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Recently in pondering over how to make the process of repentance more heartfelt and efficacious I changed how I view the atonement of Jesus Christ and consequently my approach to repenting of my sins. Previously, with Jesus' atonement having taken place about 2000 years ago I kind of viewed it as something in the past that created this wealth of grace that I sought to draw upon as I repented. But as I thought about it, there is much about it that we don't understand, especially in relation to suffering for sins not yet committed. Then I considered how to God there really isn't a past or future, just one eternal now. And while I don't quite comprehend that principle I figured it allowed some leeway in how we view how Christ was able to do what He did. As such when I pray for forgiveness now I view the atonement of Jesus Christ in real time. I pray that Christ may suffer for my sins as though it had not happened yet. And I must say this approach has really added a depth of sorrow and regret to my repentance that wasn't there before. I have also found myself thinking during the day that I need to be careful because any misstep on my part comes with a price that Jesus will yet have to pay for. For me it has made it all even more real and meaningful. Maybe this is old news for some but for me it has been most enlightening.

I can still remember a visual (sitting in the room where we had Sacrament meeting in Moscow, when I was in my early 20s) when I realized some things: 1. I would never again have the chance to keep that Sabbath day holy. (We often seem to think, "well, I can do it later." But not really.) 2. Every sin I don't commit is a sin Christ doesn't have to suffer. Because while I don't think the Atonement was a checklist of each individual sin everyone had or would commit, I do think that Christ (and all the Godhead, perhaps even all those in the celestial kingdom) suffers whenever one of us sins - perhaps not in atoning for it in real time so much as being saddened by it. And therefore the inverse must be true: when we do good, Christ rejoices or experiences with us the positives of that good choice. 3. And, the verse which says that whatever we have done to "the least of these" we have done to Christ - it's literal, not figurative. Because he suffered, or suffers, what each of us goes through, anything we inflict upon another, we literally inflict upon Christ. And anything we do to lift or cheer another, we do to Christ. They were sobering thoughts. Obviously, I have yet to fully integrate any of them, but I believe they have changed me, and continue to do so. I like your hyper-responsible approach, essentially owning and confronting the full extent of what we have done or are doing. Sometimes perspective makes a world of difference.

I think a lot of times we miss the point of the Book of Job. I suspect there was a real person named Job; but the story of Job is merely an envelope—a tortilla shell for the meaty taco that is the book’s philosophical meditations and arguments. When you really dig into it—after the first chapter or two, Job is neither patient nor uncomplaining. Ironically, while He doesn’t question God’s righteousness (as he understands the term “righteousness”), Job sort of does suggest that maybe God isn’t quite omniscient—that God must have gotten His facts messed up to be punishing him, Job, for sins that Job is sure he didn’t commit. Basically, Job & Co are coming from the mindset that “God always rewards the innocent and punishes the guilty; and if someone is having a hard time, it’s because they sinned”. Job’s friends jump to the position that “you must have sinned”. Job himself basically maintains that “yes, that’s how it’s supposed to work; but I’m quite sure I didn’t sin and I’m sure God’s motives are righteous; God has just made a factual mistake about my righteousness, and if He would just talk to me we could sort this all out”. God basically comes in and says “Job is right that he hasn’t sinned and is right to stand by My righteousness. But none of you drips know anything about how My punishment or My justice work, and your puny minds wouldn’t understand it if I explained it to you.” Scholars who accept a later date for the current text of Job often see it as a subversive book; pushing back against Deutero-Isaiah’s concept of God’s immediate and unvarying rewards for the righteous and punishment for the sinful.

If you watched the same ABC interview I did, I came away with a very different understanding. The whole thing about deporting legal immigrants appeared to be one of offering a choice. Zero forced separation. But if a family has a mix of legal and illegal people, the illegal people must go whereas the legal folks can chose to go or stay, depending on what makes sense for their family. The reporter tried every way under the sun to spin this in a controversial or negative way. He noted many of the dreamers have grown up to be responsible productive citizens, and he'd gladly work with Dems to figure something out for them besides deportation.

