Dealing with Scarcity

      Based on the title some of you might be reading this because (or despite) a belief that I am writing about economics. I'll just make it clear right now that I'm not. Don't get me wrong, I love economics. Since 2/3 of my current courses are on economics, you may get a post or two about economics in the near future. The title actually comes from some thoughts I had while reading the scriptures this morning. Specifically 2 Kings 4:1-7

 1 Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and thecreditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.
 2 And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.
 3 Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.
 4 And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.
 5 So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out.
 6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There isnot a vessel more. And the oil stayed.
 7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.

      I think this is my first time reading this story. From what I gather, a woman's husband dies and leaves her with a large debt burden. She doesn't know what to do, and so she seeks help from the prophet Elisha. The prophet tells her to go get as many pots as possible, and to start pouring the little oil she has into the pots. She does so, and miraculously she fills them all up. So many pots, in fact, that there weren't any left in the neighborhood. Then she sells all the pots of oil and pays here debts.

      For me this was reminiscent of events in Christs life: the feeding of the 4,000, the feeding of the 5,000, the two times the Savior instructed his disciples to let down their nets to find fish that were so elusive just moments before. It also reminds us of an event in the the life of another widow that met Elijah, who miraculously had enough meal to keep her and her son alive through the drought. In all these cases, there seems to be something created out of nothing. Some kind of magician's trick - like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Where once all we saw was emptiness, now we see abundance.

      The central problem in all of these stories is one of scarcity. When Christ had 4,000 men (plus the women and children), he had seven loaves of bread and a few little fishes. Was food scarce? Yes. But did Jesus Christ see scarcity? No. He trusted in His Father's abundance.

      A little more thought on the matter helps us see that the scarcity of mortality is ever present. We live in a world of scarce time, scarce energy, scarce resources. We all face and must deal with the idea of scarcity. But when we put our trust in God and live faithful to Him, the scarcity of mortality is always accompanied by the abundance of eternity. Elder Holland makes the point that God wants to pour out blessings. He has an abundance, and is anxiously waiting to provide.

...surely the thing God enjoys most about being God is the thrill of being merciful, especially to those who don’t expect it and often feel they don’t deserve it.

On another occasion he said

God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can't if you don't pray, and He can't if you don't dream. In short, He can't if you don't believe.

      I believe that God is a God of abundance. I believe that when we feel the constraints of mortality, that we can trust in God's ability to create something where all we see is a lack. If there is anything we can learn from the life of the Savior, it is that "He lives to bless in time of need" (Hymn 136, "I know that my Redeemer Lives").

Duke Gardens

I finished my "math camp" this morning and took a little stroll around the Duke Gardens afterward. First, there are a lot of things that grow in North Carolina that do not grow out west. It was amazing. Second, the place is huge. I felt like singing to myself  "come with me, and you'll see in a world of pure imagination..."

Enjoy the pictures!

Cross Country

It's hard to summarize everything that happened in the week that I made the trip across the country. There is a little sketch right here though. Enjoy!

Day 1
We left Provo around 2 and headed down to Monticello to visit and stay with my good ole' buddy Oliver. Monticello is a beautiful place. We celebrated Dantzel's birthday (Oliver's wife) with a watermelon cake. Then we went to a lookout to watch the sunset over Canyonlands National Park.

Day 2

Monday morning we relaxed a little and headed out around 9 because it was only a 6 hour drive that day. Driving up over the continental divide was beautiful. But somewhere around Vail my check engine light went on. Keep in mind, almost all of my earthly possessions were in this little ford escape. It had been struggling to get up over some of the mountains, but I figured that was normal. 

That night we stayed with some of Bec's friends in Denver. After dinner and before the water balloon FHE, we had the engine code read - transmission problems. Earlier that day while trying to make conversation on the drive I had turned to Bec and said "Worst case scenario, it is my transmission and I have to buy a new car. What kind of car would I buy?" Those words turned out to be prophetic...

Just outside of Vail, CO

Day 3

The day started out going to a couple of auto places to try and see what the actual problem with the transmission was. By about 10 am or so we got our first diagnosis: $2-3,000 and at least two days before it would be ready to drive across the country. Ouch. We were on a time crunch, so we decided to get a second opinion. The second place said $2,600 but could have it ready the next day. That's when it was time to make a decision. In the mean time we had looked into uHauls and other rentals but nothing seemed that doable. The decisions were: Fix the car or not? If not, rent or buy a car now? If I buy a new one, which car? And what do I do with my old car? I had a couple hours to make those choices. 

There were more little blessings and miracles that occured to get everything to work out than I can probably remember. One is that the second auto shop had a string of used car dealerships right down the street. Another was that Bec's friend, along with her three young kids, followed us around all day making sure that we were taken care of. I decided to sell the car to a used car lot and found a Chevy Blazer down the street that had a good insurance package that gave me some peace of mind driving across the country with it. So, by 6pm I had sold my car, cashed the check, bought a new car, and transferred all my stuff from one car to the other, and we were on the road again! One last blessing: the guy that bought the car from me was a saint. He heard my situation and showed some sympathy - so he actually gave me the check for my car and let me drive it to the bank, cash the check, go to the other dealership, transfer all my stuff, and then drop off my car two hours later at his place. He was heaven sent. Not many people would have trusted a stranger to do that. I think it helped that we were wearing BYU shirts. 

Waiting for the first diagnosis

Test driving the Blazer

Moving to a new home

Saying goodbye to Red

The view of the sunset as we drove away from Denver that night

Day 3.5

You thought day 4 was next, right? Nope. To make up for the day in Denver, we drive all through the night. We left Denver at 6pm and made it to Nauvoo the next morning at 10am. Sorry no pictures. But it was dark, and we were driving through Kansas, so you aren't missing much.

Day 4

Nauvoo! I had never been. And I was so tired, I am not sure I can count this one. But it was a blast. We spent mot of the day there and then drove to St. Louis that evening and visited the Arch.

A couple favorite quotes on the Trail of Hope...

This band was awesome. 

I liked this. Just seemed too picture perfect. Small town in the midwest, hanging clothes out to dry next to the corn field..

Cartage Jail.

This is the door the mob shot through, you can see the bullet hole on the right side

St. Louis! Sorry I don't have any good pics of the Arch. 

Day 5

We drove almost all the way to Durham the next day, stopping in Nashville for a couple hours to get food (Hattie B's, best fried chicken I have ever had) and see some sights.

Day 6

On Friday morning we had just a couple hours left and we made it to Durham by about 10 am. Here are a few pictures of my apartment and Duke.

Cameron. Can't wait to be here for a game.

Walking between buildings on campus is amazing.

My home.

My other home.

Where I sleep.

What I look at before I go to sleep

Mt. Timpanogos

Here are a few pictures of my final hurrah in Provo before making the trip across the country. I hiked Timp with a group of friends. We camped about 2/3 of the way up Friday night and went to the summit in the morning. Enjoy the pictures! I am sure going to miss these types of mountains in North Carolina...