3-2023 September 1, Journal Entry

Officially, I retired from LAPD 15 years ago. I started my LAPD career near the end of September 1974, in Academy class 10-74, and serve until September 1st, 2008 - 34 years.

We took a quick 3 mile walk yesterday morning so that Cathy could come home and do a scheduled ministering visit. Then we had lunch at Chick-fil-a in Provo before driving up to Cottonwood Heights to shop at World Market and Whole Foods. 

Cottonwood Heights is a thriving and modern shopping area in Salt Lake County located southeast of SLC with a lot of modern businesses. I think that Pleasant Grove will be like that as Utah County continues to boom. In fact in talking to my friend, Guy Fugal, who is the mayor of PG and who is also an Ordinance Worker with me on Wednesday mornings, he mentioned that we are getting a Chick-Fil-A soon in Pleasant Grove. What better way to measure the future success of an area than to have a Chick-fil-A restaurant 😋. The area, which is less than a mile northwest of us near the I-15 freeway is growing fast. We'll see.

Come Follow Me 

This is the second day in a row where charity is discussed. It is a very important subject to me so I'm repeating some of it. 

1 Corinthians 13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

Understanding charity or being charitable is not easy. And our scriptures have not indicated that it would be. Even “charity suffereth long” requires our thoughtful interpretation.

Moroni 7:47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

It seems that charity is a characteristic that can take a lifetime to learn and attain. Simplistically, charity is off the charts as a description of unconditional love. It is thinking of the needs of others and acting on those needs while being concerned primarily for their well-being as opposed to your own. It is, as Moroni wrote, "The pure love of Christ".

I had the question, since I have spent so much of my life in traffic enforcement and I am often thinking about the actions of myself and others as we drive our vehicles in our daily travels, do we truly exhibit the "pure love of Christ" while we actually live our lives on a day to day basis. 

Hmmm

It's easy to talk about "the pure love of Christ" but are we successful in actually implementing it? Can we do better? I have to admit, I can.

Book of Mormon reading 

Mosiah Chapter 25 The descendants of Mulek at Zarahemla become Nephites—They learn of the people of Alma and of Zeniff—Alma baptizes Limhi and all his people—Mosiah authorizes Alma to organize the Church of God. About 120 B.C.

Chapter 26 Many members of the Church are led into sin by unbelievers—Alma is promised eternal life—Those who repent and are baptized gain forgiveness—Church members in sin who repent and confess to Alma and to the Lord will be forgiven; otherwise, they will not be numbered among the people of the Church. About 120–100 B.C.