It’s not as easy as you think as both are great bikes and are priced about the same.

I’m 59 and have ridden for awhile so I would have to say that I’m in the in-between category – my last bike was a Honda 750 ACE – had that for about 4 years and put on about 10,000 miles on it – mostly riding the back roads and some highway –

I’ve had various other bikes over the years my first in 1973 – a 250 Yamaha – the a 67 then in 1975 Triumph Bonneville – then in was a few years for my next one – in 1982 I got a 550 Yamaha Vision, that was a sweet bike – I loved it – had it till around 1988 or so – then there was a dry spell – in 2000 I got a Yamaha 650 special, 2002 my son gave me a Suzuki 550 – then finally I got the ACE – my daughter had an accident with it – broke her foot – she’s fine now – but the bike was totaled… this was in August 2007 – in December or 2007 I was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma- At the time I was 5’8” 205 lbs with a 30in inseam. It was a very rough treatment and now I’m in remission – and thanks (?) to the cancer – I’m still 5’8” with a 30 in inseam, but I’m 155 or so –

This past year I also had to get a pacemaker and had my gallbladder out –

So now I’m starting to get my strength back and because of all the stuff that has happened my wife agreed that I can get a bike –

And that is where I’m at – I’m looking at both the V-Star which was my first choice – had read a lot of good things about it – then I say the Kawasaki 900 classic next to it – So what do I do???

Any suggestions?

Elements of Repentance
Repentance is sometimes a painful process, believe me it can be very painful, but it leads to forgiveness and lasting peace. Remember that peace that was just mentioned? The Lord has promised, “He who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more” (D&C 58:42).

Repentance includes the following elements:

Faith in Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Remember in the scripture we used – they had faith in Jesus Christ
Repentance is an act of faith in Jesus Christ—an acknowledgment of the power of His Atonement. We can be forgiven only on His terms. As we gratefully recognize His Atonement and His power to cleanse us from sin, we are able to “exercise [our] faith unto repentance” (Alma 34:17).
Sorrow for Sin.
This is where we realize what sin has done to us and maybe to someone else – we realize that we cause someone to suffer because we did something to them, we realize the hurt that we cause and it touches our hearts – and because we have hurt another of the Lords children – we have hurt God – this is what causes us sorrow for that sin –
or we realize that what we were doing was breaking one of the lord commandments – and by breaking that commandment it put a division between us and God and what we really desire is to be at one with God – and that separation is what causes us to be sorry for the sin,
When we think of all that Christ has done for us – when we think on His Atonement – so that we can repent and realize that our sins inflected some of that pain in the Garden or one the lashes of the whip –
That is when we truly feel sorrow for sin.
Confession. “
We must confess our sins – for most sins we can confess then directly to our heavenly Father, he already knows what they are – so it’s not like you can hide them from him. But go to the Lord in sincere prayer and ponder over your sins – acknowledge what you have done –
But try and not to be like Adam and Eve when they were caught in their transgression – when God asked then if they ate of the fruit of the tree – Heaven Father knew they did –
but Adam says – The Woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat – and Eve was no better – she says the serpent beguiled me and I did eat – So Adam blames Eve and Eva Blames the serpent.
So when we confess our sins to God – try and not blame your husband or wife or children or the dog – accept that you have sinned and that you are sorry for that sin.
Now if you have a serious transgression – something that can jeopardize your membership in the church, for that you must confess your sin to the Lord and to the Bishop – The Bishop is a Judge in Israel and can help you on your repentance process and attain forgiveness from the Church –
While only the Lord can forgive sins, these priesthood leaders play a critical role in the process of repentance. They will keep confessions confidential and help throughout the process of repentance.

Abandonment of Sin.
This can be a hard one – we must abandon the sin and do it do more – it isn’t right to go to the Lord each week with the same laundry list of sins – that really does not show that we have remorse for the sin, we may be sorry for it, but not sorry enough to give it up.
If we open our hearts and make room for the Holy spirit to come and live in our heart – he will give us a new heart and give us the strength to resist sins – if you continue to find it difficult with certain sins – consult with your Bishop and see what he can do to help, that is part of his calling – the Lord is providing him with special blessing so he can deal with these types of issue – He will not hold anything against you and again, it will be kept in confidence.

