A MODERN WITCH HUNT!!

This picture is of the greatest baseball player that has EVER played the game, playing at Wrigley Field this summer.

Barry Lamar Bonds the all-time home-run king, unfortunately may be remembered as a cheater due to the largest Witch Hunt in pro sports history. An investigation into the sport and drug use was done with Barry at the center of the investigation. Why is he at the center of it? He is at the center of it because of his withdrawn personality from the media, his supposedly drastic body size change, and breaking the most coveted baseball record. With all of these things plus being hated by the media you might as well paint a big bulls eye on his back.

Being indicted on supposedly lying to a grand jury sure is a stretch, why don't they charge him with what they are investigating him for (steroid use), the reason they can't charge him for that is that drug use while indeed being illegal, you can't prosecute everyone so why don't we just go target the most visible person who we think used drugs. They also don't have any strong proof just a lot of here say. It takes an ignorant person to also think that those conducting the investigation aren't threatening or bribing (possibly both) to embellish incidents that involve Bonds. Why would someone want to do that, so they can make a name for themselves and end up getting more publicity, fame and monetary gain.

Why aren't other players being targeted like Palmeiro, who actually failed a drug test. Now they have supposed evidence that Bond's failed a drug test but they just didn't release the results. That is very odd seeing how that every other player that tested positive, the results and subsequent suspension happened in a timely manner. Isn't it amazing how all of the sudden the Bond's has a positive drug test that happened awhile ago. Everything is so inconsistent it makes all of their findings very suspect.

My final thought on the Steroid Baseball era is that steroids don't help hand eye coordination, which anyone who has played baseball knows that timing is everything in trying to hit a ball. It may indeed help the power aspect, but when you know that pitchers are also using steroids it all becomes a wash because they balance each other out. Pitchers can throw harder and with more stamina as well as shortened recovery time which the recovery time is another aspect steroids helps with.

As a Health Professional I don't agree with the taking of steroids because of all the side effects. I do agree with taking supplements to augment performance as long as they are legal. Their are many supplements that athletes can take to help them with performance and recovery without taking illegal substances. One great supplement that athletes should add is increased supplementation of Amino Acids which repairs collagen breakdown, which happens from any trauma to the body. Supplementation in and of itself isn't bad.

We as a nation put ourselves in a bit of a quandary with this subject. We believe in having our civil liberties. Doesn't that apply to what a person can put into their bodies as well. I find it odd to legalize alcohol consumption, but to make steroids illegal. Alcohol has killed and will kill many thousands more people then steroids will ever kill. We continue to slide down this slippery slope when supplement after supplement is made illegal, but killing machines like alcohol, tobacco and prescription drugs are looked at as normal part of our society.

It is hard to think that some things are legal to take such as Zoloft. A year or so ago I attended a funeral for someone that I knew who committed suicide because of the adverse and psychotic behavior that was caused while being on high dosages of Zoloft, the hypocrisy continues to get worse each and everyday with this issue.

THE DAY WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!!!!!!!

Finally the day we have been waiting for has come. In early September Alea's adoption was completed with our court hearing in Columbus Ohio. Then in Early October She was sealed to us in the Nauvoo temple. I especially thank those who were able to participate in that wonderful event. The next day she was blessed in church.

Alea is such a special little girl, she is known at Church as the "Smiley" baby. She is such a social little girl and loves to smile at everybody who talks to her. She doesn't mind people holding her, but i would have to say that when she sees her daddy she reaches out for me to hold her. She is very talkative and active.

"Being Well Balanced In the World"

I have often seen many professionals, or career people become essentially hypnotized by their work and not allowing their life to be properly balanced. I at times have seen myself get caught up in that with my own career. So many people these days “LIVE TO WORK” and don’t “WORK TO LIVE”. What I mean by this is that those who “live to work” are always thinking about their work, worrying about work and not spending much quality time with family, or much time studying the gospel and developing talents or hobbies. When you do this you often feel at the end of the day that something is missing or the day felt like it was unfulfilled. I live in an area where most everyone lives to work. I on the other hand “work to live” what I mean by this is that the work that I do enables me to live life to the fullest.

