To Whom is the Arm of the Lord Revealed?

This blog originally started as an assignment for one of my New Testament classes at BYU. This week at institute (essentially a bible study type of class) we receiveda challenge to share something we learn from Isaiah chapter fifty three.

This chapter talks about the Savior and the sacrifice of His life on our behalf. It essentially talks about how Christ gave His life freely that we might not have to suffer for the sins that we commit here in this life.

"But he was ^awounded for our ^btransgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his ^cstripes we are ^dhealed." (v.5)

The Book of Mormon teaches us that Christ's sacrifice not only takes away our sins, but allows the Savior to help us through eny struggles we may be going through---sickness, mistakes, weakness, mental, physical or spiritual.

"And he shall go forth, suffering pains and ^aafflictions and ^btemptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will ^ctake upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

 "And he will take upon him ^adeath, that he may ^bloose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to ^csuccor his people according to their infirmities.

 "Now the Spirit ^aknoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the ^bflesh that he might ^ctake upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me." (Alma 7:11-13)

Just as I said when I started this blog, "I know that Jesus Christ suffered and died not only for my sins, but for my sicknesses, mistakes, and disappointments (see Alma 7:11-12). If I look to him and live, just as the people of Israel did in the wilderness when they suffered an affliction, then I can overcome my mistakes, forget about the past and move forward with my head held high."

So "To Whom is the Arm of the Lord Revealed?"

"All we like ^asheep have gone ^bastray; we have turned every one to his ^cown way; and the Lord hath laid on him the ^diniquity of us all." (v. 6)

His arm is revealed to all of us. It is up to us to take a hold of it. I hope we all will.

Another way He as revealed His arm is through a living prophet. This weekend we have an opportunity to hear him and the other modern day apostles speak. You can watch/listen to it at lds.org or byutv.org.

F#*@ You LeBron

My section in law school has our own Facebook page where we ask questions and share random articles and such. Today this guy posted about how the Pacers were selling tickets to tonight's game against the heat. The ticket was in the nosebleed section, but it was only $0.75. Once the processing charge was added in $4.40. Less than five dollars for an NBA ticket. Pretty good deal if you ask me.

I live close enough to walk which is pretty cool. On my way in, I saw a guy from my law school class. I was glad that I wasn't the only one to not be doing school work. Make a long story short...we ended up having tickets right next to each other. That confirmed to me that it was divine intervention that I decided to go to the basketball game.

At the introductions, the Heat were greeted to cheers and jeers. I think you either love or hate them. I heard a lot of four letter words directed towards LeBron. The Pacers started off really well. It was tied with just seconds left in the first half. Then the pacers hit this amazing half court shot. Half time was cool. It was a Village People act, but it was only one real person with dummies attached to him for the four people. Anyway, it was more interesting than I've described it.

Make a long story short...the Pacers ended up winnin. They did really well rebounding the ball. It was fun to see them win.

Sunday Stroganoff

We woke up. I got to read a real newspaper for the first time in a long time. We got ready for Church. We went to the singles ward. Awkward moment of the day--introducing myself by saying that I'm visiting Owen and a member of the branch presidency thinking that I said my name is Owen. Anyway, church was really good. DeMarcus Harrison (a member of the BYU Basketball team who had a really good night in Dayton) has a brother who is currently serving a mission in Chicago. He gave a talk in Church that was really good. Crazy things do happen on CTA.

After Church we went on a walk in the neighborhood of the Church building. Guess who lives nearby? That's right B. Hussein. His house was huge, but not really anything to write home about.

After that, we headed over to the University of Chicago. It is an amazing campus. They have a bunch of gothic style buildings. It was really neat. Then we drove home along the lake. It was almost 20 degrees cooler by the lake. We also got to drive on the freeway where Cameron Diaz goes crazy in My Best Friends Wedding. We also saw this crazy car wreck on the freeway! It was burning up and the firemen weren't really doing anything. Made us grateful that it wasn't us!

Once we got home, we had Stroganoff for dinner. It was delicious!!!

 I decided to take some pictures of the Barnes' home before I left.

They have a really cool den/library as well.

