Make Your Own Parable!

 Ok, I had an idea I want to try out.  Here is the Parable of the Light(house).  But before I give My interpretation, I want to hear Yours! What is the storm?  What are the lights?  What is significant in this parable to You, and how does it relate to the gospel? :) Leave a comment, and let's hear what you think!!!
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You wipe the cold sea spray from your squinting eyes, as the strong taste of salt fills your mouth and nose, making you cough into your sleeve. As you wipe the freezing water off your face, you pitch forward, falling on your knees and hands.  What's going on?  Where are you?
 As you get back on your feet, your eyes adjust to the blackness all around you, although the howling wind and bitter spray still causes you to squint.  You realize that you are on a ship at sea, that it must be nighttime, and that you are caught in the middle of a dark, tremendous, violent storm.

 You can hear the voices of others somewhere on the ship, but the wind makes them seem distant, and you can't tell if they are feet, or miles, away.  It's so dark, you can only make out the dark silhouette of the ship around you, and an occasional streak of lightning that illuminates the surrounding sea in a flash.
 You're scared.

 As another enormous bolt of lightning dances across the sky, a huge crack of thunder follows, rumbling the slick floorboards beneath you.  You drop to your knees, half to keep your balance, but more out of desperation. On your knees, you unconsciously begin to pray to be delivered from this storm. The howling wind is mute the words as they leave your mouth, but you refuse to yield until "Amen".  With that, you feel something in your hand, as if it had been there all along.  You hold it a few inches away from your face, and investigate it beneath your fingers.

 It's a flashlight!
 You find the button, and press it.  It illuminates instantly, brilliantly, insomuch that you are now squinting to protect your eyes from the radiant beam.  They adjust, and you can finally see your surroundings.
 The planks beneath your feet are weatherworn and moldy, and you are surprised that they are holding your weight.  As you look around, you see other people seeking shelter from the storm, crouched wherever they can stay the driest amidst the raging typhoon.  None of them have flashlights, you notice.  You also notice a door in front of you leading below deck.  As you approach the door, one of the people shivering behind a barrel on the deck stops you.
 "All the people who have flashlights are down there.  They locked it and won't let us in."

 Perturbed, you turn around, determined to find a safe haven. As you lift your light's beam, you see that the mast has been torn to shreds in the storm, and the wheel of the ship on the upper deck is unmanned. 
 Although your experience with commandeering ships is limited to what you have seen in pirate movies, you know that an unmanned boat, especially in a hurricane, is not a good place to be.  You look up, wipe the biting rain off your face, and press towards the wheel.

 
 Illuminated under the dazzling beam of your new flashlight, you see that the wheel is green and slimy with scum. It's spinning wildly as the ship is tossed to and fro, and at first you flinch as you reach for it.  But as another crack of lightning strikes dangerously near, you throw caution to the winds and grab the wheel.  You cry out as your flashlight is thrown across the deck and into the sea, but now that you have hold on the wheel, you don't dare let go. Darkness surrounds you, and you realize that you have no place to steer the ship to for safety.  Any way could be the way to land, and any way could steer you further out to sea, amidst the storm.
 You close your eyes, and wish you at least still had your flashlight.

 Suddenly, a deep, penetrating noise pierces through the howling wind and crashing waves. A foghorn.  You open your eyes, and search the darkness for the source of the sound.  After a few seconds, a brilliant beam of light sweeps across the horizon to port.  A rush of relief sweeps over you.  You turn the ship towards the lighthouse, and you can see it is still several miles to land.
 Although you know there is still a lot of storm ahead of you, you know that as you follow the light, you will reach the safety of the harbor.

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 Let's hear YOUR parable! :D

The Gospel: A Nerd's Eye View

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 Star Wars.
 Those two simple words bring a flood of memories to me, and, I'm sure, to you as well.  What is it about this epic saga in space that causes people to dress in white plastic shinguards with suffocating helmets (in public), swing multicolored-retractable-plastic sticks at each others heads, and casually use in a sentence otherwise incomprehensible things such as, "let the wookie win"?


  Yes, if you are guilty of any or all of these aformentioned attributes, you are likely a fan of Star Wars.

 Star Wars has a place in my heart, not only because it warps me to a galaxy far, far away with planets, aliens, and ships from the nether regions of my childhood (and, admittedly, my adulthood as well), but because it magnificently touches on many things much closer to home.  Star Wars, at its core, is a story of family, choices, and redemption. It is a story that we all relate to, regardless of how many parsecs separate us from Tatooine.

My "CT-R2" :)

  In exactly that same vein, the gospel of Jesus Christ is something universal to everyone: one could even say "it surrounds us, it penetrates us, [and] it binds [us all] together."  The gospel can be applied to everything in life. And so I'm going to write a series of posts that combine two things I love, the Gospel and Star Wars, to show how we can see the spiritual side in that galaxy far, far away; and maybe even a little closer to home as well.
 
