POW part 2 Laser web

Welcome back to our journey through the POW camp! If you are just joining us you may want to go back and first read POW part 1 The Prison. We now join captain and his team on the next phase of their journey. The Laser Web just as dusk begins to settle.

Begin!

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"I cant believe that we got out of there" Tim says.

"We aren't out of here yet" Jesse interjects.

"Quiet!" Captain says, "We don't want the guards to find us."

"What do you want us to do now cap?" Tim asks.

"Those walls are at least 10 feet high, and that barb-wire would be too difficult to get through without disturbing the guards. What we need to do is find the key to the side gate!" The captain responds.


As they come around a corner Mack states "I'm guessing that it is probably through there."

"This day just keeps getting better" Jesse whispers under his breath as he looks at the gate encompassed by a laser web.

"These people are ridiculous!" Mack Curses.

"Ridiculous or not" the Captain responds, "We need to get through that door."

"It is probably just for show" Tim says cockily, as he walks towards the wall with a stick.

Captain seeing what Tim is about to do whispers quietly "Tim stop!"

But he is too late. Tim throws the stick at the lasers, and just like the Captain thought the lasers cut right through the stick without any difficulty!

"Just for show eh Tim?" Jesse says with a snicker, as Tim quickly retreats to the safety of the rest of the team.

"Ok boys there is no sense in waiting for the guards to find us here" The Captain says, "Its time to move forward. And Tim since you seem so ready to volunteer you can go first."

"I'm ready Captain" Tim says. And with that he moves towards the wall and finds the biggest hole that he can. After a brief pause and a muttered prayer Tim starts moving through the web. When Tim is almost completely through the web the team notices that the web starts to move!

"Tim MOVE" The Captain Shouts!

Tim knowing better than to question Cap in a situation like this, lunges the last couple feet, just as the laser passes by his head!

"No" Tim cries!

"Whats wrong Tim? Are you alright" The Captain asks fearfully.

"It burned my hair Cap" Tim responds with a whine.

"You have got to be kidding me" Jesse says putting his hand to his face.

"We don't have time for this boys, the guards are sure to have heard all this noise. We need to move now!" Captain states, "but be careful, that laser is fast."

With that the rest of the team starts to move through the web. Jesse goes and rather easily makes it through the web. Receiving an oh so welcoming look from Tim as he does so.
 The Captain finding another hole waits for a split second and dives through.

"Be careful Mack the laser seems to be moving a lot faster than it was when we started." The Captain warns.

Mack coming up to the web hesitates for a split second. And starts to go through a hole. But he hesitates for a second too long! Mack screams in pain as the laser moving quickly hits him on his calf just as he goes through, leaving a large cauterized gash in his leg!

"I've got Mack boys. We have to move, now, we are sitting ducks right here." Captain says as he hoists Mack up and puts his arm around him.

Without a moments delay Tim kicks in the door and the team moves ahead.

Pause!

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Captain and his team barely made it through that one. That laser web almost had them.
Like the laser web in this story our trials are dangerous and often very difficult to pass through. The trial is different for everyone and  we often times cannot make it through unscathed. But with the love and power of Jesus Christ even if we make mistakes, even if we are wounded during our trials we can be healed.

Will Captain and the boys make it out? Will the team be captured and sentenced to death row rock? Find out by clicking here to read POW part 3 "The Wall!"

Oh and please share this.

POW part 4 Mines! Lots and lots of Mines!

"Holy cow that was close!" Jesse says.

"It was close and it is probably going to get worse if we don't get out of here soon." The Captain responds calmly.

"Lets go then, I can see the gate"  Tim says starting forward.

"Wait Tim!" Jesse yells. "Don't you find it a bit strange that no one is following us over the wall? Hold up for just one second and let me check this out." Jesse slowly inches forward inspecting the ground."Ha" Jesse laughs. "I knew it! We jumped right into the middle of a mine field!"

"Great" Tim complains. "This day just keeps getting better."

"Is there any way out Jess?" The captain asks as he reaches down and picks Mack up off the ground.

"They sometimes leave a path through these things just in case they get stuck in it themselves, but finding that path without a map would be really difficult Cap" Jesse Responds.

"That is our only chance. It is a good thing that you have worked on these guys bombs before, get to work." The Captain commands.

"Sir yes Sir" Jesse responds and quickly starts to look for the path through the minefield.

"Tim now would be a good time to see what you can do for Mack's leg." The Captain states.

"On it captain." Tim responds.

The team works in silent anxiousness hoping that there is a way out. An hour passes as Jesse moves meticulously up and down the wall.

"Captain, I don't know if Mack is going to make it." Tim says." If we don't get out of here soon and get him to a real medic his wound is going to become infected and there is not much we are going to be able to do then." 

"I know Tim, all we can do is hope that Jesse can find us a way out." The Captain says.

At that moment they notice Jesse running towards them from a few hundred feet down the wall. "Captain I think I found it." He shouts.