Restitution.
We need to try and make it right – make it the same as it was before our sin. This may not always be possible to make a full restitution, but we must try – Like the men in the prison – they are trying to make right for what they did wrong.

If you stole something – return it – if you damaged something repair it – if you hurt someone – tell them you are sorry and ask their forgiveness

Righteous Living.
Repentance isn’t always easy in fact life isn’t always easy– but the Lord has promised a way to help us there – he says in Matthew -
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).

Forgiving Others
This may be one of the hardest thing we need to do in the repentance process – if we expect the Lord to forgive us our sins, we are expected to forgive others – whether they request it or not – The Lord say that He will forgive who he will forgive, but we are to forgive all.
This can be hard because we are human and we may hold it against someone for hurting us, or hurting a loved one.
While it maybe hard for you to give that forgiveness out – you can call on the Lord and yoke yourself with him – he has promised to make your load light –
And remember – the Lord has forgiven us – and when Jesus hung on that cross – he forgave them who were killing him – one thing you might be tempted to say is that Jesus was God up there on the cross – so it was easy for him to forgive – You may even think that about the temptations that he had to endure –
But you must remember – that while Jesus was the Son of God, he was also the son of Mary and was fully human when these things happened – he suffer, he bleed, and he died –

Forgiving Ourselves.
This is probably the hardest thing for many of us to do – forgive ourselves once the Lord has forgiven us. There are many things that I have done in the past, in my teenage years that I still suffer for – and I really need not suffer for them because I have confessed them and have had the Lord forgiven me of them.
And while the Lord has forgotten them, Satan has not, and Satan will remind us of those sins – and tell us how bad they were, how you had hurt someone, or did something so horrible that God could not have forgiven you – and we start to suffer for those sins again –
Or they could be the sins that we have hidden under our beds and in our closet never letting out, we know that they are there – but we deny them – Satan has got it into our minds that God will not forgive us – or will tell us – you know if you go to the Bishop the bishop will see you as you really are and you are really a bad person – and he’ll tell everyone – your nakeness will be exposed – that is our biggest fear – that people will see us in our sinful nature –
But its not true – remember that Satan is the father of all lies – Heavenly Father already knows your sins – and is willing to forgive you – and once he has forgiven you – you must put the past behind you and pray for God’s help for you not to remember those sins anymore – and if you must remember them – remember then in the sense that you know the pain and suffering that they had cause – and commit, many times on a daily basis to sin no more.

Repentance

The first two principles of the Gospel are Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and Repentance, which make perfect sense, since if we had no faith in Christ we wouldn’t even know that we had to repent
Repentance is essential to our happiness. It is much more than just acknowledging that we sinned. It is a change of mind and heart that gives us a fresh view about God, about ourselves, and about the world and how we all relate.
Repentance includes turning away from sin and turning to God for forgiveness.

Repentance happens when we discover that we are loved by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ – when we feel this love – and it’s a love that is always there – always available to anyone to claim – once we feel the warmth of their love it illuminates our lives, it gives us great joy and happiness.

Remember how you felt the first time you realized that God loved you or you realize that the Gospel REALLY is true? Remember how happy and excited you were – you wanted everyone to feel the love you were feeling – you wanted to please God and Jesus – you really wanted to be good and obey the commandments that they set up for us – you wanted to partake of the sacraments and the ordinances – you wanted to receive the blessing that can only come by way of the Temple.

The Need for Repentance

We all need to repent for there is not one of us who is without sin – if we were without sin God would have translate us and since were all here in the chapel – we all are sinners –
One of the things that does separate us, if separate is the right word to use, is that we know that we are sinners –

we recognized that there are parts of our lives that we’d much rather no one knew about, things that we have hidden away, kept under lock and key – There are things that we are ashamed of –we know that we need to change – we know that because of the light of Christ – that light has exposed us for what we really are – sinners.

But rather than running from the light – or trying to deny the light ( and our sins) we go into the light – and once in the light we can see who we are – We are children of loving heavenly Parents – who want us to return to them in a perfected state –

They know that we can’t do it on our own, and they are there to help us –

Many times we have sins that we hold one to, sins that we don’t take responsibility for, because someone else caused us to sin, they hurt us, they cut us off in traffic and I swore at them- or something like that –
and we are holding what we perceive as a sin against us against them – we don’t let go – we treat them badly because we feel they have sinned against us, which really only compounds the sin within us, not them.

