Kari's Baptism!
Left to Right
Zandra, Aaron, Kari, Elder Bissegger (Braden)

Aint snow just Beautiful!

After 6 days of sickness

Happy Christmas!!!

Don't mess with Christmas
Left to Right
Elders Zanders, Wiggins, Bissegger

These Dudes are Rough and Tough!

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Here is the Shark cage lesson Braden was talking about in the last letter. Mike used this analogy in a talk he gave and decided to make the cage and lesson up for him for Christmas.

Obedience to the Commandments:

A matter of perspective

Faith is the foundation for all of the Lord’s commandments

We must have faith, or the commandments will have no basis in our lives

Faith is the “hope for things which are not seen, which are true.” (Alma 32:21)

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

Without a foundation of faith, none of the commandments will do us any good.

But faith, alone, is not enough.

We can have faith that

1. Daily Scripture Study
2. Daily Prayer
3. Regular Church Attendance
4. Family Home Evening

Are good for us, will help us and are worthwhile.  But if we do not do those things they really can’t provide any stability in our lives.

So our faith in the wisdom and righteousness of the commandments has to be coupled with obedience. 

“Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, . . . .”

(James 1: 22)

Faith, plus obedience, to some of those basic commandments provides a solid framework for keeping all of the Lord’s commandments, and He has given us many commandments that He says are for our own good.

5. Love the Lord Thy God
6. Love thy Neighbor as thyself
7. Baptism and Confirmation
8. Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy
9. Word of Wisdom
10. Law of Chastity
11. Law of Tithing
12. Law of the Fast
13. Follow the Prophet (no rated R movies, build up a year’s supply, stay out of debt)
14. Doing Home and Visiting Teaching
15. Magnifying callings
16. Humility

                       

Sometimes, the Lord’s commandments can seem confining and restrictive.

Imagine yourself in this box; does it feel like you are trapped or imprisoned?

Now imagine yourself in this box, being lowered down into the water with a huge shark.

What do you think of those “bars” around you now?

Do they confine and restrict you, or do they protect you?

Are there any of the bars that you want to take out?

We are always free to leave the safety of the “cage,” but we have no guarantee that if we do, we’ll be able to make it back to safety.

The “cage” only seems confining or restrictive when we view them from the world’s perspective, rather than the Lord’s.

The Lord’s commandments may seem confining, but they are meant to protect us against both dangers we can see, and those that we can’t.

If we trust in the Lord and obey His commandments, we will always have His protective shield around us.