Man, this has been one incredible week already for me and I have not really "gotten out of the chute yet"...to quote a rodeo term. The last couple weeks have been a severely wild ride and in a good way for once. As I have mentioned in a prior blog I took part in an LDS ARP group. For those of you who do not know what ARP is... it stands for Addiction Recovery Program. Now I am not neccesarily addicted to anything... ok, truth be told I have an insatiable thirst for soda...Mountain Dew, Coke, Sierra Mist... whatever, but that is not why I am attending this group:-) I KNOW why I like soda so much and that is because I HATE water so much. The key here is my participation in the group and I voluntarily started to attend a new group because I want to learn more about me than I currently know... which I am finding out is less than you would think would make sense...if that makes any sense;-)

This group is administrated by my Elders Quorum President who used to be a facilitator in Utah groups. My attendance, for me, is neccesary to cause a "mighty change of heart" for me as the key point of this ARP group is to create "fearless and honest inventory of yourself" and I feel that is important if I want to be the faithful and dedicated servant that Heavenly Father wants and needs in me. I have committed to it many times and yet I still fall so short and I felt it time to do that inventory.

The course has a book that is basically the Alcoholics Anonymous handbook, condensed and annotated, and including Book of Mormon references along withthe Bible. Its called "He did Deliver Me From Bondage" by Colleen Harrison. I have been diligently reading through this book and trying to diary my thoughts and feelings from this course and today I found an interesting quote in an Ensign article that was part of this weeks reading.

This article comes from the July '89 issue of the Ensign called Born of God. I read a key point in there and dang near fell out of my chair. Here is the part tht hit me...

**President David O. McKay tells of a singular event that happened to him. After falling asleep, he said he “beheld in vision something infinitely sublime.” He saw a beautiful city, a great concourse of people dressed in white, and the Savior.

“The city, I understood, was his. It was the City Eternal; and the people following him were to abide there in peace and eternal happiness.

“But who were they?

“As if the Savior read my thoughts, he answered by pointing to a semicircle that then appeared above them, and on which were written in gold the words:

“These Are They Who Have Overcome the World—Who Have Truly Been Born Again!***

OVERCOME THE WORLD!!! We are all struggling in our lives for one reason or another and it really all boils down to fighting the struggles and OVERCOMING. Not dealing with, not hiding from, not analyzing until we paralyze from, but facing them with faith and allowing God to help us OVERCOME them. Ok, so maybe that is not that profound but the last part really sets it in concrete... " Who have been truly born again". Its not a sinlge road but a journey towards being truly Born Again. The Evangelicals get all "Bible Bus Riding Crazy" over being born again and how that saves you and we just look at them and shrug our shoulders at their enthusiasm but it really is true. Being born again in our lives is a requirement to return home with honor and overcoming the world is how to do just that.

So... to continue on with the path of what a number of blogs have talked about over the last couple days... mine included... enduring to the end and truly working to overcome the world is the main key to finding happiness for the eternities in the highest degree of glory in the Celestial Kingdom.

In my path through the ARP program, I am learning that there are key things in my life that I am not grasping that are allowing me to just coast through the world on a daily basis and not get the best out of everything. Hopefully I can pass on to you what I am learning... I'll keep you posted.

Grant

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