We have to understand that no one can make us sin, not even Satan has the power to make us sin.
we sin because we gave up that control to another – so the sin is still ours, not theirs. The sooner we recognized this the better we all would be.

And you will see that part of the repentance process is to forgive others -

Atonement of Jesus Christ

To atone is to make reparation, compensation, or amends, for an offence or a crime, like the men in prison – they are atoning for their crimes.

As used in the scriptures, to atone is to suffer the penalty for sins, thereby removing the effects of sin from the repentant sinner and allowing him or her to be reconciled to God.
Jesus Christ was the only one capable of carrying out the Atonement for all mankind. Because of His Atonement, all people will be resurrected, and those who obey His gospel will receive the gift of eternal life with God.

Let me repeat that – because of the atonement ALL PEOPLE WILL BE RESURRECTED – but only those that OBEY HIS GOSPEL WILL RECEIVE THE GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE WITH GOD. i.e., Life in the Celestial Kingdom!

While the atonement removes the effects of sins – it cannot remove the consequence of sin, those we must live with. When I say consequence, I mean things like the affect drugs abuse can have on your body; the atonement doesn’t repair that –

Because Jesus atoned for our sins we are able to repent of them – if Jesus had not atoned for our sins there would be no way we could repent and be forgiven of our sins – that is why it is such an important part of our doctrine and as Elder McConkie pointed out in the Three Pillars of Eternity – without the atonement we could never progress – we are not capable of doing this on our own.

Another of the wonders of the atonement – is that even though Alma, Mosiah and other prophets of ancient times were speaking to lived hundreds of years before Christ – the people were able to repent of their sins because of the eternity of the atonement – God and Jesus are not bound by time – time is part of creation – and time will cease when the world ends and we will be in eternity with God, not bound by time.
Jesus’s atoning sacrifice took place in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross –

This is one of the hardest things for us to come to terms with – Jesus was innocent of any wrong doing – He was spotless – without sin – even after being tempted for 40 days with every form of sin known – all this was so that he would know what temptation is like – he knows from personal experience what it is like to be tempted – the only thing is that he never gave into the temptation –

When the time came for the atonement, Jesus had to first experience all of our sins – during that night in the Garden he suffer spiritually and physically for every sin that was ever committed and that would ever be committed – from the beginning of time to the end of time – there is so much that we don’t understand about the Garden experience – but what we do know is that his suffering was so great that he bleed from every pore –

It’s sad to think of Jesus in this condition – and all he wanted was Peter, James, and John to stay awake with him during it, but I guess he had to suffer it all alone -
Another thing to consider – is that he also suffered for every suffering that has ever been or that will be suffered – when you are suffering from anything – death of a loved one, the lost of job, the wayward child, Jesus has suffered it for you –all this he did freely.

And after all of this – the atonement still required one thing more of him – it required his life to be given up, it had to be freely given to pay for all the sins of mankind.

It was not an easy death – after the garden suffering you can imagine the spiritual and physical condition that he was in – then he was humiliated, spat upon, His holy head was pressed with a crown of thorns that pieced his head so badly that the bold just ran into his eyes. And then he was beaten – and not just like you see on TV or the movies or some pictures – but it was a scourging –

They beat him with whips that tore the flesh off his body – many died just from the beating – he then had to carry his own cross – be nailed to it and hung up and left to died a most painful death – and worst of all – he had to experience despair- for the atonement to be complete and full, he had to experience what it was like to have Father turn away from him, to be abandon by His Father- we hear this in his voice when he cries in matt 27:46- aMy God, my God, why hast thou bforsaken me –
And Jesus’s last words in John 19:30 – it is finished – the debt has been paid in full and once it was paid in full Jesus said to his Father (Luke 23:46) Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.

I’d like to start with two quotes of President Boyd K Packer –

I readily confess that I would find no peace, neither happiness nor safety, in a world without repentance. I do not know what I should do if there were no way for me to erase my mistakes. The agony would be more than I could bear.

