I’m experiencing today my first “snow day”. After literally half a dozen phone calls this morning informing us of the same news, church today was cancelled because of the wind and snow. The snow has been coming down all morning and thanks to the wind, each of our cars is now inside a little snow bowl. Digging out is going to suck! But, for now we’re going to forget about that and enjoy our snow day. Now, skipping out on church doesn’t make me feel that guilty. The whole stake gets the day off and we’re thrilled! Coincidentally, today is Super Bowl Sunday. How cool is that? The weather makes it the perfect day to stay in and the Super Bowl gives us something to look forward to – at least the commercials. I hope I am not disappointed. Usually Budweiser comes up with something good. Kinda ironic, isn’t it? A mormon looking forward to a beer commercial? Hey, I may not drink the sin juice but I do enjoy a good commercial! Go Giants…
President Hinkley passed away on Sunday. I haven’t taken the time to write anything about this until now because mainly I wanted to figure out what it meant for me. President Hinkley, as prophet of my church has been a big part of my life for well, most of my life. As a child, he was always part of the first presidency helping out the prophets that preceded him and to me was almost someone that was bigger than life. I have had many times where I have had the priviledge to go see either a choir performance or General Conference and President Hinkley was there. It is an awesome site to be in the room with 20,000 other people when the prophet of the Lord enters. Have you ever experienced being with 20,000 other people and having a hush come over them so quickly? The reverence shown him was amazing and those moments would make the hairs on my arms stand up and goosebumps would pop out. And then with a swing of his cane, President Hinkley would look up at all of us as if to say “oh, sit down! My goodness. What’s the fuss?” He was a humble man. A man who loved the church, the people and his wife so dearly. When Sister Hinkley died a couple years ago, her death brought tears to my eyes because I knew that our time with President Hinkley would be so short. How could he go on without her? I was certain that if I cried over her, that his death would mean endless tears for me. Yet on Sunday evening when my big brother called with the news, my reaction was completely opposite. I didn’t cry a single tear. I was told that my experience with Mike passing away is too fresh. That I probably couldn’t react because I was still in such grief over losing him. Yes. I grieve for Mike because I miss him terribly. I have a lot of life yet to live and it pains me to know that I will live it alone and without his companionship and counsel. But that’s not why I don’t grieve for President Hinkley. I rejoice in his life. He lived A LOT and he gave us so much. His example lives on and we are the better for it. My first thoughts when I learned of his passing turned to his beloved wife. Their reunion must have been so wonderful. So, my sadness for having lost our prophet is fleeting because my happiness for him reminds me that one day I, too will have a great reunion. I hope that Mike got to witness President Hinkley’s welcoming into Heaven so he can tell me about it some day. I am sure it was a beautiful thing.
“As far as the Salt Lake City thing, he’s a Mormon and the Mormons of Salt Lake City had caused that scandal. And to clean that up, again, it’s not a subject,” Roberta McCain said. – APNews
Clearly, she’s senile. This type of thing is laughed off in the press. If you watch the clip of this, John McCain is laughing. Why is this so funny? It’s not ok to say disparaging things about blacks, latinos or gays. But it appears that it is still ok to talk down Mormons. Why? If you say anything remotely resembling the diatribe spewed by McCain’s mother, then you are not only ignorant, you’re a biggot and should be ashamed of yourself. Just for the record, morons, we’re no different than anyone else. We can be republicans or democrat. We’re moms, dads, sisters and brothers. We work every day and we also stay home and raise our kids. We attend church on Sunday and we worship Jesus Christ. We are also, just like you, human beings capable of making mistakes and just like you, are deserving of righting any wrongs and being forgiven. It’s sorta funny how those who disparage us because of our faith, also hold us to a higher standard because of our faith. Well, that can be a frustrating thing for a Mormon like me because why should I be treated any differently than anyone else? But then again, I relish the challenge of living up to that higher standard because I know if I do, I can rise above moments when people make fools of themselves just as Roberta McCain did.