My career enables me to support my family and I don’t become so engrossed in my work that I don’t make time for what matters most. Some people may rationalize some work related activities as helping them do things better on the job, but if they take away from family time it just isn’t worth it. I have found one a great time to study for my career that doesn’t take away from family and that is on my lunch hour. I usually don’t see my family at lunch anyways so I can use my time wisely by getting important things done while also not sacrificing family time for that.

One thing I most enjoy is developing talents such as building things or trying some new hobby. What this does for me is to give me something to look forward too. I so greatly enjoy spending quality time with my family.

There is a difference between spending time with family and quality time with family. Spending time with family is something like watching T.V. or just being busy around the house with things that are not urgent and not important. One thing my family seems to really enjoy is going on short little excursions to explore new things. It also helps if you haven’t lived in one place for a long amount of time or you would have to be very creative with finding new places to explore.

Many Americans find themselves in a rut. They get up go to work, come home and greet the family. They may eat only dinner with the family and then shortly after dinner they find themselves in front of the T.V. or on the internet for a greater part of the night. Their kids interact with the parents only sparingly before they go to bed. The parents stay up later doing much of the same with internet and T.V. before going to bed themselves. This trend continues for the most part 5 days per week. The only difference on the weekend usually is that the parents aren’t at work and the kids are not at school. Much of the same activities are done on the weekend and the family doesn’t spend much time together. What seems so odd is that many people often sit back and wonder why our country has so many problems. That is directly attributed to parent’s not being involved with the kids and the family not spending time together. When children don’t have much time with family they find other examples to follow in life.

One of the most disturbing things that happens in our country is that when a child acts out, the child is often labeled with a disorder such as ADD or ADHD. Many times that child is just looking for attention that they are not getting from home and in order to stand out at school the act out of line for that attention. Many attention problems can be solved by parents taking an active role with their children. All to often a parent just gives their child medication, which essentially drugs up the child and takes away their true personality and they often become a shadow of themselves and may act out because of the medication. The really idiotic thing about it is the child is then usually given another medication or a stronger dose of their medication. This essentially disturbs the nervous system from being able to function properly. When children and adults are given this type of medication almost 100% of the time no neurotransmitter testing is done to determine even if there is a chemical imbalance and the doctor says lets try this medication and see how it works. They don’t even know if they are treating the correct problem for the individual. Then if it doesn’t work they try more medication or a different mind altering medication.

Even more disturbing in this great nation we live in is the uninformed school psychologist (which most of them are). They are some of the biggest proponents of these mind altering drugs for children and they don’t even know how they work in the body. They just see some kid who may be hyper and think the child needs a drug to fix that problem. Some of these psychologist’s become very demanding that a child get one of these drugs also.

What a drug is supposed to do is be effective within a week, if it is not then it is the wrong drug for you. If the drug does not correct the problem within a year and you remain on one of these mind altering drugs to feel balanced for longer then a year the drug you are taking is also the wrong drug for you. The problem is that drug companies are just looking to make a buck off of your health problem and don’t want to actually fix your health condition. They want you to be a life long consumer of their many drugs which only cover up the symptoms that you have. If they fixed your health condition then they would lose a customer for their drugs.

The many Americans who actually think that most doctors are concerned about helping them are mistaken. Doctors used to be that way long ago. Today’s doctors are more concerned with making money and being businessmen. They do need to make some amount of money to pay back student loans, but the reason they have huge loans is that the schools are looking to make a lot of money off of students.

The first step in finding a solution to a problem is to see that there is a problem. I enjoy working with many people in my career and helping them to live a more balanced life. Any who read this and feel that they have been given the run around with taking mind altering drugs don’t hesitate to send me a message and we can find a solution. That solution would involve testing of neurotransmitters to find if there is a deficiency and then see what you can take to fix the problem.