The good tidings of great joy that the angel delivered to the shepherds and that the angel declared to King Benjamin—and that each of us individually and in families understands today is Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Jesus Christ is the source of great joy for all people. He is central to God’s plan for His children. Through His Atonement, Jesus Christ fulfilled His Father’s purpose and made it possible for each of us to enjoy immortality and eternal life. - Thierry K. Mutombo For the Lord hath heard thy prayers, and hath judged of thy righteousness, and hath sent me to declare unto thee that thou mayest rejoice; and that thou mayest declare unto thy people, that they may also be filled with joy. For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases. - Mosiah 3:4-5

Genesis 6:9 ¶ These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. There were actually a number of different words in the Bible that were all translated into the word perfect but each with different meanings. Even today the word "perfect" is often not used to mean literally flawless. Complete or thoroughly made is the original etymology of the word and remains a common use of the word. This doesn't prove Job is to be taken literally but it also doesn't disprove it either.

"Perfect" in the linguistic sense of "complete", e.g. the past perfect tense.

I appreciate this thought. There must be opposition in all things. If our sinful actions bring Him pain then acts of obedience, especially those involving helping others, must bring Him a feeling opposite of suffering.

I dunno. US Grant did okay (I believe Lincoln rather famously told his staff to find out what Grant was drinking and distribute it to the rest of his generals). I’m more worried about Hegseth’s apparent history of exploiting/cheating on women, even if it didn’t rise to the level of legally-defined sexual assault. Call me old school; but I still think there’s a connection between one’s ability to stay loyal to one’s closest connections/ability to demonstrate sacrificial love at the most personal level, and one’s ability to effectively serve one’s country. A colleague of mine—retired colonel—feels like a retired major probably just isn’t going to have the scope of knowledge or depth of administrative knowledge to be able to implement the degree of change Trump wants in the Pentagon. I think one of Trump’s major failings in 2016-2017 was failing to understand the nature of the bureaucratic/procedural apparatus he was trying to subdue or the ways it would fight back. I’m afraid Hegseth (and some these others—particularly the DOGE dudes and Gabbard) might be setting themselves up to run into that same brick wall; and I’m not sure being relatively young and vigorous is in and of itself enough to overcome all of that. I wish Hegseth luck. In this climate, there’s probably not a politically viable basis to really strongly oppose his confirmation . . . but I’m not anticipating much success from him, either. And while I’m not very knowledgeable about military matters . . . My sense is that our capacity has been slipping for a long time; that our diminished military capacity is about to get exposed in a very painful way within the next 2-3 years; and that Trump and his SECDEF are going to get the blame for that, whether they deserve it or not.

Many Bible translations change Song of Solomon to Song of Songs. They think it is doubtful that Solomon was the author of the book. I agree with Bruce McConkie on many points of doctrine, but I disagree with his assessment of the Song of Songs book. It is not an inspired book, but I believe it sanctions physical intimacy in marriage which is good. "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." -- Genesis 2:25

In the current system, yes. Bolded for emphasis because I've been subtly trying to say this for some time. Realistically, my ideal model only happens in its entirety if private insurance is abolished entirely. And yes, that is currently on the table for MNcare. It's highly unlikely to go our way, considering where UHC's hq is. But there it is, the ideal model for nationalized healthcare means the abolishion of private insurance. I have no expectation that it will happen in my lifetime, but that doesn't mean it's not worth advocating for. Change doesn't happen without demand for it.

So, Gaetz is gone. Now, Hegseth is a different matter. Knee jerk reaction from the left was that he was only a news contributor who knew nothing about the militiary. He was a Major with two Bronze Stars. Accused of sexual assault. But investigation indicated that the woman in question was just trying to hide her affair from her husband. Accused of drinking on the job. But everyone who worked closely with him said that was a blatant lie and he never showed any such symptoms. Now accused of lying about being accepted to West Point. Turns out that a bureaucrat at the school disseminated false information on that point.... err... they "made an administrative error." uh-huh. Why are they trying so hard to keep him from this post? I'd think that if the opposition is working this hard to get rid of him, there must be a reason why it is bad for the deep state. Keep going, Pete.

The fact that the Lord mentioned Job and his trials when counseling Joseph Smith (D&C 121:10) might suggest that Job was a historical figure. If not for that, I would assume that the story of Job was either an entirely fictional parable with some extended, rambling philosophy attached, or at least that it was a stylized and highly embroidered retelling of an actual kernel event with some extended, rambling philosophy attached.

You can believe what his critics (like Reuning) say about him from some out-of-context statements (if you look at the actual Mullin quote, he gave it a very different framing) as well as "anonymous sources." Or you can listen to his co-workers who are willing to go on record by name to defend him, witnessing his work day-in and day-out in an early morning news show which has strict policies against being intoxicated at work. They all say that they never saw him seeming remotely intoxicated at work. So far, none of the allegations have any names or faces associated with them. If there are some faces and names, we can actually look into those allegations. But accusations with virtually no actual facts or details is just noise at this point. Let them expose themselves and we can investigate. But until then, these are just rumors.

