Thursday, May 6, 2010: An AMAZING day...

An AMAZING Day

Yesterday was one of the most interesting day's I had in quite some time. I mean every day is a blessing and amazing but yesterday was definitely special.

Morning

It started with my normal Thursday routine, getting up at 6 am and out by 6:30am: Getting to my appointment in Bellevue, WA by 9 am and having until 2 pm to do whatever.

Wed afternoon Vick gave me a coupon to use for JC Penny. So I went to do some power shopping and I scored a nice jersey and a cool camp shirt for $25! So that was already a good start. I went to the Goodwill cause I am a cheap b#&$&@d and I like to thrift shop. There I score another really nice new camp shirt for $6! So I scored again. The shopping gods are smiling on me.

So having a successful power shopping session I decided to get to the gym and get in a good workout. I started with my standard routine of getting on the elliptical for a 45 min cardio session. I forgot my headphones so I grabbed a machine closer to the television so that I could read CNN headlines while doing my workout. About 15 minutes into the workout, after reading about the chaos going on in Greece I saw that the S&P had just dropped 400 points. I was like, "Whoa." And the lady next to me looked up from her book to see what was going on. She was like, uh-oh, there is a big chunk of change out of my portfolio. Before she finished her sentence it had dropped another 100 points. Then I was like, did you just see that! I cant believe it! Then it dropped 50 points. She was like hmm, might be a good time to buy, and I was like, “hmm, not sure its done dropping”. Another 100 points. Holy… The guy in front of me started to pay attention to the television, gave the T.V. and incredulous look and then shook his head. The lady next to me says, well at least it is still higher then when I bought at the bottom. It's fallen a total of 700 points, in three minutes. I said it may not be over and that I'd bet that is was going to hit 1000 points. As soon as I had mentioned to the lady that this is exactly why I have no confidence in the market and that there was some insane volume being unloaded to have it dip that much that fast. She was like, nah, no problem I'm going to go back and buy some more. Five minutes into the whole ordeal the S&P had already bounced back from bottoming just shy of a 1000-point loss for the day. She was like, See it's fine, back to normal. I was like, are you serious?  Four minutes, 1000-point drop. All right in the middle of seeing live shots of people rioting in Greece and news anchors suggestion that this is just the first country to start rioting. Next comes Spain and Portugal. I couldn't help but think, what on earth is going on!!

I was floored that so many people just turn a blind eye to the truth of the reality that we live in. I don't know if the S&P ever declined that fast in such a short period. I still don't understand how when our fundamentals of our domestic economy are so weak that the S&P has rebounded as much as it had since fall of 08'. Unemployment has barely stabilized, if it stabilizes at all. Our trading deficit is completely broken. Human capitol in this country is being replaced with technology and even "service" industry jobs are being exported to developing nations. We have almost no manufacturing or production at all in this country. Housing is still broken, foreclosures are increasing, banks are failing, but despite all this Wall Street is rebounding nicely. To me it makes no sense. But apparently that is healthy all-American capitalism. All I see is corruption and focused moves to eliminate the middle class and further establish a global plutonomy. Isn't it obvious, look at all the consolidation of the resources since the banks started failing three yeas ago in 07'. Anyways, all this is running through my mind while I'm watching the S&P dip 1000 points and recover in a five-minute period. And listening some upper-middle-class-Bellevue-desperate-housewife-neocon-type saying that, “Oh!, its almost back to where it was!.”

The best was when I was driving after my workout and I hear the cover story for the dip was a typing error from someone trading Proctor and Gamble. P&G represents 1/500 of the S&P… They had a 25% loss, yet the whole S&P dipped 11% in 4 minutes.. Do people actually believe this?  Amazing...

Afternoon

So after my work out I get a phone call from Vicki. She has a honey-do list for me of course. It entails going to the bank, getting some cash and meeting a couple in North Seattle and picking up a mattress that she had found on Craigslist. So I was like, sure… I'd LOVE to drive up to North Seattle just in time for afternoon traffic! So the commute is typical, I get to the Safeway where I am supposed to meet the couple. I call the gal selling the mattress and tell her I'm there waiting. After going to the store to grab some cash and something to drink I get to the business of rearranging the mini-van seats, cleaning garbage and stowing car seats so I can fit a twin mattress in the back.