"At a boy Jess" The Captain says as he picks Mack up in a fireman carry. As the team follows Jesse they find a set of footprints in the sand headed towards the gate.

"I think you have done it Jess." The Captain says.

"I have gone about 10 feet out along the footprints and I haven't stepped on a mine yet so I think that we should be good." Jesse responds.

"Okay team this is our only chance, lets go." The Captain orders. "Jesse you have the best chance at noticing one of these mines so you lead the way."

The team begins to move down the path following it as it twists and turns through the field. At times the path comes almost all the way back to the wall that they started out next too. They continue to follow the wall for almost an hour when it begins to get close to a large gate at the edge of the camp.

"We made it Captain." Tim says with relief.

Jesse with a heavy sigh says; "I don't think so Tim, the path turns about 10 feet before the gate."

"It's ok, there probably aren't any mines there. It's only 10 feet we can make it!" Tim says in desperation.

The team is silent for one minute as they think about what to do. The Captain takes a deep breath and says "boys we follow the path, it hasn't let us down so far."

"But Captain" Tim whines.

"That's an order soldier!" The Captain retorts.

With that, the team continues down the path. As it winds seemingly away from their destination. After another half an hour of walking they round a corner that they had not seen before. There in the wall is a small gate that is unlocked. "Thank Heavens" Jesse says as they go through the gate, and find themselves outside of the compound.

As they stand in shock looking around at the freedom that they have found they see the first gate about 100 feet down the wall. As they walk over to the gate Jesse says "It's rigged to blow!" They notice on the side of the gate that is not visible while inside the camp their is a large bomb.

"Glad we didn't go through there huh Tim" Jesse says with a smirk.

The captain lets out a boisterous laugh and says "Lets go boys, it's time to go home."

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The End!

They made it! And only by following this path.  Our lives are a lot like the path through this mine field, there is danger on every side and it is often hard to know where to go. Luckily for us we have someone who has gone before. The someone for us is Jesus Christ. He has place the footprints before us and if we follow him we can make it. But there is only his way. There were two gates in this story and only one of them was going to get the team anywhere.  

Mathew 7:13-14

 13 ¶Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Christ is the only way! If you enjoyed this post feel free to check out these blog posts that talk about similar subjects :

Suffering in Gethsemane. He Has Been There Before

Lost but not alone. theferreproject

POW Part 1 Prison!!!

Good morning and welcome to the series..... Prisoner of War!!!! Sounds exciting huh?
  Years ago when I was a wee lad in Boy Scouts we went to a scout camp called the Big Event.  At this camp there were a ton of different events from: Archery, to black powder rifles, to you guessed it, the prisoner of war camp. The prisoner of war camp was by far my favorite event.

  So let me lay out the scene for you. Here we are in the enemies POW camp. Its cold out, we are all locked up and there is no way we are getting out of here, "Im sorry boys". Let our adventure begin!

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  "Where are we captain" Mack says groggily.

  "We have been captured Mack. They are keeping us in this make shift prison until they can kill us off. They are moving us to death row rock one at a time and leaving us to ponder on our fate." The Captain responds.

"Where is J Captain?" Mack asks while looking around.

"They took the best man first" Captain says. "I wouldn't be surprised if they've  already killed him."

"No cap I can see him!" Tim whispers from across the room. "He is still on the rock, but it looks like he has been beat bad." 

"Can you tell if he is alive Tim?" The captain asks with reluctance.

"I think so Captain! Tim says quietly. "What is he doing?"

To the soldiers complete surprise a key lands in between them!

"J pulled through for us again" The captain exclaims, as he quickly uses the key to unlock Jesse's lock.

But as the captain goes to try and release Mack he realizes that the key doesn't fit! 

"They used different locks for each of us" The Captain says exasperated. No sooner do the words escape him then another key lands at his side. "That a boy, J!"

The Captain releases himself as Tim catches the last key that releases himself and Mack. 

Jesse, immediately starts to look around the room and finds a rope the is partially buried in the back corner of the room. "This will surely come in handy" he says. 

And with that the men make there way out of the room.  

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Pause! 

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Like Captain and his Crew there are times when we are all chained down, wether the chains are physical or spiritual it doesn't matter. We have no power to set ourselves free! But there is someone! Someone destined to die, our friend and our brother in Arms. He alone has the power to set us free! His name is Jesus Christ. 

But we quickly realize that all of our locks are different! My chains are different from your chains. But our friend, Jesus Christ has the key we need and he will provide it for us. Jesus Christ suffering was the only way we could recieve our keys. It was the only hope and he knew it. Thats why he let himself go through that, he could have escaped it at any time but he stayed so that he could provide us with our key and save us from prison! I am so thankful for my Savior and Friend. I know that he died for me, and he died for you.

Stay tuned for more to come as the Captain and the team try to escape the POW camp! Oh and feel free to comment or share this post! Click here to read POW Part 2 The Laser Web!

Wandering through the dark.