C.S. Mencl

"DO The Scriptures Condemn Us"

I once heard the comment that scriptures should not be used to condemn people, even if you don’t agree with what someone is doing you shouldn’t use the scriptures to condemn them. If you ask me that type of thought is actually ludicrous. You might ask yourself why I would say that scriptures can be used to condemn people. The easy answer to that is the simple fact that scriptures condemn us all. Why do the scriptures condemn us all because we all fall short of the glory of God. So can scriptures be used to condemn us the answer is “YES”!

The instance in which someone says don’t try to condemn me with the scriptures is someone who knows they have done something wrong, but they don’t want anyone to point it out especially with a text that they know is true. If we can’t learn from the scriptures, then where do we get our learning from? The one key element that is present when someone can’t take criticism is pride. If we are not willing to let someone teach us the right way with the scriptures we are letting our pride get in the way. A truly wise person is someone who is willing to learn from anyone and not let the prideful attitude prevail in them.

C.S. Mencl

Something that STUCK with me!!

I have often wondered why in life their are moments that seem to stick with us forever. A psychologist would say it must have been something traumatic or a very happy time for you to remember something that happened years earlier. That may indeed be true but a psychologist tends to focus more on negative things than positive. I know that for myself things that often stick with me are very simply a matter of being thought provoking and insightful to me and usually have to deal with things I have been pondering myself.

One of these instances happened to me recently. In the world we live in their are many times where judgements are brought upon people wether it be a simple matter of choosing who to surround ourselves with, or just dealing with the world we live in. I often remember of a talk given by Elder Dalin H. Oaks. The title of the talk is "Judge Not". I remember sitting in the back of a relief society room while on my mission and this talk seemed to speak to me very strongly. I guess one of the reasons it spoke to me so much is that I often had some of the same questions that Elder Oaks had.

I used to think of how am I supposed to not judge people as some scriptures say, yet I do need to make certain judgements about people in order to do the things God wants me too. Elder Oaks made a great point in that we are not to make final judgements against people as to condemn them to hell, but we are to make judgements as to who we should surround ourselves with, places we should go and other life decisions that may impact our eternal journey. We are to make intermediate judgments based on righteous gospel principles.

The following is seven guidelines when making Intermediate judgments. The fact of the matter is that all of us everyday make judgments about situations we encounter. As I first heard these things years ago I learned much about making judgments. Reading these things years later I am able to glean some valuable insights on how better to make intermediate judgments.



Guidelines by Elder Oaks:

First, a righteous judgment must, by definition, be intermediate. It will refrain from declaring that a person has been assured of exaltation or from dismissing a person as being irrevocably bound for hellfire. It will refrain from declaring that a person has forfeited all opportunity for exaltation or even all opportunity for a useful role in the work of the Lord. The gospel is a gospel of hope, and none of us is authorized to deny the power of the Atonement to bring about a cleansing of individual sins, forgiveness, and a reformation of life on appropriate conditions.

Second, a righteous judgment will be guided by the Spirit of the Lord, not by anger, revenge, jealousy, or self-interest. The Book of Mormon teaches: “For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain … as the daylight is from the dark night.
“For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil” (Moro. 7:15–16).
The Savior taught that one of the missions of the Comforter He would send would be to assist in the judgment of the world by guiding the faithful “into all truth” (John 16:13; see also John 16:8, 11).

Third, to be righteous, an intermediate judgment must be within our stewardship. We should not presume to exercise and act upon judgments that are outside our personal responsibilities. Some time ago I attended an adult Sunday School class in a small town in Utah. The subject was the sacrament, and the class was being taught by the bishop. During class discussion a member asked, “What if you see an unworthy person partaking of the sacrament? What do you do?” The bishop answered, “You do nothing. I may need to do something.” That wise answer illustrates my point about stewardship in judging.

Fourth, we should, if possible, refrain from judging until we have adequate knowledge of the facts. In an essay titled “Sitting in the Seat of Judgment,” the great essayist William George Jordan reminded us that character cannot be judged as dress goods—by viewing a sample yard to represent a whole bolt of cloth (see The Crown of Individuality [1909], 101–5.

