The Better Record

Last week in my seminary class, I presented an interesting lesson. The topic of the day was D&C section 69, where John Whitmer was commanded to begin keeping a record of the history of the church. We discussed the importance of keeping records and the fact that the Lord commands us to keep our own personal records of our lives. Not just the day to day events, but our stories, our feelings and everything that makes us who we are.

I then tied the subject back into 3 Nephi from last year and a little story that is quite amusing to me. Its a tiny little story, but to me, it says a lot. Its in 3 Nephi 23: 7 - 14. Whats happening here is that the Resurrected Christ is visiting the people in Central America, teaching them. He called out to his prophet Nephi and asked him to bring him the record kept up until that time. Nephi did as he was asked. Christ looked through it and discovered that some of the things that he had asked him to write, had not been written down. Then comes the very simple, but profound verse 12 "And it came to pass that Nephi remembered that this thing had not been written."

DOH! What is going through Nephi's mind at that moment?! Christ, the Lord, had asked him to do something and he suddenly realized he had not bothered to do it. That can't be a good thing. And what do you say? "Uhhhhh… sorry, I got distracted there…" That's just not a fun place to find yourself in.

So that brings us back to today. We have been asked by the Lord to keep our own personal records. At some point the Second Coming will take place, and the Lord will return to the Earth. And when he comes to me and says "Remember that personal record that I asked you to keep? Where is that, I'd like to see it," what exactly am I going to say? "Ummmmmm…. yeah, sorry I got so busy editing DVDs that I kind of stopped writing". "Ummmmmm, I was really busy.." That's just not going to fly and I am going to have the same realization that Nephi did.

And so, as the teacher of this class, I can't be a hypocrite.. I can't expect my class to seriously get on the keeping of their records if I am not willing to do the same. I need to lead and set the example or I can't expect them to follow. So I am committing here and now, to keep my record, in the form of my blog, more current. There are so many stories that I keep planning on telling, many events that Facebook and Twitters little update tabs can't contain. I need to stop making excuses and get back to writing. And so I will.

2011 will be a good year at Calvin's Cosmos. That's my commitment, so check back often.

As Darth Vader says on the Robot Chicken parody… "I'm bringing it back!!!"

It's my record… and it needs to be better!