While I am doing this a black guy drives up in his new black SUV and asks me how to get to North Bend. He calls just as I'm talking to a friend on the cell phone and I tell him I'll help him with the GPS and for him to pull up next to me in the next stall. I end the call with my friend and walk over to the drivers seat to get the GPS out of the car. He came over and introduced himself. I'll call him Jim from Louisiana. Well Jim proceeds to tell me that he has been unemployed for the past seven months and that he has driven out all the way from the Deep South to get started on a new job he was able to pick up from his previous employer. I' was like wow that is quite a ways, he agreed with me that it was but that he was really excited to get started. I got the GPS out, it just so happened the sun was out (a rare occasion up here) and that I couldn't see the screen so I walk to the back of the van to sit on the tailgate and get the map up and going. While I'm getting the Nuvi to work we chat how it has been such hard times for so many people.

I sympathize with his being unemployed and chat a little about what I have been going through since the real estate crash. Jim is telling me how tough it has been for him for the past while and the trip has been tough coming up for the new job. He mentioned that he had a cell phone and some other things stolen out of his car, that he was away from his friends and family and that it has been a rough trip. As we are chatting an older lady sneaks up with a grocery cart and says hi. She mentions the glorious weather, asks us if we believe in God and then gives Jim a track with a few verses. She said we're living in interesting times and that “His” coming is close. Jim engages with her and agrees and we have a moment, three strangers recognizing the volatile times in which we live and one can't help but wonder how close are we?…

This lady tells Jim that yeah, she has seen a lot and has one more birthday soon indicating that she will turn 92 years old this year! Both Jim and I are floored and look at her with jaws dropped and tell her how impressed we are! She really didn't look like a day past 75 to either of us. So there was a lot energy and wisdom right there sharing the Good News to us as we are contemplating all the nonsense that has been happening. To think she was just a little girl in Great Depression. So with a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face this vessel of wisdom continues on her course with her grocery cart. Walking to her house I guess. Jim and I are a little awestruck, but then I get back to the business of trying to find him some direction to North Bend. So I find North Bend on the GPS and I show him that he needs to get back on 5 South, go a bit in miserable Seattle traffic, and then take 90 East, and follow it to North Bend. I went around to the front passenger side of the van to look for an extra map to give to him, and I find a few that I donate to the weary and lost traveler. Jim was very gracious and appreciative. I walked over to the driver’s door of my 2000 Dodge Caravan Sport and he walked to his car. I was getting situated to call the couple that had not arrived yet, and Jim comes back to ask me a question through the window.

Jim asks me if I am a praying man?... O.k... That was unexpected… The first thought through my head is that I don't pray as much as I should, but I do pray with my children and family, so I say, "Well yes, I do pray Jim.. Wassup?" With marked hesitation and discomfort Jim timidly proceeds to tell me that he currently doesn't have a penny to his name, That he had been sleeping in his car and that he needed 8 dollars so that he could wash some clothes and a few groceries to keep him going for a few days. His new job was starting next week but he was tapped out. Truthfully my initial reaction was skepticism. After being scammed 20 bucks in S.F. after seeing a play with my girlfriend, I have always been leery when approached for money by strangers. But soon after, the story of Jon Val Jon came to my head when the priest gave him the candlesticks after he was caught with the spoons from the church. I immediately changed my attitude to one that it didn't matter if he was lying or not, anyone that desperate to ask should be helped. It’s not our place to judge.