A fifth principle of a righteous intermediate judgment is that whenever possible we will refrain from judging people and only judge situations. This is essential whenever we attempt to act upon different standards than others with whom we must associate—at home, at work, or in the community. We can set and act upon high standards for ourselves or our homes without condemning those who do otherwise.

Sixth, forgiveness is a companion principle to the commandment that in final judgments we judge not and in intermediate judgments we judge righteously. The Savior taught, “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven” (Luke 6:37). In modern revelation the Lord has declared, “I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men” (D&C 64:10).

Seventh, a final ingredient or principle of a righteous judgment is that it will apply righteous standards. If we apply unrighteous standards, our judgment will be unrighteous. By falling short of righteous standards, we place ourselves in jeopardy of being judged by incorrect or unrighteous standards ourselves. The fundamental scripture on the whole subject of not judging contains this warning: “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again” (Matt. 7:2; see also 3 Ne. 14:2).
The prophet Mormon taught, “Seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged” (Moro. 7:18).

A standard can be unrighteous because it is too harsh—the consequences are too severe for the gravity of the wrong and the needs of the wrongdoer. I remember a conversation with an LDS newspaperwoman who described what happened when she reported that the Prophet Joseph Smith received the golden plates in 1826, a mistake of one year from the actual date of 1827. She said she received about 10 phone calls from outraged Latter-day Saints who would not accept her admission of error and sincere apology and even berated her with abusive language. I wonder if persons who cannot handle an honest mistake without abusing the individual can stand up to having their own mistakes judged by so severe a standard.

(End of Elder Oak's Comments)

I really enjoy the comments of Elder Oaks and for those who haven't read his talk, I would strongly suggest reading it. His comments about this topic have been some of the greatest insightful words on this topic.

We may often find ourselves in a place where we need to make judgments, but in this day and age many people make quick judgments without all of the facts. It takes a true disciple of Christ having a great deal of charity to not make quick judgments. It takes this type of person to say I will reserve my judgment until I gather more facts.

During the day I work with mostly women, which at times can be a very daunting task. I say this because I believe when a work place is not balanced with near equal numbers that one group may get too comfortable. When people get too comfortable with their position or surroundings they often begin to find petty things to argue about or small insignificant things can be made into a HUGE issues. When I am asked to remedy the problem I often find that quick uninformed judgments have taken place. At these times past issues seem to be brought up as well, but that subject is a whole different ball of yarn to unravel.

The real issue that often comes into play is getting a person to see a situation from another's point of view. A comment I have heard many times is "You cannot slice cheese so fine that it does not have two sides". Many issues in life have multiple sides to it. I do believe that if we follow some simple rules in making intermediate judgments about situations and not people that all issues have a remedy. These remedies can always be found when we have charity in mind.

C.S. Mencl

Life Changing Reflection!!

Recently I had the opportunity to visit Nauvoo. Within the past few months I had the opportunity to visit Nauvoo two times and I am going a third time in the near future. During these visits I had the fortunate opportunity to get back to some of my roots and read and learn about some of my ancestors. What I found very interesting is a very close bond seemed to develop for these people that I learned about. I had the opportunity to learn about how they lived, find where their old home plots were and to read much about their history.

During these times I often was able to take a moment and meditate about how life must have been for them. During my second trip, sleeping at night seemed to be a bother for me and I found myself waking up at 4:30 in the morning as I sat in bed I felt that I should go to Edmond Durphy's home plot. So I got dressed early in the morning and went down to his home plot I sat their and meditated for quite a long time which gave me the opportunity to contemplate life and our eternal journey. I had the fortunate opportunity to watch the sun rise up over the temple from his home site. I preceded to take many pictures of the temple from many different views that I have never seen before.

One of my favorite times was going up to the old historic cemetery too see Edmond's and his brother's grave plot. The spirit that is at the cemetery is undeniable.