A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to go spelunking (Cave Exploring)! In one of the caves that we went in, a group of 6 missionaries crawled through a hole in the rock into a large cavern. While we were there we took a moment and turned off all our lights. We were far back in the cave and there was absolutley no visible light. We sat there for a couple of minutes in the dark and pondered. Its strange looking back at that experience and the things that I learned from a moment in the dark.

This experience really made me realize the blessing that light is. Its funny that I didn't really look at light as a blessing until I was in a place where there was absolutely no light. And without that light I wasn't going anywhere. I was trapped without light. As I was thinking about this I thought of the "light" of the gospel. And where I would be at without this "light" in my life. Again I would be trapped. There would be no where for me to go.

 

    It talks about an experience like this in the Book of Mormon. The story, often referred to as Lehi's dream is found in 1 Nephi 8 and 11 in the Book of Mormon.

     In this dream it talks about a lot of different people and their journey to the "Tree of Life". This represents each of us on our trip back to God. In the dream there comes a "Mist of Darkness", which overcomes the people as they are on the path. Making it impossible to see the path and find the tree.  Throughout my life I have had many such moments when I feel surrounded by a Mist of Darkness. When hard times come and we don't know where to go.

What saved the people in Lehi's dream was a "Rod of Iron". This rod represented the word of God or in other words, the gospel. The mist of Darkness fell on both the people that were holding onto the gospel as well as to the people that were not. The difference was the iron rod! The gospel can help us get trough the mists of darkness, it provide "light" when all we see is darkness.


With the light provided by our headlamps we were able to find our way out of the cave and with the gospel we can find our way through any mists of darkness that might overtake us! Im so thankful for the oppourtunity that I have to have this light in my life! This light has been provided for me by Jesus Christ and he has given it to me through the Book of Mormon. Read the Book of Mormon and find it for yourself!

Please visit Mormon.org or comment here if you have any questions!

Skittles and our ability to choose

I don't know about you, but I love skittles, and today I'm going to relate skittles to another thing that I love so much. It is also a much greater thing to have. That thing is agency.

Agency is the ability to choose, and it is a gift from our Father in Heaven. He gave Adam and Eve their choice in the garden of Eden way back in the day, and because of their decision we are more prepared to make choices of our own.

How does this relate to skittles, you may ask? Well, I relate our agency to a bowl of skittles. God has given us a big old bowl of skittles that we can do whatever we want with, and if you remember, these skittles represent our ability to make choices for ourselves. 

Photo by ::Suwaif:: from Flickr

Well, there are times in this life when we are given choices that will affect our skittles. Choices like drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and others. When we use these things we can become addicted, and with that addiction we have less of an ability to choose.

There go some of our skittles.

The more we do these things, the more skittles we lose, until at some point we look over and the pack of cigarettes has more skittles than we do! That's wrong! Those are our skittles!

  The longer it holds on to our skittles, the harder it is to get them back. However, we can always get them back. God has given them to us and nothing else can take them away. We have to choose to give them up, and with that we can choose to take them back. Its not easy, but it is possible.

Through the atonement of Jesus Christ we are able to overcome all things. We are able to regain our skittles! Christ suffered for us and the wrong choices that we will make. It is through the atonement of Jesus Christ that we have a chance.

Again, I don't know about you but I love my skittles and nobody else can have them. How do you feel about your skittles? Please feel free to post any questions or comments!  

Lost but not Alone.

When I was about 7 my Mom took my brother and I to a cub scout Jamboree. This event had hundreds of boys going to it. It was going to be a 3 day trip so we borrowed my Grandparent's camper to stay in.

                    (Imagine a trailer here >>>>>  )

Well the day finally came and we started our adventure. The trip was just as fun as it sounded and we were having a blast! At one point on the trip I was going to go back to the camper by myself with my bike. I headed back thinking that I knew where I was going. In the absent mindedness that is classic to me I got lost, and by lost I mean WAY lost. I did not recognize anything! Of course I'm scared out of my mind and started to cry, thinking that I was never going to be able to find my way back.

But following the example that my Mother had set for me I began to pray as I walked, trying to find anything that looked even a little bit familiar. As I was walking I saw another group of scouts headed somewhere with a couple of their Leaders. One of their leaders saw my distress and asked me what was wrong. I admitted that I was lost and he told me that he would help me find my way. We walked around and he talked to me comforting me as we looked. After about half an hour of walking with this man we stopped to talk to someone, when all of the sudden my Brother came around the corner on his bike. So I called out to him. Come to find out we ended up about 10 feet away from the camper.

   At times in our lives we have all felt "lost". But because of our Savior Jesus Christ we know that we are never lost. He stands by us through thick and thin. And as we turn to him he will lift us. We are never alone because he has walked where we walk and will show us the way.

I know that my Savior Jesus Christ lives. I know that he suffered and died for us; and that through that he knows how we feel and how to help us! Turn to him and he will make your burdens light. Please feel free to post times when you have felt "Lost" and please share this with others.