So I said, “sure thing I'll help you out!” I took him in the grocery store, grabbed a cart and we went up and down the isles and I was asking him if he wanted this or something else, etc. I tried to be sensitive to his situation.  As I was helping him, he turned away and started to cry a bit. I mean this is a full grown man, not driving a beater car by any means, dressed nice, trying to stifle a few sobs in the grocery store. I was completely humbled. At the check out I got a little extra money to give to him. I take the food to his car and helped him pack his cooler. He is still in visibly awed from what is happening. When the food is packed, I gave him the print out coupons and $ 50 cash. He looked at me as if I had given him $ 1000 bill! He immediately grabbed me up in his arms and gave me the biggest hug I think I had ever had. I thought it was going to crack my neck! Man!,.. these black guys are strong!… He holds me while trying to maintain his composure. He tells me how grateful he is and mentions that he felt impressed to ask me. That I was there to help him, like they guy that come by flood victims house in the canoe. He thanks me again and I tell him, “Brother, its not me.” He grabs me in another supersized bear hug and just holds it for like 20 seconds. I would imagine that we were quite a spectacle for any passerby in that parking lot. A fat, mostly bald white guy hugging and older middle aged black man. But for me it was one of the more profound experiences of my life. As he was embracing me I told him, whispered it in his ear if you will, that THIS is what it is all about. Love.

I was so awed by the whole experience. I was soaking it all in and was just awestruck as to how blessed I, in some small degree, was able to play the part of the Samaritan. It was so humbling to be able to used as a tool in the hands of divinity. Oh, that reminds me that I was at the wrong Safeway! The couple with the mattress called me and asked me where I was about 20 minutes after I told them I was there waiting. They were waiting at a different Safeway! They were only a few minutes away and came right over.

The last few years have been very trying. Lets just say there is a reason why I still have all our packing boxes stashed in my garage. But we have been blessed in so many ways. Lately I have struggled with the structure of organized religion. Some negative attitudes, dogma and culture of my church and throughout Christianity have made me a little standoffish in regards to my church attendance and interaction. Not that I have ever questioned my understanding of the gospel, quite the opposite. This experience to me was encouraging. Especially when I have been having doubts about whether or not I even make a difference in my church or community.

Evening

So on my 90-minute commute home I am processing all that had happened that evening. I finally get home, and with an appetite I sit down at the table and start to eat. Vicki sits with me and my beautiful daughter Leanna sits across from me doing her homework. I say, hey I have had such an amazing day today! Leanna and Vicki are anxious to hear what happened. As the boys are watching the T.V. I tell them the events and they are amazed. My little girl, who I used to hold in both of my hands, tells me how good she is feeling about my story. She describes that she feels warm and happy inside and it make her want to cry. I am just floored AGAIN! For like the 5th time today! Vicki describes the significance of those feelings and she understands them perfectly.

What an AMAZING day.

Jeff Neal: Apostate?...

   Had yet another interesting discussion the other day with an LDS co-worker. It went along the lines of something like this... I noticed that this coworker was wearing garments and I didn't realize he had done his endowment. So I asked him where he went on his mission and he replies someplace like Wisconsin and I replied that that was interesting and then out of the blue he stated that I really don't seem LDS... .. Ahh.. o.k. So I considered that... For example I can't stand Glen Beck and I think he's a false prophet and a deceiver. One of those wolves that Christ mentions... I am not judgmental or self righteous. I don't like the emphasis of self-serving-perfection. I am open minded. I'm not a right wing republican (independent fyi). So I can see where it would be hard to place me with a lot of LDS folks. Oh and I don't believe every little bit of false doctrine that gets spread throughout Mormon culture. Yes Jesus blessed the water into wine NOT grape juice.. So I replied in my typical frank and sassy way that "well ya know, sometimes I really don't feel like I am LDS." Anyways I basically start saying that there are some cultural issues within the church and frankly IMO things are not that all well in Zion, within our church and throughout christianity in general in the U.S. , and spiritually I struggle with some of the attitudes and the distortions of doctrine that can occur within the group.

