There are no Guarantees, I Guarantee it

Have you ever seen old boxing footage where the one boxer shakes a fist up in the air to get his opponent to look up and at that moment he swings with his other hand and pops him in the face?  If not you're missing out on some classic stuff.   It seems so ridiculous that someone would fall for that.  How does a professional in the heat of the battle take his eye off the prize?  I guess the easy answer is that we all lose concentration sometimes,  we all look away from the goal for a moment or two.  We tell ourselves it was only one time,  I wont let that happen again.  And then POW!  we are out for the count.


Sounds pretty dramatic I know.  I wish it were just theatrics to get your attention.  The reality is that it doesn't do real life justice.  In my life I have seen people that I have loved and respected, people that I put on a pedastal of greatness, people that impacted my life and influenced me to do good when I didn't think I could,  people that if you asked me at the time if they would ever fall away, the answer would be an emphatic no,  these people have fallen away on forbidden paths.  Seeing this has shaken me to my very foundation.  I thought to myself, if this could happen to them I don't stand a chance.  I have questioned my own faith in seeing these loved ones walk away.    The only thing more sobering than witnessing these great ones fall has been seeing the collateral damage they have left in their wake as families are destroyed and children are heart broken.

There are no guarantees in life.   After seeing these things and taking them in I finally began to see the great happiness, peace, and blessings that come from living the gospel, and the great tragedy, sadness, and destruction that comes from turning from the Lord.  We know what we are supposed to do.  We know how to get where we need to go.  We have to keep our eye on the prize, ignore the background noise,  push forward because our very lives depend on it.  In the Book of Mormon there is a reference to the Iron Rod and it talks about how those that made it down the path were "clinging" to the rod.  They weren't walking next to it.  They didn't just have it in sight.  They were clinging to it  because their lives depended on it.

I think about the examples in my life often.  I think about those great leaders and friends that have influenced me for good and I do my best to follow their examples.  I also think about those that I love and cry for that have made choices to that put them in situations where they have not recovered and I remind myself how easy it is to lose site of the goal.  Remember,  when those distractions come and they will come,  cling to that rod, put your head down and push through.  That's my strategy, what keeps me going is I know you all will be there waiting for me. 

G-Money