And

“If you understand the great plan of happiness and follow it, what goes on in the world will not determine your happiness”

Alma 7:14–
14 Now I say unto you that ye must repent, and be born again; for the Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.

We must repent – and we’ll deal with that in a little bit – but he says we must be born again – this can be a confusing term –
some Christian believe that being born again is strictly a personal spiritual experience – something that is personal and is between you and God – some people even say that if you say a certain prayer and commit yourself to Christ you are born again – some even celebrate it like a birthday..
We latter-day saint believe it a little different – In the Teaching of the Prophet Joseph Smith we learn that being born again comes by the Spirit and ordinances – that is both ordinances and spiritual experience are required for the change – we know that ordinance is baptism – for being born again – Jesus taught Nicodemus that Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God, and when asked what being born again meant – Jesus replied – except a man be born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God –

So what exactly is the Plan of Salvation?I hope you all know that before we were, we were –

In the premortal existence, Heavenly Father prepared a plan that enable us to become like Him and receive a fullness of joy. The scriptures refer to this plan as “the plan of salvation” “the great plan of happiness” “the plan of redemption, and “the plan of mercy”

The plan of salvation is the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It includes the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, along with all the laws, ordinances, and doctrines of the gospel.

It includes free will or free agency– we can choose and act for ourselves, we are not responding to instincts, This is a very important part in Heavenly Father’s plan.

Through this plan, we can become perfected through the Atonement and receive that fullness of joy, and live forever in the presence of God. Our family relationships can last throughout the eternities.

The Creation, Fall and Atonement are reference by Elder Bruce R McConkie as the Three Pillars of Eternity – a wonderful talk that he gave – one that would be worth a whole lesson in itself – but I only want to briefly review it here – to listen to it see the end of this post

He said -
“The three pillars of eternity, the three events, preeminent and transcendent above all others, are the creation, the fall, and the atonement. These three are the foundations upon which all things rest. Without any one of them all things would lose their purpose and meaning, and the plans and designs of Deity would come to naught.
If there had been no creation, we would not be, neither the earth, nor any form of life upon its face. All things, all the primal elements, would be without form and void. God would have no spirit children; there would be no mortal probation; and none of us would be on the way to immortality and eternal life.
If there had been no fall of man, there would not be a mortal probation. Mortal man would not be, nor would there be animals or fowls or fishes or life of any sort upon the earth. And, we repeat, none of us would be on the way to immortality and eternal life.
If there had been no atonement of Christ, all things would be lost. The purposes of creation would vanish away. Lucifer would triumph over men and become the captain of their souls. And, we say it again; none of us would be on the way to immortality and eternal life. “

It is my feeling that if we really understand these 3 pillars– fif we fully embrace them, we will know the meaning of the Gospel and we will know why we need to repent, what we need to repent of and how we need to repent to gain forgiveness.

Here you can hear the Talk mentioned by Elder McConkie –

Three Pillars of Eternity

I’ve been think about this all week – and what I’ve come up with is that if I want to really know the will of God – If I really want to do what is important in life – If I really want to make a difference – I need to seek after the Kingdom of God with all my heart, mind and strength. The only problem is that I sometimes get lazy, I want what I want to do, even when I know that I shouldn’t.

To overcome this problem I figure there are two things I can do to help me seek after the Kingdom of God –

1 – Start each day with a prayer, and in that prayer, acknowledge that the Lords hand in ALL things and to come to the realization that it is His will that is to be done – not my will to be done.

2- To study first about spiritual things rather than temporal things. When we study the scriptures and the words of those faithful servers of God we come to know the Lord’s will and we will also come to know what the will of the Lord is concerning us and our families, and our friends and our work. We will know what to seek after in this temporal world and if it be the Will of God – it shall be ours – if it be not the Will of God then it will not happen.