I guess to sum up my experiences in Nauvoo, is that I felt that i needed to re-examine my life and to see where I have gone wrong in certain places and try to find ways to improve those areas and ways to improve all areas of my life. I also felt very close to the Prophet Joseph and his spirit can be felt in Nauvoo. The trips their gave me the opportunity to see how devoted the members of the church were to the gospel and following the direction of a prophet of the lord and the faith in Christ that it requires. I felt that many members of the church including myself could improve drastically in our faith and commitment to the gospel. All too often I think that many people get caught up in going through the motions of being a member of Christ's true church, but do it without truly catching the spirit of the gospel and having a true love for God and for all of his children on the earth.

I come into contact with hundreds of people each week and I get to know them on more then just a casual basis, I found that it was so easy to get sucked into judging people. I realized that many doctor's were often truly uncaring, but appeared to be caring. They only were concerned about making money. I realized this attitude is present in every health profession as well as all professions to some extent. This led me to seek for an opportunity to help people without money being part of the equation. I am working on ways to start a non-profit clinic although i may not start it for some time since i want it to be in a location where i plan on living for some time (FLORIDA).

I know that some people might not really like the comments that I have shared, usually I would just ignore it, but during my reflection I have found that one area i need to improve on is to stand up for what is true and right. My comments have never been meant to offend someone, they are intended first for myself as a way to put my thoughts down in writing, this enables me to have more reflection on life. Secondly they are to help anyone who is open to improving their own life although I might add many people aren't ready to look at their own faults with a true and honest evaluation. I would add that in life their are only three different things a person does to handle challenges that they face. Since the fact of the matter is nobody is perfect we need to find a solution to helping ourselves change. There are three different things people do with circumstances in their life. The first is to try something different (a new approach), second do nothing at all, and third to keep doing things the same way they have always done things, thus always yielding the same results.

As we analyze the three different ways a person handles situations you can easily see the fundamental flaws in two of the ways. The second method to do nothing shows the apathy that is present in the world today and really doesn't help anyone in life. The third method is truly the definition of insanity to always handle things the same way, yields the same results. Only one method can really be the right one and that is to try something different to improve your life. If you don't try something different in a sense you are saying your perfect already, but unless you have been translated into heaven or are the 4th Nephite your not perfect. (I like that last line)

So my message to all, may it ring loud and clear without any unwavering is to be a stand up person, admit your wrong doings, get rid of your pride, be a follower of Christ and re-evaluate your actions, thoughts and deeds. I definitely won't profess to be perfect at these things, but I can say that I am doing my best, I am trying something different and I am looking for ways to improve. I know that all people can improve, so these writings will continue because they can be a source of help, they may give people a chance for reflection and hopefully help someone besides myself in someway of improvement.

I think it is the responsibility for all people that when they have something that speaks to them that is honest and true, that they should let people know about it especially if it has helped that person in their life. It may be something that someone else can use to help themselves. When someone has a spiritual experience one of the reasons for that experience is to share it with others. Sharing of spiritual experiences can help others improve their own lives. This isn't exactly a new concept either, bearing of ones testimony is something that has been done for eternities.

C.S. Mencl

WHO TAKES OFFENSE ???

Often in life we hear about those who take offense to comments made by others. It is a very interesting situation when somebody makes this claim. Usually a few things exist when one makes this claim. The first situation which may exist is that when the statements are claimed to be offensive it is because they hit the person to the core and they usually seem to be guilty of those things that is why they take offense to them. Most people can’t take criticism of their actions in life without taking offense. It is something that most people have a difficult time dealing with.
I have selected a quote and a few scriptures that illustrate certain points that are a cause of great reflection in most individual’s lives. The first is a quote from Elder Bednar regarding taking offense.

