The Afterlife Academy

The Afterlife Academy by Frank L. Cole is my favorite of all his books! It is so unique and funny! We first meet Walter. In the first few paragraphs of the book, he dies (SPOILER ALERT!) He is sent a sorting office where he gets to choose a career before he eventually goes to heaven. Walter knows almost immediately what he wants to do--he wants to become a guardian agent! (Agent, not angel--he hasn't gone to heaven yet).

Walter's assignment is to protect a boy about the same age named Charlie, who has discovered The Summoner's Handbook. This book contains the power to open a portal from the underworld, and all the demons want to get their hand on it! Walter has had no training, but somehow he and Charlie need to work together to outwit the demons and somehow destroy this book.

The humor in this book is top class. I giggled out loud several times while reading it. Walter and Charlie are both so different, but they are stuck together. The result is a lot of comedy. For a subject matter that could have easily turned dark and too creepy for young readers, Cole has expertly found a great balance of adventure and humor to make the book appropriate. For example, the demons are not satanic, and most of them are basically big goons with less-than-average intelligence.

The main theme of the book is actually on bullying. It talks about the effects of bullying, how to deal with bullying (and how NOT to deal with bullying). These lessons are taught both in Charlie's personal life at school, and also in his interactions with beings from the underworld.

I highly recommend this book! I wish there was more to read!

Letters to a Young Mormon

I picked up the second edition of Letters to a Young Mormon by Adam S. Miller after hearing a lot of good things about his other book, An Early Resurrection. It is an interesting book with an interesting format. Each chapter is on a different topic, and is written in a letter format. There were some things I really enjoyed, and others that just seemed off to me, mostly in the analogies and metaphors used.

Right in the first chapter, Miller makes this point: "You are a pioneer. Life has never been lived before in your body." I really liked that thought! The second chapter especially resonated with me. He talks about work and how we sometimes try to earn the love of others through our work. He teaches that love works only as a gift, and never as a reward. He says, "If you try to secure God's love through your excellence, then, no matter how excellent your work, you will fail." But if we accept love as a gift, rather than trying to earn it, we will be able to enjoy the love more fully, and we will be able to enjoy work for the sake of the work.

The chapter on history also had some great points, talking about the danger of wishing we could live in the "good old days." There is no such thing. Every period in history has its problems. In the book of Helaman, Nephi cries from atop his tower how he wishes he lived back in the time of Father Lehi and Nephi, when the people were quick to obey the voice of the Lord. Miller points out that really wasn't the case, but the past had been romanticized. All of us do it. It is better to learn from history and actually live in the present.

His chapter on stewardship talked about how interconnected we all are, and we cannot live our lives thinking we are an island. Even our breath is dependent on other elements around us, and those elements are dependent on us.  To be stewards, we need to realize how interconnected everything and everybody is. We truly all need each other.

While divided into two chapters, he teaches similar principles regarding hunger and sex (which is also a type of hunger). We should not curse our hunger, but we should always not let it control us. He teaches that instead of gorging ourselves, we should eat like we want to eat again, not as if it is our last meal. It is something to be learned. He likewise suggests that chastity is not something we are born with, it is something we must learn. To be chaste is not to be innocent, but it means to have learned to control bodily appetites. In learning to control our hunger, sex drive, etc., we are likely to make mistakes. He reminds us that God knows exactly what it is like (and is perhaps a reason why Jesus was asked to fast for 40 days--to truly understand the power of physical hunger). God wants to help us, not damn us.

Although not every analogy and teaching resonated with me, many others did and I loved Miller's perspective on the many topics he addressed. I am glad I read this book. It gave me a lot of food for thought, but also inspired me to action. To me, that is the mark of a good book.

The Gospel at 30,000 Feet

I can still remember the moment when I found out that Deseret Book was publishing a book by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf called The Gospel at 30,000 Feet. I was at the annual leadership conference for Deseret Book and the book wasn't even bound yet. I could hardly wait for it to hit the shelves. Even better, the audio version of the book was actually read by President Uchtdorf!

