Hurricanes in our Hearts

I dont write a lot down on paper and so a lot of thoughts and feelings I have shared with family and friends have either become part of their memories or have disappeared forever.  When I got home from Miami I didnt have any clue what I wanted to talk to people about, however as I sat on the stand and was a few minutes from taking the pulpit I realized what everything was all about, "Hurricanes in our Hearts".  I experienced Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Wilma while in Miami.  Both hurricanes were category 3s when they hit us.  The winds were upwards of 100 mph and the force was incredible.  Hurricanes are the most beautifully destructive thing I have ever experienced.  There really is something freakily beautiful in natures destructive power.  After a hurricane everything is left devastated.  The initial destruction is not what you worry about, its the after effects.  The lack of clean, drinkable tap water.  The lack of power for weeks or months.  The lack of a warm shower.  Having to clear and help friends and neighbors clear all the fallen trees, mend the broken fences, and mend their hearts and souls.  Really hurricanes are all about the last part. Hurricanes are a battle of heart, soul, and will.  The only way to get through it is by loving each other and loving Christ.  Trials in life will be our hurricanes.  Trials can leave us without power, with debris, and brokenness.  As we seek to lift ourselves up we must first do the unthinkable, turn and start lifting everyone else up.  It is easy to think, hey ill take care of myself and my own first and then ill worry about everyone else.  The truth is as we do the unthinkable and start pushing and lifting with those around us we will find God reaching down to push and pull with us.  Behold the lillies of the field.  If we our worried about our own needs we first need to relax and feed Christs sheep.

Not so cursed with girls!

A follow up to a post I left on facebook a few weeks ago.  I tutor for a family that has four girls.  I have only been tutoring one of them and periodically the other three appear as they come in and out doing homework and various things.  One of the first nights I tutored I was leaving and one of the younger girls was like, "Bye Tyler!" and I was like "goodbye!  I dont know your name but I should".  Well she got a little pouty face and I was like "Ill remember your name for next time" and she responded "I sure hope so".  Well, I grew up in a house that is mainly male.  Those of you that know Erika and Karissa know that they are extremely feminine.  They are very feminine in very different ways, we all have very individual very eclectic personalities.  Erika, Karissa, and my Mom instilled a love of fashion, shopping, country music and other such things on all us boys.  However, when we were growing up we all loved playing sports together.  The TVs in the house were mainly on sports channels and the girls had trouble fitting their shows in.  Our TV almost permanently sits with ESPN on, even when no one is watching it is on in the background.  I guess me learning how to read from the sports section of the newspaper had some sort of effect on all that.  I have always contended that when I get marry I know my wife is going to have girls.  I dont know how to deal with girls.  Ive been on bunches of first and second dates, but beyond that and into relationships I am completely in the dark when it comes to girls.  So I have always said, "One day I will be cursed with girls and then Ill learn".  Well getting back to the start of the story, being in a house full of girls tutoring has changed my outlook some.  While I realize I am not the parent of any of those girls, and I dont have to be around them incessantly I think they are awesome.  Do they fight because someone borrowed something without asking or for various other reasons.....yeah.  Do the teenagers have some extra sassyness and some things that would be tough to deal with...yeah.  The thing is though they are all so sweet.  Their sweetness blesses everyone.  As I went to leave today Caroline and Lauren the two youngest were hanging out by the front door.  I was like "Goodbye Caroline!  Goodbye Lauren!"  Lauren got a huge smile on her face and said, "Hey!  I remember your name too!  Goodbye Tyler!"  I left with a huge smile on my face and I feel stoked and blessed just to have had the opportunity to spend time around them.  Guess girls arent so much of a curse after all :).

Tender Mercies

Some doctrine of Tyler that I dare not teach or share in a Sunday School lesson.  Listening to the Spirit and going about doing good can be a real constant thing in our life. There are numberless chances during the day to stop and listen to promptings that will enrich our life and the lives of others.  While at BYU, I made a habit of slowing down in between classes and making a conscious decision of which route on campus I would take that day.  Most of the time at BYU people get set in a routine, walking the same way to their same classes everyday.  A number of days I just felt like there was a different path I should take, sometimes the paths were the opposite way of my class, and sometimes I just ended up at class real late or not at all.  How was this a positive?  Everytime I went somewhere I wasnt "supposed to be", without fail I would run into someone that I had not seen in awhile and we would share some time and words that would enrich our lives.  Oh right, I should add in here that sometimes it was excruciatingly painful for people to get across campus with me.  You never wanted to walk to class with me if you were planning on getting there on time and not meeting a bunch of good new friends.  I was reminded of this the past two Tuesdays.  Both Tuesdays I went to the same area near the temple to eat lunch.  The first time I was stopped by someone yelling "Workinger".  I looked over to see my good buddy Fitz, and he was eating lunch with a bunch of the guys that I spent a lot of time working with in a lab at UCSD.  We were able to sit down and enjoy some time together and renew old friendships.  Today, I went to the same place expecting maybe I would run into them again, however, I ran into Rory Taylor.  I dont know Rory incredibly well.  We didnt talk a whole lot.  We just exchanged pleasantries, said Hello, asked about each others jobs and carried on with our days.  All these simple "tender mercies" though reminded me that God has a role in all sorts of small things in my life.  Tonight everything seemed to be topsy turvy of what I wanted.  I ended up running a bunch of errands that I would have forgotten to run if I had gone on my own selfish way.  At the end of the errands I was at the checkstand, the little cute latina clerk sneezed, and I promptly said "Bless You".  Then, I kind of laughed and looked up with a smile and was like "Salud!".  She had just been speaking Spanish to the other clerks and when she heard me say it she got a huge smile on her face.  As I walked out, I heard her start talking to the other workers in Spanish and smiling and laughing about the whole thing.  Sometimes, God just wants us in places so people knows he care and that we care.  Hopefully, we all stay a little less busy and find a little more time to be in the places not that we want, but the places where God needs us.  We truly are each others angels.  Oh, Ill also give Maelyn another shoutout here for making my night last night.  Even though we were totally joking around about sharing a positive, uplifting moment at the end of the night, it really did make me smile.  Also, I hope people dont think Im posting this to say that Im awesome, cuz obviously that is not the case.  I feel like all the opportunities were in order to bless me and I selfishly got way more out of them even if I didnt get to do the initial selfish things I wanted to.  Basically, sometimes we think we are sacrificing but something more awesome comes are way!