Working on the Engine

 

This morning there was a photograph of an airline mechanic standing on top of a ladder while putting what looked like Duct Tape around the front of the jet engine.  The likelihood of Duct Tape being used for that particular function is minimal at best; but it might have caused a mild panic for passengers looking on.

Back in the early 1970s, while on my way back to Ft. Jackson, South Carolina (it might have been Ft. Gordon, Georgia, to complete Military Police School), I was awaiting a delayed flight out of IAH in Houston.  The delay had something to do with one of the four jet engines as I watched the mechanic standing on a huge ladder as he went over the schematic printed on the engine cover which was propped open.  His finger followed the diagram to a certain point whereupon he’d turn his head and try to follow the information offered by running his finger across the jet engine.  He did this several times; each time a scowl crossed his face as he grimaced in dissatisfaction.

He had my attention.

While talking into a portable radio, he again ran his finger along the schematic diagram while listening to the instructions being offered.  He repeated the ritual of feeling his way across the jet engine which didn’t match up with the diagram; his finger stopped as if there was a hole preventing it from moving further.  He put the jet engine cover down, similar to slamming the hood on a car in anger, and fastened the screws that held it in place; not having done anything other than shake his head in disgust.

My attention to his every action was intense as I followed his getting off the ladder and his using the stairs that led up to the passenger jetway.  After getting his attention, blocking his forward progress by standing in such a way as to make it impossible for him to ignore me, I asked if the plane was okay to fly. 

His answer did not put me at ease.  “Oh, these newer planes fly just as well on three engines as they do on all four.”  He probably thought that was a clever comeback line as he walked away, thinking that he’d have a good laugh once he reached the employee’s break-room.

I, on the other hand, was about to fly across the county in an airplane that had been delayed for about an hour and a half.  From what I could tell, nothing had been done to correct whatever had been the cause of the delay.  Aside from that, the odds of meeting up with my connecting flight were slim. 

About the only positive mark was that all the seats in Coach were filled and they had to put me in First Class.  One of the perks of being in First Class…speaking as a young Private in the Army who had never flown First Class…they served alcoholic beverages at no charge from the moment the doors closed until the airplane reached its final approach into Atlanta.  I got ‘properly snockered’; I believe that’s the appropriate term.  I figured if the plane was going to crash, I was going to be smashed before anyone else. 

Amazingly, the flight across country caught a terrific Jet Stream which pushed the arrival time making it possible for me to catch my connecting flight.  I hurried across the airport and was happy to see the connecting flight had also been delayed due to mechanical issues.  Running through the airport with a heavy buzz was a new experience; plowed would be a more accurate description, I was plowed.

They boarded everyone onto the plane while a team of mechanics dressed in overalls continued with their repairs.  I managed to engage one of them in conversation and found that something wasn’t working with the air conditioning system.  I told him about needing to get back to base to avoid being late and not to worry about the air conditioning.  He explained that the air conditioning and passengers being able to breathe were all part of the same system. 

Looked like we might have to wait for repairs; I was going to be late reporting back in, about two hours late.  I took a bus back to base around ten o’clock; it was raining, just perfect.

The Duty Sergeant listened to my lame excuse for being late, observed my alcohol induced state of readiness along with my sincere attempt to sober up.  He determined the situation really was out of my hands as I stood before him with my travel bag and paperwork.  Instead of writing me up he assigned me to work a guard post the remainder of the night. 

As I stood guard that night it might have been nice to have a roll of Duct Tape, something to hold me up till sunrise.

 

What Would You Recommend?

My sister lives just outside of Durango, Colorado, on a beautiful piece of property in a valley surrounded by mountains and plateaus covered with all manner of scrub brush and trees. She’ll send me pictures of wildlife wandering across their property to include Elk, Deer and even Bobcats. In turn, I’ll send her images of our property along with pictures of our dogs and cats.  This is about the best we can do because her location is fairly remote and her telephone reception is terrible.

That said, she used her land line phone to call me yesterday after having noticed a couple of voice mail messages I’d left on her cellphone.  She was excited for us; having heard about the rare snow storm we’d had and wanted to know how much snow had fallen in our area.  I’d actually measured the depth using the accumulation on the roof of our car, six inches.  It turns out we, here in Buffalo, Texas, had gotten more snow than they’d gotten in southwest Colorado from this same storm.

The conversation turned to our being without electricity due to the storm and how we couldn’t watch shows on television with the internet out; however, we have a wonderful collection of movies on DVD.  I almost forgot; the DVD player wouldn’t work without power either, that pesky electricity thing again. 