When we believe or say we have been offended, we usually mean we feel insulted, mistreated, snubbed, or disrespected. And certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean-spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people that would allow us to take offense. However, it ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else.
In many instances, choosing to be offended is a symptom of a much deeper and more serious spiritual malady. Thomas B. Marsh allowed himself to be acted upon, and the eventual results were apostasy and misery. Brigham Young was an agent who exercised his agency and acted in accordance with correct principles, and he became a mighty instrument in the hands of the Lord
Elder Bednar

2 And it came to pass that I said unto them that I knew that I had spoken ahard things against the wicked, according to the truth; and the righteous have I justified, and testified that they should be lifted up at the last day; wherefore, the bguilty taketh the ctruth to be hard, for it dcutteth them to the very center.
1 Nephi 16:2

And so on unto the second and third time; and as oft as thine enemy repenteth of the trespass wherewith he has trespassed against thee, thou shalt aforgive him, until seventy times seven.
D&C 98:40

10 I, the Lord, will aforgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to bforgive all men
D&C 64:10

The scriptures that I cited are some of my favorite ones. They are some difficult scriptures to live by for most people. I know that it is difficult when people say things that are hard for you to hear, but it is at that moment that maybe we should really be listening to those words and give them some thought and analyze our own actions. When we do see things that we let offend us we should forgive people for making those comments. The last scriptures are about forgiveness. It is required by all of us in this mortal existence and it is part of our test to be able to do this. As the author of some of the thoughts expressed my intention isn’t to let the reader think that I have mastered these aspects. I am merely trying to do my best at putting off the natural man and working on improving these things in my life. I had the fortunate opportunity to teach gospel doctrine the other day. The topic of the lesson was to Live By the Spirit. That is often an aspect of life that goes ignored at times by people. We should let the spirit guide our actions in all that we do.

In life there are some instances where we need to see where we stand as a person and as a family. When difficult times arise it is often a time where people reflect on their own life and the lives of their family. This is fundamentally a natural reaction to extreme stressors in life. A good example of this is the 911 tragedy. This isn’t the desired way to have an accountability as to where we stand as a person and family. We should have periodic times set aside where we evaluate where we stand and how we are progressing in the eternities. We should evaluate what we are doing to help our loved ones and those we come in contact with regarding their progression into the eternities. In times of conflict it is a time for families to stand together and to support one another. The greater good can be achieved when families stand together.

It has been the experience of mine that most things in this world are aimed at tearing the family dynamic apart. When we as family members look at situations with the long term in mind we are more able to accurately assess difficult situations. It is the case that a great war has been in progress for years against the family and the war continues to get worse. We can see this by the influences of the media. Many of God’s laws are broken in stories, movies and depictions in the media and are presented to us as being acceptable. These influences serve as to tear down the family and leave it looking much like a war torn battlefield. It is at time like that when a family should rally around eternal principles and bind one to another and rise above all the evil influences in life. Media is just one example that looks to tear down the family there are many other examples in life that can tear down the family as well. There are even examples that tear down the family without us knowing it. These hidden curses may be all around us and say that they protect life and liberty of all people but in the end some are treated preferentially because of position or status. They serve to protect whom they will despite circumstances and punishment is enacted by some as to make them look good or to lift themselves up in their career or position. It is so odd to me to see how some because of their position and status have a blind eye turned toward their actions. The examples of these instances are so numerous it is almost impossible for a person to name all such examples.

Although there are some popular people that many know of who have had a blind eye turned towards their actions. Just to name a few Leonard Little and Ray Lewis. I don’t mean to point fingers at those two, but if you saw the situations they were involved with I would ask who protected the families that these two people harmed. We can often see how protection is often one sided. This may be a long example but it is meant to make a person think about the fact that we may think we are protected but when it comes down to it all it takes is someone in a higher position, status or popularity to try and tear us down and we will see that they are the ones being protected and we are left on an island where no support is given to us. The only support those may be able to rely on is from their own family, but even that isn’t a given. Many times our own families are quick to bail out on us and leave us stranded in time of conflict and distress. So you see the only one we can truly rely on in life is our Father in Heaven. He will always be there to help and his judgements are just, but filled with mercy. That is why he is the only one any of us would want to be judged by when we have a final accounting of our actions in this life.

C.S. Mencl

This is where Edmond Durfee lived in the City of Nauvoo. His home site as all others were one acre plots. He lived a few blocks north of Joseph Smith's house and a few block south of the Temple.

various pics