The irony I've actually been seeing, especially prior to his capture, was that overwhelmingly the younger conservatives I see in classes and such were in support of what the shooter did. It appears that many college students, especially conservative ones, have some pretty hefty concerns regarding healthcare...which also includes healthcare companies (and what some of them would term...death panels). I have no idea what the percentage is, but it is extremely high among the younger ones. The older conservatives...I was talking to one of my compatriots and they didn't even know what I was talking about. Another one didn't know much about it either, except that the news had mentioned it and that it was just another one of those New York crimes (you know, New York has a lot of crime, at least that's what she told me). I would say, overall, the younger folks are following it a lot closer than us older folks. They also seem to be more in a like minded way of seeing it (regardless of whether they are conservative or liberal).

"And when the emptiness still gets you down / all alone you walk the lonely ground / just think about the ones you love / and take the loss and rise above" - Enuff Z'Nuff, "Happy Holidays" Believe it or not, I find that rock, metal, and "power pop" bands often have a very real and very *human* grasp of things when it comes to Christmas music, both the classics - like Rob Halford's rendition of "Good King Wenceslas" and Manowar's rendition of "Stille Nacht" - and original songs, like the one I quoted above or the Northern Lights Orchestra's "Celebrate Christmas". I actually prefer Shinedown's version of "Happy X-Mas (War Is Over)" to the original because their rendition is so comparatively raw that it's as if the singer is someone who has just been at war *with themselves* and has now found peace.

Or you can find them in the Nook's store app by searching for Latter-day Saints: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/latter+day+saints/_/N-8qa (They're not all free, though.)

I have a solution, but not sure if it's a good one. On your computer, not your phone, start here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm?lang=eng Upper right corner of screen, click the three little dots, then select Download: That lets you download a PDF file. Nooks are supposedly able to read PDF files, but the only online discussion I can find from 2010 said it might be problematic. Here's hoping things have improved in 14 years. (Yes, that's a picture of me and my wife's pet rooster Doctor Who.)

How long has this been a thing?

Yup. I use humor to deal with everything. And sure, I know some great drunk jokes and memes. But being trashed at 10 AM (and Hegseth, like all addicts, tried to brush it off or point to others) is a serious problem. The man needs the compassion of friends, family, and us. And at this time, the last thing he should be is in charge of a major government branch.

No, I'm not. I don't think you fully appreciate the history of this thread and what generated my most recent posts. Start with my post about "first symptom".

Ginsburg too, but yes, Kagan was a friend of Scalia. https://www.risch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2016/8/justice-elena-kagan-talks-about-her-warm-relationship-with-her-late-colleague-antonin-scalia From the article. Scalia took Kagan to his gun club and began teaching her gun safety and how to shoot. After he declared her ready, the two began taking hunting trips together, which is when they began to bond. Birds in Virginia, deer in Wyoming, duck in Mississippi — over the years, the justices traveled, hunted and got to know each other better. "He was as generous and warm and funny as a person could be. I just so appreciate all the time I got to spend with him," she said. "I miss him a lot."

She was friends with Scalia and viewed him as a mentor.

Alrighty folks, this thread has run its course. Just a reminder of the site rules. Y'all agreed to them when you signed up. You can find the link at the top of every page.

I think this says volumes more about Trump's cabinet picks than the GOP legislators who are vetting them. There's literally no reason on earth for Republicans to push back against Trump, and it's well known that he'll make life a living heck for any Rs who he views as a problem. So maaaaaybe they're seeing things that we aren't. Or in the case of Pete Hegseth, they're looking into concerns about him and still haven't reached a conclusion. Personally, I'd be thrilled if I saw Dem lawmakers giving this level of scrutiny to a Dem cabinet nominee. Trump may have been given a mandate by the voters, but so was every member of Congress. Balance of powers and whatnot.

