When Life is a Downward Spiral...

Sometimes life feels like this video.  You know it is going down hill, and it is going to be a long hike back to the top.  But, instead of stopping, we just keep on going.  Closing our eyes to the consequences of where we are headed, wherever that may be.  Now of course, the reason I didn't stop running down the stairs was because I wanted to visually capture how tall the tower was that we had visited in Reading Pennsylvania.

However, in life, it feels like there are those things that keep us from stopping, and turning around, from repenting, and returning back to the clearer vision that comes from higher ground.   Sometimes it is fear of how difficult the trek will be.  Perhaps it is pride.  Sometimes it is just the momentum we pick up as we get used to a destructive activity or lifestyle.  I know that for me, Satan convinces me to believe that I can turn around after one more step, after one more level.  He promises me great pleasure and ease "if only I go a little farther."  Unfortunately, I just end up at rock bottom, out of breath, hope, and sometimes desire. 

The miracle of the whole thing, is that Jesus Christ is real, and his power to change us is always accessible.  We have never fallen too far, too often, or too hard.  I've experienced his healing power again this week, and I am back on top.  Yes, the power or repentance is real!
-Elder Blackburn

Addiction Recovery Program

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a program built around helping individuals recovery from addiction.  Properly named, it is the "Addiction Recovery Program" or ARP for short.  It is very effective, and is very similar to the Alcoholic's Anonymous 12 step program.  I was very impressed with its deep application of the atonement. I feel like it can and should be used by everyone, inside and outside the church, because we all have addictions and habits, in one form or another.  It is really just a program built to help us repent.  I liked the program so much, that I wrote a song that puts the steps in order:

Honesty, Hope, and Trust in God to Bless.

Discern the Truth, and Then I must Confess

A Change of Heart, Will Spark Humility,

To Seek Forgiveness, For Others and for Me.

Restitution, I will Find a Way.

And I'll Improve, by Accounting Every Day.

Personal Revelation, I Can See,

That Service Guarantees Recovery.

In order to get the full effect though, you need to sing it to the hymn:  The Wintry Day, Descending to Its Close # 37

Actually, the only way you can get the FULL effect is if I sing it, and we haven't figured out how to record it and put in on the blog....  But it is prettty sweet...  I guess you can hear it if you come to one of the sessions! Every Sunday at 6:00 P.M. at the Reading chapel! (3344 Reading Crest Ave.
Reading , PA   19605)  See you there!

-Elder Blackburn

Thoughts about P-day

I am here in Reading, Pennsylvania.  It is quite the place. I love it.  I am always inspired by good people everywhere trying to make a difference in each others lives.  My companion, Elder Barnett and I are getting to know some fantastic people, and having fun on the way.  On our preparation day, we get to spend a few hours to do some cleaning and washing and shopping and stuff like that, and I was thinking about how it relates to our own lives.  How often do we clean up our act.  How often do we open up those dark, cobwebbed corners and let in some fresh air.  How often do we go through the cleansing experience of repenting and cleaning up the scum that has accumulated from all our poor choices, many of which were choices of simple negligence?

Let us all take the time, and sometimes, courage, to re-evaluate our lives and restore the natural beauty our character should have.  After all, we are all children of God.

-Elder Blackburn