Matthew, Mark, Luke & John go to Yankees Stadium

I've learned that Josh's obsession with the Yankees can provide a fun backdrop for learning more spiritual things. For example, I've had him memorize some mastery scriptures by using the jersey numbers of players to remember the references. ("Alma A-Rod, Jeter" would be Alma 13:2, as an example).

I came up with another application the other night when tucking him in and he asked about the Gospels in the New Testament. He asked why there are four books that essentially tell the same story.

I explained to him about Matthew, Mark and Luke being the synoptic gospels, meaning those three books contain a lot of very similar material, whereas John has a lot of unique material.

I then said: "Imagine that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John went to Yankees Stadium to see a game. Matthew, Mark and Luke all sat together in the upper deck where we normally sit. Then, they each had to write a report for school."

"For analogy purposes only, pretend that Matthew thinks pitching and defense are the most important elements of the game. And pretend that Mark thinks hits represent all the highlights of the game. And let's say that Luke is a big fan of Jeter and A-Rod. Their reports are all going to say the same thing -- that the Yankees won 6 to 4 -- but they'll focus on different details with the game. Matthew will explain the pitching match-ups, Mark will talk about the home runs and doubles, and Luke will focus on the stats of Jeter and A-Rod. But in the end, their message was the same: The Yankees won."

To explain why some of the three include some elements and others skipped it, I suggested that you imagine each writer went out for a hot dog at different points during the game and each missed a half inning or so.

And what about John, who gives a much better eye-witness account? He was sitting in the dug-out for the game!

The analogies could be taken further, based on real content within the scriptures. For example, Luke covers more early stuff like the birth of Jesus, whereas Mark doesn't. So it could be said that Luke got to the stadium for batting practice whereas Mark didn't arrive until after the National Anthem.

Or, based on stories of the resurrection and such, it could be said that one writer went to the post-game press conferences and locker room interviews, while the others listened to those reports on the car radio on the way home.

This isn't anything earth shattering, but I thought this is kind of clever and fun, and worth passing along. Teaching our kids is all about customizing it to their frame of reference.

Two Ideas for Instructing Kids

1. My daughter's Primary teacher has a great idea for encouraging three slightly rowdy boys to sit still during the class time. It's kind of a new twist on Musical Chairs. He sets his watch alarm to go off in random intervals. Any kid who got his/her seat on their seat and feet on floor when the alarm goes off gets a piece of candy. If it goes off and they aren't sitting down -- no candy. He does it a few times throughout the lesson. If the boys get crazy, he just says "I'd sure hate to see the alarm go off right now." Pure genius!

2. I had a random thought last week at FHE. Would it be such a bad idea to have a "Jr" and "Sr" FHE? The older two kids are at a completely different levels than the younger ones in terms of comprehending lessons. Why not have a break-out class for the younger two so the older two are given a 'deeper' lesson. We could start as a whole family for prayer, song, scripture, etc., then have each parent teach two of the kids. Divide and Conquer!

Don't Buy This Album!

If you ever see "Forever 80s" -- a three-disc set with 10 songs each for an amazing $10 -- in your local music store, resist the urge to purchase.

I rarely splurge and buy something for me...and when I did, I got janked!

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Radio City Music Hall to buy tickets for family members coming to NYC for Christmas. I had a few minutes before I'd have to head to Grand Central to catch my train, so I went to FYE, looking for the new Fresh Aire/Mannheim Christmas Album (which I'm told is out, but haven't been able to find yet).

Unable to buy my desired CD, I was lured into a display with the above-mentioned 80s CD boxed set. I checked out the back and saw several great songs that I have yet to purchase from i-Tunes or have on CD. I thought I'd hit a gold mine.

On the train, when I opened the set, I read something in the insert that surprised me. After describing the songs and their iconic value, a sentence started with the simple phrase: "While these songs are not sung by the original artists..."

Then who are they sung by?

I had failed to see the phrase: "The Countdown Singers" on the cover.

In other words: "Songs you know...performed by artists you don't"

Or "All your favorite songs....by a non-familiar group"

Maybe: "You've heard the songs for years....though you've never heard this artist"

What about: "You love the songs...but will hate the singers."


"Jump" by Van Halen is just enough off to be comical. Instead of a guitar doing the riffs, it's a keyboard. "Amanda" just doesn't have that tone of sincerity like Boston. And I don't know if they really spit out all the lyrics in "End of the World" before the music catches up to them.

Then again, I've gotten more than $10 worth of humor and laughter out of this, so I suppose it's worth it. And it's taken me down memory road.

It's kind of like being back at my high school proms when no-name bands performed the hits of the day -- so it's a high school Prom album (sans a Forever Young rendition...a staple of any good Utah HS dance)

So now I have a great 3 CD set of 'cover band' music. I'm not feeling any 'power of love' on this.

Mark

It was a Corolla, not a Ram

October 7, 2007

I've been wanting to write this for a while, but it's been a bit crazy.

As a member of the High Council, I speak in wards and branches throughout our stake. We've adopted a new procedure that results in our giving two talks on one Sunday, but then getting the next month off. (In the long run, we give the same amount of talks, but prepare only 6 instead of 12, and have only 6 Sunday tied up with speaking assignments instead of 12).

For some time this summer, I had worried about my August speaking assignments, down in a building in our stake that isn't overly accessible by public transportation. We only have one car, and we need that to get my family to our home ward. With all the other buildings and units, I could find a way to make it work, but I knew the August assignment would be a challenge. I could easily handle the morning assignment, then drive home and get my family to church, but getting back to that building for the afternoon assignment wouldn't be easy.

I looked at car rentals, Zip Cars, taxis, buses, etc. The best we could think was that my family would sit in our home ward building for an extra 1 hour 15 minutes after church waiting for me to come fetch them.

But I had prayed off and on for a solution, knowing that "when you're on the Lord's errand, you're entitled to the Lord's help" (a paraphrased Monson quote).

The speaking assignment was on the Sunday after our annual family trek out west. We arrived home late on Saturday evening and had basically figured we'd go with "Plan B" (kids waiting at the chapel). But as we pulled into our driveway, there was a Corolla parked there. Kathryn said "Oh, I forgot. I told one of our friends in the ward that they could park their extra car in our driveway while they were out of town as they couldn't keep it in front of their house due to street cleaning rules".

Though it was a Corolla, it was my "Ram" that the Lord provided at the 11th hour.

When we got inside, we found the car keys (the Corolla had been dropped off when a neighbor was picking up the mail, so they left the keys), and a VM saying "feel free to use the car if you need it."

The perfect solution. Now I could get to my assignment without a problem.

Perhaps this all sounds a bit silly, but it was a major deal to me. Yes, it was nice to have a solution. But more importantly, it made me realize -- again -- that the Lord knows me personally and really will help pull solutions out of a hat, if I will put the problem in his hands. I never would have imagined that solution, so it shows that sometimes we just have to put it in his hands.

To end on a bit of a humorous note, I was thinking about the calling of a new apostle this weekend. The real bugaboo about being called as an apostle is that you know you'll either become the prophet someday.....or die trying!

I'm still pushing for "Popcorn Popping" to be sung as an intermediate hymn at Conference....but I'm not holding out hope.

Mark

Don't Give up on me

Hi all:

Just wanted to let you know this is still an active blog. I've got three or four blogs written in my head, but just haven't put keyboard to screen yet. I hope to have at least one original post before the weekend, so please check back.

Thanks!

Mark