The people I organize with are primarily Christian senior citizens. They're certainly not the type to take glee in something like this, but they're not exactly lighting candles for the dead CEO either. That's basically my take as well. I can't in any way condone what happened, but I recognize that people like him are responsible for a tremendous amount of the suffering associated with navigating the American healthcare system. Killing him won't fix that. Last year, one of the things I was organizing around was the establishment of a public option in MNcare. We have two state senators who represent our city. My state senator is a DFLer and career nurse. The other senator is a Republican school teacher and to her credit, one of the more level-headed Republican electeds I've encountered. We've even worked with her on a couple of education bills in the past. The first time I spoke with her about healthcare was following the local GOP's post-session open house after last year's historic legislative session. I spoke with her a bit about health insurance afterward. I pointed out, correctly, that the DFL had concrete plans to address rising health care costs by expanding MNcare and working to create a public option. I'm sure she already knew this, just as I'm sure she already knew that the local DFL's post-session open house had literally 10x the number of attendees as hers (about a dozen people in the audience, including me). Her answer was respectful, but not particularly thoughtful, and boiled down to the belief that private companies are better at administering health insurance than the government, her main argument being that government = bad (okay, Senator). She had revealed during the open house that she was about to undergo open heart surgery, and about 6 months later I found myself in her office, this time advocating for funding to research and develop geothermal energy infrastructure (which we ended up having quite a bit of bipartisan support for). I asked how her surgery went and got a whole rant about the insurance aspect of it. We weren't there to talk about healthcare specifically, but she suggested that she might be open to revisiting some reform proposals. I'm pretty sure she was just saying that to be polite, but her frustration certainly seemed genuine. It's just one of several examples I've seen over the years of conservatives defending our for-profit insurance industry until they're the ones getting shafted by it. And you'd think a heart procedure wouldn't be that messy from an insurance standpoint. Seems kind of important. Brother, it ain't just the left. Conservatives certainly seem more conflicted about it, but I've seen a lot of "good riddance" sentiments expressed from the right as well. Maybe not going so far as to condone or celebrate, but the lack of distress over this guy's death is far from partisan. A lot of people, and not just left-leaning ones, view this guy like Martin Shkreli but with slightly more moral fiber. Remember the bipartisan celebration when that dude went to prison? Our health care system screws people over regardless of their political affiliation, so it's not surprising that -murder discourse aside- we're finding some solidarity on your side for making some changes to our health care system.

Good to be visible

When I think of BYU atheltes I generally think of Qb’s like Steve Young, McMahon, Detmer…great players.

It is my opinion that the real problem and threat in our society is that we do not know what to do with the mentally ill that are a danger to themselves and others. I sometimes (this as an example) think that we are unwilling to even attempt to deal with the mentally ill that are a danger to themselves and others. This unwillingness is demonstrated with the HIPAA laws and the obvious link between mental illness and self-medicating on top of both prescribed and unprescribed psychotropic drugs. And who knows what else is contributing to our youth (under age 25 that are still developing executive brain functions) turning into homicidal maniacs. In one day, our news sources are overwhelmed when we capture one and finally acquit someone that put himself at risk to stop one. And I wonder if some of our elected officials are among the self-medicating. The Traveler

BYU has a longer richer history of basketball. But we need to remember that during most of BYU’s history the Church membership was less than 2 million. Not until recently, beginning with Lavel Edwards (my lifetime), did BYU even have two consecutive winning seasons in football. The Traveler

I had previously said: Here's what has happened: He's going to be a contributor to OAN. Uhmmm... That network is tanking worse than CNN & MSNBC. They may not be in existence next year. This tells me that the allegations were worse than the public knows about. So, yes. I'm changing my position on Gaetz until I hear something more reassuring.

My ortho residency director posed this question every 4 or 5 years to his rotating residents. When my group heard it, our responses were: malpractice, not overseeing financial control of your practice, substance abuse, gambling, etc. After a few minutes he had to tell us the answer - Divorce. He strongly recommended against it. And even suggested that if the itch arrises NEVER get involved with a nurse or an office staff member. But instead just go to a Continual Medical Education meeting in Vegas to see a professional as the care will be better and the expense is way less then the alternative… About 80% of the men in that room have been divorced at least once. And the only ones that I know who stayed married were honest men who had strong Christian beliefs. I know a neurosurgeon that has been divorced 4x from nurses or scrub techs. He works outrageous hours to support all the women and his next ex-wife.

It's been laced into more innocent things as well. A school bus driver was taken in because of DUI. He swore up and down he had no idea how he got anything into his system. It turned out that some candy he bought from a street vendor was full of drugs. This same vendor was selling candy to kids. None of them even knew it was laced.