Although most of the material comes from public addresses that President Uchtdorf has given in the past, the formatting of the book made the material feel somewhat new. The book is formatted based on the principles of flight, with the difference sections focusing on Lift, Guidance on the Journey, Weathering the Turbulence, and Our Eternal Destination.

The book is filled with his experiences as a pilot, but also with other life experiences. (It also has several pictures of him throughout his career and experiences as a pilot). If I had to choose one favorite thing to share from this book, I'm not sure I could choose just one. I love his examples of lift through prayer, and guidance from the Holy Ghost. I also enjoyed him talking about the beautiful and majestic storm clouds that pilots needed to stay away from. If they were to decide to pursue the beautiful clouds, they would certainly lose their lives to the terrible storms. He talks about repentance, and to not believe Satan's lies about there being a "point of no return."

But if I had to choose a favorite part, it would probably be where he talks about the benefit of challenges. As a young boy, he had to ride a heavy bicycle carting laundry around the city for his mother's customers. The bike was old and not like the slender new bikes. President Uchtdorf resented this chore at the time, but years later when applying to the air force, it was discovered that he had a lung disease. It turns out that all that heavy exercise on that heavy bike out in the fresh air was treating his lung disease and actually cured it. What seemed frustrating and discouraging at the time, ended up being a great blessing to him in the long run.

I loved this book, and would definitely recommend it for anybody's shelf.

When Heaven Feels Distant

The book When Heaven Feels Distant by Tyler J. Griffin caught me off guard when I read it. I wasn't expecting to learn so much and to gain so many insights. Sometimes I hear a topic and think I've already heard everything on that topic, only to be pleasantly surprised. Such was the case with this book.

Often times, we don't understand our trials an why we have to go through them. We wish God would take away the hardships. Griffin points out that God doesn't send His children into the wilderness just to get somewhere, but to become something as well. We already lived in Heaven with perfect parents. We came to earth to become more than we were then.

I also loved his insight on the iron rod in the vision of the Tree of Life. The scriptures state that the rod was on the bank of the filthy river. We could look at this as a frustrating location. Why have the rod so close to where we could fall in? The author points out that perhaps the placement isn't for the people on the path--it is for the people in the river, so that they can reach out and grab the rod and be saved from drowning. I love that imagery!

In another part of the book, the author talks about vertical and horizontal sources and how we need to make sure we our getting our information from the Lord, not from others around us. He gives a description of five people, making some sound very favorable, and others not so much. Then he reveals the individuals described. Those who sounded best, were actually terrible people, and those who sounded worst were actually prophets and apostles. We need to make good use of the gift of discernment.

Towards the end of the book, he talks about what to do when family members are struggling, particularly with the Gospel. His advice is to do as Father Lehi did when Laman and Lemuel went their way. Lehi stayed at the tree. He did not go chasing after them, nor did the prodigal son's father chase him down. They stayed at the tree, and beckoned their family to join them. We can also learn from that example.

This was a really good book and I am glad I read it.

Last Laborer

Last Laborer: Thoughts and Reflections of a Black Mormon is a very thought-provoking work by Keith N. Hamilton. I have had this book on my shelf for a while, and decided it was finally time to read it. I'm glad I did. This is a book that will definitely be a permanent part of my library.

The first half of the book covers the author's life. It was very insightful for me, as a white person, to understand the challenges that a person of african descent faces throughout his/her lifetime. I learned a lot from the book, and really appreciated the author's honesty and perspective. I also learned a lot of history. For example, I didn't realize that when a lot of slaves were freed, they took upon themselves the last name of their last owner because they didn't have last names up to that point. So the author's last name (Hamilton) actually comes from a slave owner who was distantly related to Alexander Hamilton. I learned that not all former slaves did this, and some later renounced the name to have no association with their former master, but in general it was a common practice.

The author's life was very interesting to read about. He has a great sense of humor, but he is also very honest. But I really enjoyed the second half of the book, where the author talks about the issue with blacks and the Priesthood from his own perspective and testimony, along with the scriptures and words of latter-day prophets.