The staircase leading to upstairs is amazing too.

The Owen's Bedroom

My favorite room was the kitchen. This picture doesn't even begin to do it justice!

The coolest part was the memories of childhood throughout the house. There are letters that the kids wrote and other things. In the staircase they have a picture and some other sort of personal item for each kid. Good first spring break. Props to the Barnes Family for their hospitality. Back to real life tomorrow!











St. Patrick's Smorgasbord

We got up early today, got ready and headed downtown. Owen's sister Emily came with us downtown to see the coloring of the river in honor of St. Patrick's day. I'm glad she came because she did a better job driving than I could have downtown. We got to drive through the part of town where Dr. Pratt got shot on ER so that was pretty cool.

It was pretty crowded by the time we got there, but we had a good viewing spot. We thought they dumped the dye off of the bridge, but they actually had a boat that sprinkled powder into the river. It was pretty cool how bright green and how quickly it spread.

After that, we headed to Millennium Park and did some exploring before the parade began. They had a cool statute called The Bean.

Then we watched the parade. Dick Durbin was there. They had floats, marching bands and "Two Guys With a Banner." As Owen said, it doesn't really take much to get in that parade.

The best part of the parade was probably the Irish Dancers. They have the wigs and they really do a good job dancing.

After the parade we went to lunch at Gino's East. It came highly recommended from the Barnes' family as the best place to get Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. I agree. I had only had UNO Pizzeria's before, but this stuff was great. The pizza wasn't that greasy which was really nice. The crust was good and their homemade sauce was amazing. They also had deep fried ravioli which are really delicious. Plus visitors get to write their name on whatever they want!

Then we hiked over to Navy Pier. That was a really nice place. We really didn't do anything except enjoy the scenery. You get a really nice view of the skyline.

Then we hiked back to the L. Owen's parents picked us up, and we headed over to Las Fuentes, the preferred Mexican restaurant of the Barnes' household. It was really good. The Salsa was amazing and so was the food. I highly recommend it as well.

The Friday Feast

Today was another beautiful day in the windy city. It was in the seventies and sunny. We started our day with a late breakfast at the Bongo Room. It was well worth the twenty minute wait we had. I had these amazing pretzel pancakes with white chocolate and caramel sauces. It was so big that I could only eat half of it. That means I have breakfast for tomorrow. Really good. Now I know why Owen talked so highly about that place!

Then we went to visit a Hungarian Church in the area. It is St. Stephen's Church. It was cool to see. They have mass in Hungarian every week. It's cool to be in a place where there is some sort of Hungarian population. After that we went to this international food store where they have some hungarian delicacies. I got some Kolbasz (sausage), really delicious paprika spread that you put on sandwiches, some chocolate, some sparkling water and a poppy seed loaf. I can't wait to eat them all!

On the way back to Owen's house we stopped and saw Al Capone's grave. That was pretty cool. They had pennies on his stone, but we didn't know what that meant.

After a quick stop at Owen's house we headed to the Chicago Temple. It was a great experience. We got to use the toll road and despite the fact that it says they only take I-Pass, they actually take EZ-Pass. The Temple was nice. It looked a lot like Boise's Temple.

On the way home we got stuck in traffic, but it wasn't that bad. When we got back, dinner was waiting for us. Ribs and Chicken wing from Robinson's. It was one of the first places that the Barnes family discovered when they moved to Oak Park. Everything was delicious. The meat was so tender. It fell right off the bone. The wings were great too. Not really spicy, but they had a good flavor.

After dinner, we chatted for awhile and then we went to the Hole in the Wall. It's a local frozen custard place that just opened it's doors for the season today. There was a line, and it was well worth the wait. I got a swirl (chocolate/vanilla) cone dipped in peanut butter. It was really good. Then we stopped at Old Navy on the way home and I got a green shirt for the St. Patricks Day Parade tomorrow. Tomorrow should be great!

Whatever You Do, Don't Look Down

Today started out great because I actually got a good night sleep. I got up and showered at 7:30. I had breakfast and then we headed out the door to catch the L for downtown. It was cool to finally ride it. It wasn't really anything to right home about. When we got to our stop, it exited to this really cool builiding.