She wanted us to recommend some movies to watch based on our mutual criteria, movies that really are worth watching.

I’d mentioned that if my son gets excited about a movie and recommends it to us, there’s a pretty good bet the movie isn’t worth watching since it won’t have much of a plot while depending on plenty of gratuitous sex and/or violence to carry the audience through it.  My sister was laughing at my description of the garbage being foisted off on the public as entertainment.

While this conversation was on going, we were looking at our collection, some of the better movies we’d recommend watching, movies that touched our hearts and minds enough to say they were of value.  I won’t bore you with a list; but will say that as we mentioned titles along with some of the key actors, my sister quickly added her approval, acknowledging each as better than average, outstanding or some similar recognition that we shared similar tastes and qualifications when it comes to what we’ll recommend to each other.

That brings me to the assigned topic, Being Recommended to the Lord, as we heard in last October’s General Conference talk given by Elder Rasband.  Many of you will remember how the COVID-19 pandemic created the unusual situation whereby the First Presidency of the Church came up with physical distancing directives which included shutting down Temples to avoid spreading the virus.

We figured this would last only a short while; but as weeks turned into months our ability to attend the House of the Lord becomes more and more a memory of things past rather than something we can put on next week’s calendar.  Some of us haven’t glanced at our Temple Recommends in quite some time; why bother since we can’t attend…

Temple Recommends are issued with a two-year expiration between required application for renewal.  We look forward to meeting with our Branch Presidents, Bishops and Stake Presidents for the opportunity to repeat our commitment to live up to the standards the Lord has outlined in order to enter His Holy House. 

I say we look forward to this opportunity and yet, since we can’t actually go to the Temple during these interesting times, some of us don’t consider it all that important to make sure our Temple Recommends are current and up to date. 

A Temple Recommend isn’t simply a ‘hall pass’ that let’s you get past the front door; no, it’s validation that you are on the covenant path striving each day to be the kind of individual the Lord wants you to be.  He’s more than aware of our struggles and daily failings; but understands these mortal frailties.  He expects us to repent of our shortcomings and move towards being worthy to hold the title Child of God.

During his Conference talk Elder Rasband shared the following story.

“My father-in-law, Blaine Twitchell, one of the best men I have ever known, taught me a great lesson. Sister Rasband and I went to visit him when he was nearing the end of his mortal journey. As we entered his room, his bishop was just leaving. As we greeted the bishop, I thought, “What a nice bishop. He’s here doing his ministering to a faithful member of his ward.”

I mentioned to Blaine, “Wasn’t that nice of the bishop to come visit.”

Blaine looked at me and responded, “It was far more than that. I asked for the bishop to come because I wanted my temple recommend interview. I want to go recommended to the Lord.” And he did!

 

That phrase, “recommended to the Lord,” has stayed with me. It has put a whole new perspective on being interviewed regularly by our Church leaders…”

I had a similar experience a few years ago when I went with another priesthood holder to give a blessing to a dear friend, Scott Sulski.  He had serious health issues which were life threatening; his body was literally shutting down one organ at a time.  During our visit this brother shared his testimony of the gospel with us with such strength of spirit as to defy his weakened physical state.

As we laid our hands on his head to give the blessing, we were instructed to tell him his mortal life had reached its conclusion and that he was going home.  I had never been prompted by Spirit to share such a blessing.  The look of serenity that appeared on this brother’s face assured me that he was prepared to be taken home.  Scott’s Temple Recommend was current and so he would be entering the House of the Lord.

Elder Rasband emphasized the importance of the Temple Recommend.

“Your temple recommend reflects a deep, spiritual intent that you are striving to live the laws of the Lord and love what He loves: humility, meekness, steadfastness, charity, courage, compassion, forgiveness, and obedience. And you commit yourself to those standards when you sign your name to that sacred document.

Your temple recommend opens the gates of heaven for you and others with rites and ordinances of eternal significance, including baptisms, endowments, marriages, and sealings.

 

To be “recommended to the Lord” is to be reminded of what is expected of a covenant-keeping Latter-day Saint. My father-in-law, Blaine, saw it as invaluable preparation for the day when he would humbly stand before the Lord.”

Did you catch that? “Your temple recommend opens the gates of heaven for you…” 

I have a Texas Driver’s License and keep it up to date; but that only let’s me drive my vehicle on public roads.  An old friend of mine, Gary Lewis, wrote along these lines the other day.

