Rough Stone Rolling

 
When my wife was, not exactly a rebellious, but a questioning teenager, she told her stake president father, “I’ve got no problem with the Church doctrine, but I have a hard time with Joseph Smith. He bugs me. That whole Joseph Smith story is just weird.” Her dad—a physicist for Boeing and someone who chafed […]

[Read more →]

On New Year’s Eve, 2007, I wandered into a bookstore in Laguna Beach, California and struck up a conversation with the owner. After sharing a few passionate minutes talking about books we loved, she excused herself, ducked in the back, and returned with two books– advance copies– asking if I’d be interested in reading and […]

[Read more →]

A lot has been shared today about President Hinckley. I offered my thoughts on other blogs, but won’t expand on them here. Suffice to say, my family and I love him, and when we heard the news we cried and prayed together. Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
Recently, a brother in my ward, with […]

[Read more →]

The other day I was driving somewhere with my 11-year old daughter. After a while of silence, she said, “Dad? What if I don’t want to go on a mission?”
I said, “Honey, I don’t want you to go on a mission.”
She got suddenly indignant. “Why not?!”
I shrugged. “Just don’t.”
“What’s wrong with me going on a […]

[Read more →]

The greatest gift I ever received for Christmas was not the child-like wonder of the season or the sloppy glob of an arts n’ crafts project from a sweet, adoring kid. It wasn’t an unexpected visit from friends who thought surprising us with carols and a few cookies on a paper snowflake plate would compensate […]

[Read more →]

Strange day yesterday. It left me licked and demoralized.
Waah. Waah Waah.
It started with PEC, in which I gave the spiritual thought. In a nutshell, I explained how, not too long ago, I would always be frustrated about something: Work, home, even the smallest things. Then as I became more engaged in my callings and sought […]

[Read more →]

My lovely wife and I have recently crossed our 18th anniversary. We haven’t actually celebrated yet– we have a weekend at the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel awaiting us– but it’s enough to say we actually made it this far.
This wasn’t the first marriage for either of us; I’ve been married twice before and she once– […]

[Read more →]

I’ve given and received priesthood blessings for almost 30 years, much more so recently, and can say without any stretch of the imagination that they truly work. Most of the time they’ve had subtle, benign results, and sometimes they’ve been more dramatic. For example, all through elementary school my daughter hadn’t missed a single day […]

[Read more →]

Nostalgia is one of life’s crueler by-products. Moments appear rosier than they were and they taunt us with notions that the better parts are behind us. Nostalgia is junk food that, when over-consumed, leaves us aching and uncomfortably snug in our tight-fitting spiritual jeans.
Nevertheless, here I go.
As I write this, I’m listening to Alice Cooper’s […]

[Read more →]

I finally eliminated physical newspapers from my home. It was an unceremonial and anti-climactic gesture, really. I haven’t read my LA Times for months– I just took it to the office kitchen and let the scavengers pick it apart. Instead, I now get The New York Times, CNN Political Tracker and Entertainment Weekly via email (also The Smoking […]

[Read more →]

Stake conference came early this year, and it came broadcast. I actually liked it better this way– 15 minutes of business before, 15 minutes of parting shots after, and the body of the meeting, talks from GAs. The broadcast was customized for Southern California Saints, giving off the feeling that the messages were meant just […]

[Read more →]

While working on a recording together, Johnny Cash asked Bob Dylan if he knew “Ring of Fire.” Dylan said he did and proceeded to play it on the piano, croaking it out in typical Dylanesque fashion. When he was done he turned to the Man in Black and said, “It goes something like that, right?”
“No,” […]

[Read more →]

I want to preface this entry by saying, I love going to church on Fast Sunday. I treasure the testimonies of those who found love and comfort in the Church when life was beating on them. I love hearing the unshakable testimonies of my friends who know God is with them, the sweet sisters whose […]

[Read more →]

Permit me to ponder over the beauty of our flaws for a moment.
One of my favorite film characters is “Hero’s” Bernie LaPlante, played by Dustin Hoffman. A dyed-in-the-wool proponent of self-interest, cynicism and misanthropy, LaPlante gives humanity a wide berth because, like a well-tenderized piece of beef, he’s been relentessly hammered by it– largely due […]

[Read more →]

I first saw this picture when I was a kid, leafing through a “Best of Life Magazine” book. It struck me then, and still does, for a number of reasons. One, this heartbroken woman, Evelyn McHale, age 23, left her fiancee and then jumped off the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. In […]

[Read more →]

My wife favored me with another one of those obnoxious viral emails. You know the ones– “Send This to Three Friends for Good Luck!” The remarkable thing is, this kind of stuff flies in the face of everything she believes in. She sent it to me “just in case.” Not only does it fly in […]

[Read more →]

Resolutions are fun because they are covenants you only make with yourself, so you know you’ll let yourself off easy. Fuggetabout it, thou good and well-meaning servant; Have a cookie. They are fleetingly edifying, bolstering self-worth and vision for the moments you think to make them. I hesitate to make resolutions because of the myriad […]

[Read more →]

As a new year embarks upon us, I thought I’d start it by (among other things) explaining how I became a Mormon. It’s an unusual enough story that, if it didn’t happen to me, I’d say it sounded pretty wild. I debated whether or not to put this account in my blog. I questioned whether […]

[Read more →]