I'm a firm believer that God is willing to bless us with anything we ask of him in faith, nothing wavering. However, this last weekend I was reminded of the words of James found in chapter 2 verse 17, that faith without works is dead. Let me explain.
I found out last week that I was not accepted into the Masters Program for Information Systems here at Brigham Young University. I had prepared myself for whatever may come, but it was still crushing when I heard the news. Elder Bednar said, "I long have been impressed with the truth that meaningful prayer requires both holy communication and consecrated work." I did not feel that God had let me down, only that I had let myself down. As Elder Bednar explains in his address in the link above, prayers of faith must be followed by action on our part. It is a really good talk about faith. You should read it.
Anyways, what it all comes down to is that I procrastinated studying for and taking my test and only have myself to blame. I know that this was an opportunity for God to teach me. I plan on retaking the GMAT and reapplying for the Masters here. The option of getting an MBA or applying somewhere else for the Masters is also floating around in my mind. I plan on taking a GMAT prep course, as well as taking the test early so that I can retake it before my application is due. This time I will be prepared.
Minor setback and an opportunity for growth.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Three Years Today and Counting!!
Three years ago today, I made the best decision in my life when I married my best friend Courtney! With three years of marriage have come high times and low times, disagreements and frustrations, as well as joyous times and times of great unity. Through it all my love for Courtney has only gotten stronger. I appreciate her for who she is and who she wants to become. I admire her courage, her faith and her example of service. She makes me want to be a better person, a better husband and a better father (when the time comes).
Courtney, I love you. Thanks for being patient with me through it all, the good and the bad. I look forward to spending the rest of eternity with you. I'm grateful to know that Heavenly Father loves us and allows for us to be with families forever if we love him and follow his son Jesus Christ. I'm grateful for the sacrifice of my Savior that allows me to repent and become a better person. I'm grateful for a wife who is able to look past my faults and love me for who I really am. I love you Courtney! Happy Anniversary!
Courtney, I love you. Thanks for being patient with me through it all, the good and the bad. I look forward to spending the rest of eternity with you. I'm grateful to know that Heavenly Father loves us and allows for us to be with families forever if we love him and follow his son Jesus Christ. I'm grateful for the sacrifice of my Savior that allows me to repent and become a better person. I'm grateful for a wife who is able to look past my faults and love me for who I really am. I love you Courtney! Happy Anniversary!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
CNN Live
I was just watching CNN Live and heard some disturbing things. Apparently teachers are selfish, greedy people who don't care about children at all, according to Steve Harper reporting from Hartford, Connecticut. Steve was reporting on the state of the economy and the need for some change in education. It is either cut 100,000 jobs nation wide or require all teachers to not receive raises in years when the economy is down.
He explained that education is paid for through property taxes. So when the economy is down the money available goes down. That makes sense to me. Less property taxes less money to pay teachers. However, the money received does not correlate to the size of classes and the amount of work teachers to do. So if the economy is in a two to three year slump classes can still increase in size each year, as well as class workloads.
Shouldn't the education of our nation's children be one of our highest priorities? Freezing raises in salary until the economy gets better is a good idea and most teachers would be willing to do it but teachers are worried that that day when the economy is good enough to start giving raises will never come.
Starting teacher salary in Utah is less than $28,000 a year. People don't get into teaching for the money. Then for Steve to assume they are only teaching for the money is ridiculous. My wife love's teaching. She loves when she can help student s understand new concepts. She loves teaching, she hates grading and everything else that goes with it.
One school District forced teachers to show up one minute before school and required them to leave no later than 10 minutes after school got out so they could pay them less. That is ridiculous. Those teachers are still going to work as many as 60+ hours a week because they love teaching. Now they are getting paid less for their work.
Another example, one school fired or laid off all of its employees and then rehired them all at lower salaries. If that were to happen in an actual company would that be legal? Seriously, I'm interested to know.
I tried to post a comment on the CNN website. I could not find an appropriate place to post my comments. it makes me mad that they can say such things and not allow for people to post their comments. So now I'm forced to hear people say my wife is greedy, selfish and doesn't care about the students.
I see how attitudes are changing toward education both from the students perspective and the rest of the country and it worries me. it seems to be less and less about the quality of the education and the learning that comes from it and more about the grade and how cheap they can make it.
They were giving out grants(extra money) to math and science teachers here in Utah because they were short on them. Less and less people are going into those fields here because of how ridiculous things here are getting.
Sorry about my rant. This is actually better than it would be if Courtney were to speak her mind. She was pretty upset listening to it this morning.
He explained that education is paid for through property taxes. So when the economy is down the money available goes down. That makes sense to me. Less property taxes less money to pay teachers. However, the money received does not correlate to the size of classes and the amount of work teachers to do. So if the economy is in a two to three year slump classes can still increase in size each year, as well as class workloads.
Shouldn't the education of our nation's children be one of our highest priorities? Freezing raises in salary until the economy gets better is a good idea and most teachers would be willing to do it but teachers are worried that that day when the economy is good enough to start giving raises will never come.
Starting teacher salary in Utah is less than $28,000 a year. People don't get into teaching for the money. Then for Steve to assume they are only teaching for the money is ridiculous. My wife love's teaching. She loves when she can help student s understand new concepts. She loves teaching, she hates grading and everything else that goes with it.
One school District forced teachers to show up one minute before school and required them to leave no later than 10 minutes after school got out so they could pay them less. That is ridiculous. Those teachers are still going to work as many as 60+ hours a week because they love teaching. Now they are getting paid less for their work.
Another example, one school fired or laid off all of its employees and then rehired them all at lower salaries. If that were to happen in an actual company would that be legal? Seriously, I'm interested to know.
I tried to post a comment on the CNN website. I could not find an appropriate place to post my comments. it makes me mad that they can say such things and not allow for people to post their comments. So now I'm forced to hear people say my wife is greedy, selfish and doesn't care about the students.
I see how attitudes are changing toward education both from the students perspective and the rest of the country and it worries me. it seems to be less and less about the quality of the education and the learning that comes from it and more about the grade and how cheap they can make it.
They were giving out grants(extra money) to math and science teachers here in Utah because they were short on them. Less and less people are going into those fields here because of how ridiculous things here are getting.
Sorry about my rant. This is actually better than it would be if Courtney were to speak her mind. She was pretty upset listening to it this morning.
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