I was amazed at how much false doctrine and false traditions I have grown up with concerning this matter. Everything can be summarized by the statement that the ban was instituted by God and was lifted by Him as well. The author has a very strong testimony of this. He is also very clear that he does not know why God ever instituted the ban in the first place, but He knows that God is the source and he trusts God enough to not worry about it for now.

He debunks rumors and clears up false doctrine. A common explanation for the Priesthood ban is that it is because those of african descent are descendants of Cain, who was a murderer. The author points out the lineage of Jesus Christ, who descended from David--both an adulterer and a murderer who lost his exaltation. Does this ancestry diminish who the Savior is? Of course not. So it is with blacks.

Another common teaching is that the ban was put in place because black people were born in their circumstances because they were less valiant in the pre-mortal life. Not only is there absolutely no scriptural basis for this, but there are actually many scriptures that teach the opposite. Take the man who was born blind. The Lord's disciples asked if it was the man who sinned in the pre-mortal world, or his parents sinned, that caused him to be born blind. Jesus answered that neither was the case, but he was born in these circumstances so that the glory of God could be made manifest.

Likewise, look at the circumstances surrounded the birth of the Savior. He was born in a  stable and slept in the manger for his first bed. He was born to refugee parents in a nation that was oppressed and controlled by another nation. Do those sound like favorable circumstances? No. Were those circumstances a consequence of a level of valiance in the pre-mortal life? No. The author actually teaches that those born in unfavorable circumstances, such as the Savior, are born in such because it is necessary to be in those circumstances to accomplish the mission they were sent to perform.

The book is great, and I especially enjoyed reading it just after the Be One celebration put on by the Church to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the revelation on the Priesthood. I am grateful to Keith Hamilton for writing this book and opening my eyes a little more on the subject.

Make a Choice

I just finished reading Make a Choice by Jeff Benedict and I found it to be really thought-provoking. This book consists of seven true stories of people who have faced tragic, heart-wrenching experiences and found amazing outlooks on life to get them through their challenges. As the cover says, When we are at the intersection of happiness and despair, we have the power to make a choice.

Benedict begins his book perfectly with a quote from Old Yeller, which he had been reading to his daughter. After Travis goes through the awful ordeal of having to put down Old Yeller, his dad gives him this wise counsel: "It's not a thing you can forget. I don't guess it's a thing you ought to forget. What I mean is, things like that happen. They may seem mighty cruel and unfair, but that's how life is part of the time. But that isn't the only way life is. A part of the time, it's mighty good. And a man can't afford to waste all the good part, worrying about the bad parts."

Commenting on this quote and other tragedies in the world, Benedict makes the point that we never "get over" these things. But we can get through them (his emphasis, not mine). He then goes on to share the stories of people he personally knows and how they got through their difficult experiences (or, for some, are still getting through them).

This book made me grateful for my life, which has been very easy compared to the lives of the people mentioned in this book. Although my challenges are not nearly as great, this book provided me with great insights on how to deal with my challenges, and still choose to keep an optimistic, hopeful attitude throughout my life, no matter what comes my way.

The Washington Hypothesis

I was excited to read The Washington Hypothesis by Timothy Ballard as soon as I learned it was coming out. I really enjoyed his previous work, The Lincoln Hypothesis. This book did not disappoint. I have always loved American history and have always had great respect for our first president. I always knew George Washington was a great man, but reading this book solidified that belief more than ever.

First of all, I had no idea how many miracles were involved with the Revolutionary War. I knew that as a whole it is a miracle that the Americans won against the greatest superpower in the world at the time. But it was fascinating to read about the successes Washington had because of nature (God) working in their favor. It was neat to read how often Washington urged his men to fast and pray and show their devotion to God.

Ballard also makes interesting arguments in favor of Washington being familiar with the American Covenant, an extension of the Abrahamic Covenant that applied to Lehi and that now applies to us. I won't go into detail because I don't want to spoil the book, but it is very interesting to note how the pieces came together for the author.

I don't know what Timothy Ballard will write next, but I do know that I will be among the first in line to read it. His research is fantastic and his passion is contagious. It makes me personally commit to better live the American Covenant.