when he was in NZ as the BYU Study Abroad Programme.
Brother Wilcox bounded onto the stage early
before Hilary Weeks had finished
and laughed at himself
saying he would sing along with Hilary
just like he does in his car.
Brad, seen here waving his little heart out
talked about his fond memories of living in NZ
and his joy at being able to have a fish and chip picnic at Mission Bay
and of course Hokey Pokey ice cream.
"for we know that it is by grace that we are saved,
after all we can do."
2 Nephi 25.23
Brad talked about emphasis on the words we need to focus on.
He chose WE for the purpose of this talk.
The we he is talking about is the Jesus and me, we.
What he is talking about is GRACE*.
GRACE is a joint effort.
If heaven is your goal,
but anything in your life
grace is all around you and makes up the distance.
GRACE means we don't need beat ourselves up for failing
to meet some self imposed standard.
GRACE offers us the shelter of doing all we reasonably can
then retiring to it's shelter to rest before we go on.
The sacrifice is already made
you and I don't need to throw ourselves into things
to the point of exhaustion or frustration.
We need to know what we are doing and what we want to achieve is truly our path,
we need to ponder about the best path,
we need to pray, meditate and have faith,
then rely on Jesuses grace to get us there.
Y'know that's all it takes.
Brother Wilcox gave this example;
A child takes piano lessons paid for by the parent.
The parent pays the teacher so the child doesn't need to.
The child's responsbility is to practice and to learn
and become a better and better pianist
or pianoist in some quarters.
The child can't pay the parent for the priviliage of the piano lessons,
nor can the child pay the teacher.
Just like GRACE.
We are the child,
Jesus is the parent
God is the piano teacher.
Got it?
Good.
Brad also talked about those who choose to follow a path
that is unwise, unsafe, foolish and risky.
Yup them sinners
they have choices,
fewer and fewer as they go but
they can turn away from that path and
return to Heavenly Father if they so choose.
But remember that those who choose to do less and
be less than they need to be to get back to heaven,
make that choice themselves.
That's our end goal of course.
But heaven must be a place you want to go.
So one can assume that if you don't want to go to heaven
you just do what you want.
Fair enough.
You can not take anyone to heaven with you.
It's an individual human journey
with Jesus walking and carrying you all the way.
If GRACE something that appeals to you
and take it from me,
it is soooo good,
go here for more information
if you are just browsing.
Or if you really want GRACE
go here
* Just felt like small letter grace wasn't enough.
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