We walked around for a little bit looking at the cool statues and architecture. It really is a pretty city.

Then we headed over to the former Sears Tower. It wasn’t too crowded, which was nice. We headed to the top. You can see really far. The coolest fact I probably learned is that Chicago means Wild Onion. On the west side of the building they have these glass enclosures that extend off of the building so that it looks like you are walking on air. I thought that I would have issues with it, but it actually wasn’t that bad and you can get some pretty cool pictures there.

Then we hopped back onto an L train after wandering around looking for it. Before heading back to Oak Park, we made one stop at Cook County Hospital. This may not mean a lot to most of you, but as a really big ER fan, it meant a lot. This is the hospital where the show took place. Most of the stuff featured on the show was made up, but this is the closest thing that I could get, so it was pretty exciting. We took a moment to listen to the ER theme song. It was great. They also had a statue dedicated to Louis Pasteur there, which I thought was pretty random.

Then we headed back to Oak Park. Owen’s mom was kind enough to pick us up from the L stop and we had lunch at Potbellys. It’s a sandwich shop.  It was delicious. I had a meatball sub. One of the reasons that made it so delicious is the fact that they cut the meatballs in half. This makes eating a meatball sandwich ten times easier.

Then we went back to the Barnes’ residence and watched the BYU basketball game. Even though they ended up losing by 20 pts., I was still proud to be a Cougar. They did well. The score really doesn’t reflect how well they played. Marquette was just too much for us to handle. Sad to know that I won’t be able to see Noah Hartsock play anymore. It has been amazing to see him progress the past four years. He has improved every year and is a solid free throw shooter.

After that we just kind of hung out until dinner. It was amazing as is usual here at Owen’s home. It was this honey chicken, rice and broccoli. For dessert we had moose tracks brownie ice cream. So good!

Then after dinner we watch Live Free or Die Hard. Good movie. I do think we are over reliant on technology and that does make us vulnerable to some sort of cyber warfare. The film does a good job at raising those issues. Great day. More to come tomorrow!

Paul Robeson and George McGovern

Today I woke up early (7:30) and got myself ready for the journey to Chicago. I had to make a stop to get gas and another to close the gas door thing and put the cap back on. It was a nice drive. I got here in like three hours.

When I arrived, Owen gave me the grand tour of the house. I'll post pictures. It's a legit house. Two words---laundry chute! Oh yeah, there is one in the house! Then we went for lunch. We went to Johnnie's. I have heard about this place for awhile now and I am glad I finally got to experience it. It is pretty much a soup nazi like place for italian beef and sausage. You have to know what you are ordering when you place your order. Owen prepared me well. The guy was intense telling his workers what and when they should be doing it. Super fast service though. First of all, it is super inexpensive. For 7.57, I got a sandwich with both sausage and italian beef, fries and an italian ice. I thought for Chicago it was a pretty good deal. Second, it was really good. Well worth the wait. The sausage had a nice kick to it and everything complemented each other very well. I got mine juicy which means the whole sandwhich was soaked in broth.

After lunch we did some exploring in Owen's neighborhood. Frank Lloyd Wright designed a lot of homes in the area. They were so beautiful. I don't think I've seen a neighborhood with as many varied homes as there are in this neighborhood. I wish I were an architecture afficianado to describe them in technical terms. They were absolutely beautiful.



Then we went to downtown Oak Park. It was a nice little town. I went to Trader Joes. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be, but it was an experience. I got an apple pear. Should be interesting to see what it tastes like. I also got some chocolate covered blueberries, which should be really good. After that, we walked down a different street. This old guy stopped us and talked to us for a good half an hour. Make a long story short he told us that it is important for us to know about George McGovern (the greatest politician ever) and Paul Robeson. He liked Romney, but told us to stick with the Democrats. He complimented us on going to BYU and grad school though. It was a fun experience and gave us a good laugh.

Then we headed back to the homestead and had dinner. It was amazing. Meat, potatoes and vegetables. Of course we had Pie for dessert in honor of Pi Day!

Anyway, it was an awesome day! Day Two should be Epic!