and Deep Impact in 1998.  The idea that a large space-borne object could be our undoing seems to live more prominently in our collective consciousness now, as evidenced by efforts to track and catalog transient objects in and around our solar system, and to assign them collision probabilities when they're found.

I find this type of event a likely candidate to fulfill this prophecy from the book of Matthew, chapter 24, verse 30:

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

In the story one of the characters tells Hank that waiting for the asteroid to arrive, with the collision months away as it crosses the vastness of space, has left her overwrought by the "unbearable imminence" of the thing.  If we ever find ourselves in a similar situation I'll be processing everything in the context of Matthew 24, and while there may be some trepidation about the future I'd be inclined to see the whole thing as part of a larger plan instead of just Earth losing a high-stakes game of chance.  I would be looking forward to it, although I'm sure that navigating the pre-collision disintegration of the world would present its own challenges.

That's what I liked most about this book.  It painted a plausible picture of how that disintegration might proceed.  It's a good reminder that looking forward to the last days may be a fun pastime, but there will undoubtedly be more than a few bumps in the road.  It will come when it's time.  Best to enjoy the blessing of the moment, and not hurry along the challenges of the future in whatever form they'll arrive.

Gratitude and Thanksgiving

Presented in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday, November 18, 2012:

Every year, early in November, we have a Family Home Evening set aside to make “thankful turkeys”.  We sit down together and everyone gets a stack of paper feathers.  We then write down things that we are thankful for on the feathers, and glue them to paper turkeys.  Sometimes it’s hard to get going at first, and some of the youngest family members need a little prompting, but before long we have a wall full of turkeys reminding us of many things we’re thankful for.

Our thankful turkeys cover a wide range of topics.  Some of us stick to the basics, things like food, water, and clothes.  We remember the gift of the world we live in with feathers for the earth and the sun.  We recognize the blessings of being a family with feathers listing mom, dad, brothers, and sister.

Making our turkeys close to Halloween this year meant that Lincoln had to have a feather for candy, something he had recently been enjoying in great quantities.  He also had a feather for Husky, his favorite stuffed dog.

Like I said, when we first start brainstorming what to put on our turkeys it can be a challenge, but when you start to really ponder all of the blessings in your life - and recognize that they come to us as tender mercies from a loving Heavenly Father - suddenly the task changes from trying to come up with a few things you can list.  Instead, you have to prioritize and sort out all of the possibilities and decide which ones get a place of honor on the wall through the month of November.

When I get into this mindset, I would say that I can focus on my life through a lens of gratitude.  It becomes easy to recognize blessings both big and small.  It reminds me of King Benjamin’s sermon to the Nephites, when he reminded them that God, “...who has created [us] from the beginning, and is preserving [us] from day to day, by lending [us] breath, that [we] may live and move and do according to [our] own will, and even supporting [us] from one moment to another …”  He calls us unprofitable servants, given more than we could ever hope to repay.

Fortunately, Heavenly Father doesn’t ask us for repayment.  He does ask us to keep His commandments, and He expects us to remember Him and His love for us.  In Doctrine and Covenants, Section 59, we read:

And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.

As in all our dealings with Heavenly Father, we are not coerced to thank Him or recognize His role in our lives.  It is our opportunity to cultivate and demonstrate our gratitude, through prayer and through service.

Recall the day the Savior was traveling and entered a village when ten lepers called out to him from a distance: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”

And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,

And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?

There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.

The scriptures do not recount what became of the other nine lepers, but I suspect that their healing was no less complete or lasting than the Samaritan who returned to thank the Savior.  I think it’s surprising that having just asked for His help, and immediately receiving it, there were not more expressions of gratitude from this group.  Contrast this situation with the world we live in today, filled with people, all benefiting from the blessings of our Heavenly Father, and yet so many would not know how to give thanks to God, or give a second thought to expressing gratitude for those blessings.  Those who lack a knowledge or understanding of the source of their blessings have an excuse for what might be considered their ingratitude.  We, on the other hand, do not.  Like the nine lepers who stood before their benefactor as he blessed them, it could certainly be asked of us “where are the nine?” if we do not express our gratitude to God as fully as we can.