I see what drinking alcohol does to people. Someone said paraphrased: It has everything against it and nothing for it. We do not know why do not drink coffee, but I believe the Word of Wisdom revelation. I believe I will be blessed for following these commandments. Millions who followed the Word of Wisdom have also been saved from the plague of Fentanyl, that has killed over 150,000 people in America in recent years from what I read. Fentanyl has been laced into many recreational drugs and it kills people.

Deadly force was certainly justified as long as he posed an immediate threat. But if you neutralize the threat *without* deadly force, and he remains neutralized . . . You don’t get to (for example) wait 5 minutes and then say “you know what? I want a Mulligan. He might wake up, so I’m just gonna shoot him now.” I want to tread softly, because I don’t know whether (or how many times) Neely regained consciousness after first being knocked out and I’ve never been in an altercation like that and I’m sure the decision-making process starts looking very different when the adrenaline is flowing. But if it’s true that someone was saying “I’ve got his arms, you can let go”, and if it’s true that they made it to the next station and had every opportunity to evacuate the train car . . . It’s just hard for me to justify a continued chokehold after that point.

Yes. Even in the best circumstances it’s not fun or enjoyable to kill people. If you can take someone else’s life and not be affected by it, that’s not a good sign. It’s a tragedy all around. I’m almost certain that soldiers and cops who take glee in killing people aren’t terribly healthy individuals. Maybe someone with military experience here can assist me on that one.

Just an unfortunate situation all around. Penny’s act in initially subduing Neely was heroic. We need more people willing to do this. But I confess I don’t understand why it’s tactically necessary to keep someone in a chokehold (as opposed to switching to some other hold) once the opponent has drifted into unconsciousness. Then again, considering the caliber of other goons that the New York prosecutor has let skate through—it’s hard to avoid concluding that either Penny was prosecuted for his race, or other lethal menaces are being released because of theirs.

There have been some past statements said to this effect. But there are no scriptural references that explicitly state this. So we must not accept those statements in a vacuum. Note that this was quite a bit earlier than OD 2.

Jesus

I started 2 new hats today. One for my wife: And another for myself: (Obviously I haven't ironed the brim yet in this picture.) A few tidbits: 1. I went with a 6 inch crown for both of these, vs. the 5.5 I did on the last one. 2. Instead of wool, both of these are 100% rabbit felt. 3. Wetting, steaming, shaping, and ironing these made the whole house stink like wet rabbit. It smells kind of like wet dog, only....rabbittier. Anyhow, the last one I made was a bit too tight on my forehead and a wee bit too loose on my temples. So I had an idea. First, I got some crafting wire that bends easily, but holds it's shape too. I twisted it onto my head until it felt just tight enough to stay in place but not so tight it was uncomfortable. Then I pressed all around it, molding it to my head shape. Then I traced the outside of it and cut it out in paper: I traced the outside instead of the inside, because I wanted to allow for the sweatband I'll sew into the hat later. Then I got some pink XPS foam and traced it onto that: Then cut it out. This was an interesting thing to figure out. The XPS I got is 2 inches thick. I tried a serrated kitchen knife...no...then a hack saw...no. Then I got out my saws-all and just hacked out the general shape, leaving extra room, and then my electric belt sander to shape it. That worked. This was the end result: The egg shape of my head explains why the forehead pinches and temples are too loose when it's an oval. Finally... stuffed it into the hat (after steaming the bottom part of the crown to soften it up a bit): Yeah...looks like the brown one in this pic...but it's not. It's the greenish-gray (a color they called "military") one. I was going to drill some holes in it first so I can get it out...but I didn't have a bit enough drill bit and I'm impatient. And I'd done enough with the power tools for a Sunday already. (To be fair, it was like less than 2 min of power tools. Is that breaking the Sabbath? ). But it's foam. I can just stab something into it to get it back out (I hope). And I was impatient. Not showing in the pictures (well, sort of dangling down in that last one), I put the cord back around the base to snug it up to the foam so it dries to that shape. We'll see how it works out. I think it will! Now for 2 days of drying time.