EPISODE 1: Light vs Dark

 In the course of the series, Luke is led to a choice to follow the Light side of the force and be a Jedi, or succumb to the power and temptations that the Dark side offers.  We hear from Nephi a similar dilemma:
"Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself." ~2 Nephi 2:27

 If we are to learn anything from the tragic story of Darth Vader, it is that if we allow our emotions to control our actions, we will surely succumb to the Dark Side of the force.  We all face that same decision in real life; will we choose to follow the Way, the Truth, and the Life, or will we lose ourselves to the Father of All Lies?
 As with the force, you do not simply one day decide to go over to the dark side. Your actions lead you there, step by step, until you are held captive by the darkness.
 "yea, and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever..and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell."

Satan entices us to do wrong, slowly, carefully, until we are bound down by his chains of hell. 
On the other hand, we know that God works in light.  Just as Luke chose not to give into temptation, but to stand for good and hope, we too can choose the right. Our lives are marked by choices; we either succumb, or overcome.  If we choose the right, we will find ourselves in the side we all want to be on.  We all want to follow our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
 
  I pray we will all remember Jesus Christ a bit more, and why we follow Him. Every decision is crucial to who we will become, and where we will end up. If we keep His commandments, and follow the path He has laid for us, we will become more receptive to the whispers of the Spirit. We will find it not only clear, but easy, to choose light over dark. We will become like the Master.

 If I may slightly alter the immortal words of Obi Wan Kenobi,
 "May the [spirit] will be with you."

The Parable of the Escalator

 One day, long ago (probably on a long stretch of gravelly road, riding my trusty bike), I got to pondering about the nature of life and the trials we face throughout. Life isn't easy.  Good times lead to bad times, and bad times will eventually give way to good. It's a constant struggle; even those who think they are in a comfortable place are only kidding themselves. 
  In life, we only progress or degress.  There is no plateau. As I pondered on this fact, a number of analogies jumped to my mind on how this is true in other places in life: when we stop trying, we not only stop progressing but are pulled further from our destination.  Negligence on our part results in lost ground that must be made up. 
 As I brainstormed on this subject, I received a brilliant (and I'll admit, random) flash of inspiration. 
 I call it:
The Parable of the Escelator.

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Imagine you are at a mall; it's big, roomy, but surprisingly dark.  You see you are surrounded by a crowd of people, all of which are milling about on the bottom floor, and they all seem to be seeking a way to the second floor. You join their gaze upwards over the balcony of the second floor, and you see a dazzling, brilliant light eminating from up there.  You can't even see what the second floor contains, but you know you need to get there somehow.  You feel with every fiber of your being that you want to make it up to that second floor!  You press forward, with a sense of urgency now, seeking a path to the warmth above. You've wandered away from the crowds now; it's dark all around you.  For whatever reason, the lights in this section of the mall are out! But up ahead you see a green light, shimmering off the wall from around a corner. As the light comes into view, you see it: a beautiful, functioning escelator, humming with energy as the stairs gradually descend.  What? The stairs are only going down!  You look around and see that there is no other alternative, and since the light at the top is beckoning to you, you walk up to the foot of the escalator, take a deep breath...
And step on.

  The moment your foot touches the escelator, a curious sensation runs up your legs.  You sense, although you aren't certain, that you are no longer capable of leaving the escelator until you reach the top. As you look upward, you realize to your dismay that it only fades into darkness: you cannot see the radiant light of the second floor from here.  Still, the memory and feeling of seeing that light rushes back to you, and you press forward determinedly.
 As sweat starts to bead at your brow, you realize it feels like it's been an eternity on this escelator. You lift your gaze from your feet, and groan in exhaustion as you see the escalator still ascending up into dark.  It's been so long.  You are so tired.  Surely all this work has to count for something!  Legs aching, you decide to stop and rest them for a moment.
 In what seems like no time at all, you find yourself back at the bottom.  What?! All that time and effort, gone!  You look around; still none have found this escalator, but you start to feel a little ominous from the surrounding darkness.  You know that the answer doesn't lie back where you came from... So you turn your gaze back to the mechanical whir of the rolling stairs before you, and with the trace of a smile on your lips, you step back on.
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 We can often ask ourselves why life is so hard.  Why does every day have to require us to work?  Why do we keep these commandments?  Why don't we get to have fun?  Everyone else isn't working this hard!
 We all have to face the choice of whether we are going to strive for the second floor, or sit contently in the roiling shadows beneath.  There is no other way to the light than to sweat our ways up the downward moving escalator. We mustn't lose hope, and we must never give up.  If we just hang in there, we'll make it to the top.