Here are the words of a song I heard sung at a Promise Keepers Conference – I loved it – and it means more now to me than when I first heard it –

It’s called Surrender –

I’m giving you my heart, and all that is within
I lay it all down for the sake of you my King
I’m giving you my dreams, I’m laying down my rights
I’m giving up my pride for the promise of new life

And I surrender all to you, all to you
And I surrender all to you, all to you

I’m singing You this song, I’m waiting at the cross
And all the world holds dear, I count it all as loss
For the sake of knowing You for the glory of Your name
To know the lasting joy, even sharing in Your pain

What does that really mean, what does it mean to seek FIRST the Kingdom of God? (Matthew 6:33 and Luke 12:31 Jacob 2:18-19) –

What we’re told in these scriptures is that we need not worry about the temporal things of this life – all that we need is provided for us – Our heavenly Father loves us so very much – and has provided a way for us to have all that we NEED – maybe not all that we WANT.

The scriptures are clear in that we are not to worry, we are not to fear – that we are to love and be patient with one another. But what of this life? We worry about the everyday things, the bills, the traffic, dealing with the most unpleasant people. We have to work everyday, we want things, not things that we need, just things that we want. Does this make us bad – unholy, selfish. With so many people starving, with so many people without the basic needs, so many people going hungry every night. What are we to do?

Seek first the kingdom of God – that is what we should do. Easily said, hard to do. Or is it? Do we really understand what it means to seek the kingdom of God first? Do we have to give everything up?

I don’t have any answers – but the more that I read the above scriptures – the more I feel that I must seek first the kingdom – but now – how to go about it.

Jacob 2:18-19 is interesting – but if you start at verse 11 and go all the way through to 23 – it brings more into light –

More later!!!

Good day – and it is a good day – except that the car’s battery went dead and it was in back of the other 2 cars – so we’re sort of pen in – waiting on AAA to come and give us a jump – they said about 45 minutes – So I guess we’ll be very late for church. So while we’re waiting I thought I’d write a few things out.
Since it’s Sunday and it’s the Lords day – my thoughts go to the many things that I am grateful for – and the many things that make me happy or sad.

I am grateful for all that the Lord has given me – and all that He may give me in the future – I am grateful for my membership in the church and the many lessons that have been taught to me by others through the Holy Spirit.

I am grateful for my family and that we are all sealed together – that the sealing is very powerful – I am grateful for the love that we all share for each other – for the respect we all have for each other –

What makes me sad is the suffering in the world – the fact that we all as God’s children can’t seem to get along – that we fight – many times in the name of God against each other. I firmly believe that that is Satan’s way of trying to destroy the plan of happiness that the Lord has for us.

Not sure what I can do about all of the suffering in the world – but one thing I know I can do is start with the one – one person at a time – I can show love and respect for all people – no matter who they are, what they believe, or how they act – that fact that they are here make one thing stand out about them – they too are a child of God – and God loves them no matter what – if their actions are such that they do not keep the commandments – that only saddens our Father – it does not take away His love for them. Our Father never draws away for them; it is they that draw away from him. How sad – how truly sad.

But I will not forget that they are loved by God and I will not treat them with enmity – I will love them and respect them as children of a loving heavenly Father – the same as I am. I will not condemn them, no matter what they do – I will love them and pray for them to see the errors of their ways. Just as I would what others to love me and not shun me because of my errors – my sins – for all sin is sin – and we all are sinners. But if we repent – we draw closer to Father – if we rebel – we leave his presents.

Please love one another as we have been commanded to do –

It’s Christmas day and everyone is playing with their gifts – It’s really a wonderful time – What I think about now is how fortunate we truly are and how much we as a family have been blessed. My prayer for to day, and every day is for all those that have no one to pray for them, all those forgotten people who are suffering or sad or in circumstances that they don’t want to be in – not just today, but everyday.

I remember past Christmases – for many many years ago – over 30 – some of them were very sad – where there was no family around to share them with. I mean there was family, but I would self exile myself from them and spend Christmas opening up the bar and spending there. Those are the days that I know that my mom prayed for me. Not that she ever told me, but a son just knows these things. I am so grateful for her prayers. And I offer prayers up for her now – she past away this year – I wish I had been a better son and not have caused her so much grief when I was younger – Maybe I could have made her life happier. I do love my mom – and my dad.

But today isn’t a time to reflex on the sad past – but on the blessing that I have now – my wonderful wife and children and grandchildren, my brothers, my Aunts and Uncles, my cousins and other relatives who love me so unconditionally. The fact that I have health and that I am employed with a good job with people that appreciate me is truly a great blessing.

Thank you Jesus – thank you heavenly Father –