   So this guy starts accusing me of being apostate because I question things and I don't prescribe to every load of horse shit that gets broadcast from the pulpit. So I ask the guy, does God work exclusively through the Mormon church?.. And he says.. :"well, he CAN work through non-Mormons." I said, "I didn't ask you if he could, I asked you if he does".. And he didn't want to respond to that, then I asked him what percentage of christiandom is represented by Mormons? And he said well probably very little (in the world there are 2.1 billion Christians and there are 12.9 million Mormons, that means LDS represent .6% of people that believe in Christ). So I asked him again, does god work exclusively though LDS people? Well at this point he gets defensive because he feels that I am challenging his belief system (which I am apparently) and he calls me an apostate and sais that in the millenium the rest of the people will be converted to LDS. And that Jesus wasn't christian he was mormon, and that only mormors will go to heaven. Which all of this I don't really believe and to me it's the kind of elitist, I'm-more-special-then-anyone-else nonsense that has been spoon fed to people for a very long time (this attitude is common in MANY religions, not just LDS). So I ask him.. "well do we know for sure?.. Do we have ALL the answers?.. Didn't Joseph smith say that what we learn on this Earth is just a small fraction of our eternal progression? Doesn't it say in our Artiles of Faith that there are many truths that are yet to be revealed to man and that we are to embrace ALL that is good?.. Not just what is sold at the Beehive bookstore.." And he gets flustered.. and then he pauses and with his hands cups them in a small shape and responds, as if someone whispered it in his ear. "We know soo little..." "what!?.." I responded.. "We know so little.." This time a bewildered look comes across his face and I am amazed at what I am witnessing.. Me being my obnoxious self said, "Not sure I heard you correctly.. Could you say that again?" And he repeated it a third time. At that point I just looked at him and said, "THANK YOU! I couldn't express it better myself!"
   
   We really do know so little. A lot can be said for humility! A lot can be said for loving our brothers! Regardless of religion race etc! Remember the Good Samaritan? Who was the protagonist? Who were the antagonists (besides the robbers of course). My young coworker said that we weren't finished and that we would carry the discussion on at a later time. I said that that wasn't going to happen and that he should think about the conversation we just had.

   The interesting thing  is that he was arguing against everything that I was saying but at that moment he was compelled to express to ME how little we know.  And this isn't about being right or wrong for me. This is all about being ready. Being prepared. Having our lanterns filled for then the bride groom comes. So many people think that when Christ does eventually show up on the Earth again that he will micro-manage everything. But doesn't that seem more like the way Lucifer wanted to operate here on Earth? I believe that we are living in amazing times. I believe that Christ may be here very soon. How do we know that the millennium hasn't technically started already?! But I think he expects us to live the way He taught us BEFORE he gets here, not after. And to me that means that we need to all love God and love our neighbor because on those two principles is based ALL the laws of the prophets. We will be held accountable for not extending our hand in charity. We will be accountable for looking the other way, and crossing to the other side when our brother needs our help. We need to respect and love ALL of our brothers. For God so loved the WORLD that he gave his Only Begotten. It wasn't just for the Mormons, the Baptists, the Seventh Day Adventists, the JW's the Catholics. It was for the world, that means every person that ever lived.

  I am grateful for my LDS upbringing and the amazing opportunity that I had to serve as a missionary in Rio. I take very seriously the covenants that I have made in the temple and with my wife. Although I may not always agree, I acknowledge the roles that the leadership have. I try to respect and honor my priesthood, and through it I have been blessed and have blessed the lives of others. But I believe that there is more to come. And that we all need to work together to combat the many evils and temptations that are affronting the whole world.

    For those that have not been kept up to date with us, these last few years have been extremely trying. We have had many hardships and we are still trying to get through them. But I can honestly say that I am grateful for these difficult times because they helped me grow in a way that has given me perspective and understanding that I wouldn't have otherwise had. I am grateful for such an amazing supportive wife and four extremely energetic children that bring me endless joy.

   Sorry for the rant. And if you are offended I would suggest you seriously evaluate your oil level. I felt that I should post this and I have learned the hard way that ignoring impressions, regardless of how trivial they may seem, is a good way to get a divine beat-down. Trust me I have had more than my share.. But like I always say, despite myself, I have been greatly blessed.