“I am reminded of a 1965 Ford Fairlane 500 car, that my mother allowed me to borrow during my later teen years. It was a treasured privilege, and I learned to handle it responsibly and maintain it properly. Eventually, it wore out, and would no longer function.

For a period of time, I was without a vehicle. I still had a driver's license, and still had my driving skills, but I was on foot.

 

In the same way, we borrowed our mortal bodies for a season. We each learned how to use it responsibly, and enjoyed its privileges. Eventually, it will wear out, and we will walk in the Spirit World for a season.”

 

My Temple Recommend, while similar to a Driver’s License in that it offers certain benefits, opens the gates of heaven.  Is it important to have it up to date and in my wallet regardless of whether or not I have the ability to attend a Temple? 

Getting back to the phone conversation with my sister…and having recently watched an old classic movie, The Ten Commandments, with Charlton Heston playing the part of Moses.  I’m pretty sure if I asked the Lord for a Recommendation of good movies, The Ten Commandments, would be on His list.

Here’s what Elder Rasband had to say about Moses.

“Consider when Moses climbed Mount Horeb and the Lord Jehovah appeared to him in a burning bush. God told him, “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”

 

Putting off our shoes at the door of the temple is letting go of worldly desires or pleasures that distract us from spiritual growth, setting aside those things which sidetrack our precious mortality, rising above contentious behavior, and seeking time to be holy.”

{…}

I remember hearing President Howard W. Hunter in his first general conference address as the 14th President of the Church. He said: “It is the deepest desire of my heart to have every member of the Church worthy to enter the temple. It would please the Lord if every adult member would be worthy of—and carry—a current temple recommend.” I would add that a limited-use recommend will set a clear path for our precious youth.”

In case you just walked in, or woke up…being the holder of a current Temple Recommend should be of great importance to each and every member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  If you are in the process of becoming eligible to obtain one, then strive to meet the requirements.  If your Temple Recommend is up for renewal then make sure to meet with your Branch President or Bishop in order to have the necessary interviews.

I look forward to that day when we may once again attend the House of the Lord without having to be concerned with physical distancing.  I leave this admonition with you in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I've posted this after having delivered it to the Huntsville Ward of the Conroe, Texas Stake on January 17, 2021  (As for the interesting font adjustments and formatting changes that took place; I've no idea why Blogger does that.)

Alias F U

Since becoming a member of the Retired Houston Police Officer’s group on Facebook various incidents from the past have been surfacing in my memory.  There was one time when I was sitting in court, having been subpoenaed on a DWI case that I’d made several months earlier.

While listening to the proceedings where the prosecutor and the defendant’s lawyer were up front working out some kind of plea agreement, the judge halted them while holding the arrest blotter form in his hand.  He appeared to be miffed as he pointed and had me approach the bench.

“Officer Stern, do you think this is funny?”  I honestly had no idea what he was talking about until he had the prosecutor hand me the arrest blotter form, pointing to where Alias had been filled in with “F*&^ You”.  I did smile while reading the information; but quickly reassembled my thoughts and explained to the judge why I’d entered that information.

“Your Honor, when I arrested the suspect and asked him his name that is what he told me.  I entered his name as an alias just as he gave it to me, Sir”. 

There was a slight rumble of muffled laughing from those present in the courtroom as the judge considered my response.  The judge thanked me for the additional information as he turned to the prosecutor and defense attorney to continue with this incident’s conclusion.

“This court will not accept the plea agreement as proposed.  Police officers will be treated with dignity and respect; go back and try to find a more appropriate arrangement” 

The judge smiled as he thanked me for my appearance and nodded as I left the courtroom.  Sometimes you win, sometimes you just get lucky.

New Year Surprise I’d Like to See

 

Lots of folks are waiting for the January 6^th showdown where President Trump’s team of lawyers will find out if they will be permitted to present evidence of the corruption used to steal this last election, an election which so many have claimed was legally won by Joe Biden.  Rather than go into that at this time, there is a much larger surprise I’d like to see.

Sometime between today and January 6^th I would gladly turn on the news to hear that a military tribunal had been authorized, sealed indictments were being carried out and that individuals who were involved in the attempted overthrow of our government had been arrested.  The “fit would hit the shan” as those involved with these treasonous actions looked for cover, only to find that with each arrest, those arrested were spilling their guts in order to obtain leniency for their minor role by snitching out those in charge.

Eventually the big fish would be looking for one-way airfare to countries with a Non-Extradition policy.  They would have packed and silently vanished like a fart in the wind.

Dang, that was a neat dream to wake up to here on the second day of 2021.