President James E. Faust wrote:

As with all commandments, gratitude is a description of a successful mode of living. The thankful heart opens our eyes to a multitude of blessings that continually surround us. President J. Reuben Clark, formerly a First Counselor in the First Presidency, said: “Hold fast to the blessings which God has provided for you. Yours is not the task to gain them, they are here; yours is the part of cherishing them”

When God tutored Moses in the plan of salvation, and showed him the extent of His creations, Moses responded: “Now [...] I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed.”  For me this reverence, this lack of pride, is a natural accompaniment to the grateful peace I feel when I ponder Heavenly Father’s love for me, and for all of us.  The entire plan of happiness, all of the wonderful aspects of this mortal existence where we can learn and grow and strive to become like our Father in Heaven - I feel that gratitude deeply.  That gratitude extends to our Savior, for His atoning sacrifice which elevates the challenges and struggles of mortality from just a learning experience to an opportunity for us to seek and - hopefully - attain eternal life.  My gratitude is expressed well by this hymn:

I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me,

Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me.

I tremble to know that for me he was crucified,

That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died.

Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me Enough to die for me!

Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me.

I am so grateful for all of the blessings that Heavenly Father has extended to me.  For the most part they may be small and simple things, especially when considered individually, but when I look at my life as the sum of all the blessings I have received: parents, siblings, a peaceful existence, years of experience that have shaped me in countless ways, education, employment, a sweet wife, and the innumerable blessings of fatherhood - the list is long, and the result is an overwhelming sense of indebtedness and gratitude, but also a sense of the love He has for me.

As we pause to enjoy food and family this week, may we also reflect on the Lord’s hand in our lives.  May we express our gratitude and our love, through our actions and in our prayers.  Let us not give thanks just in the abstract sense, but let us thank our Heavenly Father.

With a Whimper

It has been a week since Obama came out as openly in favor of gay marriage.  Everyone keeps saying that the economy is still the main topic of interest for this election cycle.  For me having gay marriage on the table is much more significant than the economy.  Here's why.

Given two candidates, both of which are saying they want the economy to improve, how do you decide which one to support?  It's possible you tell the guy who has already been working on the economy for four years that he has had his chance, and you bring in someone new to take a crack at it.  However, even if you don't like the current state of the economy you might just support the incumbent, based on an affinity for his race or the way he so readily supports the socialist lifestyle you're longing to live.

But what if those two candidates come squarely down on two different sides of a moral issue.  Can a Bible-loving American Christian honestly support the candidate who is promoting gay marriage?  In my mind that fact ought to clearly trump any other connection a voter may feel for Obama.  I am already visualizing election night, as returns come in from across the south in favor of Romney.  A clear message to Obama, and all the other outspoken supporters of gay marriage, letting them know that the choice they've made is wrong and this great country is not going to stand for it no matter how progressive they try to make it sound.

Jesse Jackson recently got in line behind Obama, announcing that the fight for gay marriage is akin to the fight against slavery.  He's so wrong I can hardly stand it.  Choosing to engage in a certain behavior does not qualify someone to receive special civil rights!  As soon as we make that leap we open the door to nonsense like they now have in the Netherlands, where pedophiles have banded together to form a political party and fight for their rights.  Their right to be pedophiles?!?  That is nobody's right!  And yet, once the homosexual agenda manages to break this ground it's only a matter of time before we follow the Dutch down their ridiculous path.

What's left to do, but wait for the foundations of society to slowly crumble beneath our feet.  Fortunately, I still hold out hope that the tide has not turned quite yet.  As long as the voice of the people unites in support of morality I can continue to hold out hope for this great country.  If, to my great disappointment, the tables are turned in November, and Obama emerges victorious, then his win will signal a major loss for all of us.  As Mosiah, a prophet in the Book of Mormon, put it:

[If] the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of God will come upon you; yea, then is the time he will visit you with great destruction even as he has hitherto visited this land. (Book of Mormon | Mosiah 29:27)

I really hope we're not to that point yet.  I think we'll have a definitive answer, come November.