Serious question: what purpose does the for-profit health insurance industry serve? Because it seems to me that the main cause of increasing premiums and denials is companies trying to protect their profit margins in the face of increased government intervention. Which begs the real question: is it ethical to profit from health care? Every other first world country on the planet has nationalized health care (and yes, they have their various hiccups). Is there a reason not to burn it down here that doesn't boil down to "American Exceptionalism"? Folks seem willing to cause short term pain for potential long term prosperity when it comes to international commerce. Why not health care? Obamacare was created because too many Americans were being left behind by for profit health insurance companies. Now the for profit companies are having their profits threatened by government subsidation. Their "solutions" include higher denial rates (perpetuated by a shady AI program in the case of UHC), higher premiums, and putting time limits on coverage for anesthesia. So no, you're not going to convince me that rising costs of private health care is the fault of Obamacare. That's exactly what the Brian Thompsons of the world want you to think. A lot of us are ready to move on from them, and they were never going to go quietly. It got a lot worse than that. They ended up turning off visibility of reactions somewhere around 71k 😆. Murder is wrong, always. That's all I have to say about Brian Thompson.

No, you're not. Really, you're not. You may think you are, but that's only because you haven't spent enough time feeling the tragedy that is someone's entire physical life turned into toothpicks.

I tend to think that God treats us the way Jill treated Puzzle in the end of Narnia. (spoilers ahead) Puzzle wore a lion costume imitating Aslan, but Puzzle was manipulated into it. The final King of Narnia wants to execute Puzzle, but Jill correctly tells everyone to leave him alone. She doesn’t say she is right, she tells the others to have mercy. At the end of the day, Aslan allows Puzzle to enter Aslan’s country. So does Tirian.

To be fair to @Ruben, I can see why he’s still anxious. Even people who keep their covenants still struggle with pride, lust, envy…all things God warns us about. Again though, I try my hardest to remember the mercy of Christ. He’s the only one in history who turned the other cheek, forgave those who murdered Him, and asked Peter to put the sword down.

It would be unjust for a father not to have their child who committed a heinous crime punished. Doesn’t mean they stop loving them. I never said that God stopped loving the individual he punishes. But God is just and mercy cannot rob justice.

Unpunished? No. But I do vaguely remember hearing an interview with a school shooter’s dad who said “He‘s still my son, I can’t stop loving him.” I think God’s love for us far exceeds our human understanding of love.

God is both. The scriptures are quite clear on this. Imagine for a moment that one of your children did something truly horrible to another person, like rape or murder. Even though you love all of your children, you wouldn’t let your child’s heinous crime go unpunished would you?

This. Go read the Old Testament. Look for a God of love, patience, and mercy - He is there for all the world to see. I believe seeing a "vengeful" God happens because people hear that claim before they themselves ever read the Old Testament. That was my view until I read Hugh Nibley claiming that the God of the OT was a merciful God. So I went to read again, and found such love and beautiful promises that I have completely changed my view. Is there violence? Sure, when wicked people do violent things, and when the wrath of God is invoked by a very, very wicked people. But it's clear that God wishes to be otherwise and it takes a lot to call out his justice. Also, check out the hymn "How Firm a Foundation" - full of such gentle and beautiful promises - it's almost word for word from the Old Testament. Pay attention to the sacrifices and how, once given, they are emphasized as "holy" - this is the source for why our tithes and offerings are holy (and if you've ever been in a position to decide how they're spent, then you should have been trained on just how sacred those funds are and how careful we should be about their use - my OT reading really emphasized that for me).

Heh - I bet @mikbone will relate to this story: I've been finance clerk a long time, and I've done tithing with almost a dozen different bishopric folks. Doing tithing with the Emergency Room doc was a truly unique experience. He immediately broke down the process of tithing to a series of discrete steps, to be performed in a certain order. His part was opening the envelopes, removing the contents, reporting the contents to me, separating and storing the contents appropriately, filling out the forms, and disposing of the empty envelopes. My part was setting the stage with letter opener/deposit slip book/bank deposit envelope/UPS mailer already labeled, recording the tithing on the computer as he read it out, removing and storing the deposit slip with his completed paperwork, and putting everything away. Then we both followed the "always two brethren" process of leaving the building together and making the deposit. His doctor brain had immediately identified that this was the correct division of labor, and although I was initially quicker with my stuff than he was, by the third Sunday, we were a well oiled machine that worked in utter tandem. When we had a 'difficult slip' that took longer to enter, he was always pleased to see my burst of speed and flurry of clicking and typing to keep up with him. He absolutely loathed the bank depository bag, because removing the little strip that exposed the adhesive to seal the bag closed was difficult, and if the tiniest bit of that adhesive stuck anywhere on that bag, it stuck there permanently, and he might have to start over with a new bag. Which means he'd fall behind, and his faithful assistant would be sitting there with nothing to do while he putzed around with a stupid plastic bag. He took it personally. It was a joy to work on his tithing team.