Skin Deep

His arms were covered in tattoos. Maybe tattoos are more on my mind because of the viral blogpost experiences of a tattoo covered Mormon you can read about here:  http://alfoxshead.blogspot.com ?
You would think he spent his nights in seedy smoky bars until you looked in his clear blue eyes and there was no denying the goodness evident there. We could see him through the glass door as he fixed the windshield and tightened our window wipers but couldn't see his thoughts.

Suddenly he opened the door and said, "You're set to go!"
I asked him if we should pay at the counter now and his response surprised me as he shook his head, "Naw, it wasn't repaired properly the time before now and I just fixed it. You're good."
In awe, I asked, "But, you fixed the window wipers?"
"I gave them a good tighten and they should work now but you can bring it back if you have any problems," he said as he shrugged his shoulders.
Stunned, we got in the car and exclaimed how incredibly nice it was to find someone who was perfectly content to just serve without expecting anything in return.

Not 24 hours later a kind unassuming young man with a sweet cowboy drawl came to repair our water slogging broken furnace. Patient and deliberate, he explained the problems and how to fix them. He was so kind, I asked him if he had time to look at our gas fireplace that hadn't worked in two years. Of course it turned on immediately for the expert, as he slowly explained how it worked. Gratefully, he said he would clean it for me because I couldn't comprehend the process of deconstructing it for a good cleaning. As he took his jacket off I couldn't help noticing his forearms… a big elaborate tattoo adorned each one.

Thank you God, for always always teaching me. I love it.

Keystones

So my beautiful daughter is home from her LDS Mission and loves running into people so dear to her. This week we were out doing errands and ran into her ballroom teacher. The joy and rejoicing was immediate but short-lived. Someone very important to her had chosen not to remain within the church structure that forms her life. Anti-Mormon literature, designed to sow seeds of doubt into the very most elect members, had slowly influenced their testimony and they longer felt they had one. My daughter had experienced some of this herself in the last months of her mission and it was very fresh on her mind. They marveled at how doubts had been fed and nurtured at the expense of the forever known.

The very fact that the Book of Mormon exists is proof enough. No wonder it is called the "keystone" of our religion. I love reading it and never fail to find comfort, reassurance and frequent encouragement to make my life resemble Christ's more closely. How can that be bad?