
I went downstairs to ride tonight and set the bike for 500 calories. That ended up being 17 miles today, which brings my grand total to 3,243 miles. Right? You with me?
So I get on Google maps and chart my course like I always do, and I end up IN Elko. Exactly in Elko. Right by Great Basin College. What a coinkidink, right?
So I decided to see how far it would be right to my new office. So I grab the marker and move it to the office and voila it's exactly 3,243 miles.
Are we supposed to move to Elko or what?
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We were reading in Exodus the other night about Israel going through the Red Sea on dry ground.
I have been looking for a type of Christ in this and I think I've found one, though admittedly there are likely many.
Imagine that the Savior went to hell and descended below all things as he said he did. So did Israel when they walked on the bottom of the sea. There was no real risk to them because the Lord actually dried the sea bed for them and kept the water on either side of them.
For the Savior, however, there was real risk. Some would call this blasphemy, suggesting that he never had risk because he was God. I say they're full of it. OK, they don't understand. How could it be an infinite atonement and a real payment for sin, unless he had real risk? If he had no risk, then it was not tough for him and it was no atonement. But it caused him to shrink and would that he might not drink the bitter cup and beg his Father to take it away if there were any other way. That is the definition of "tough".
He had no dry sea bed to walk on, and there was a real risk of him succumbing at all times. THIS is why I love him. THIS is why I look for him in types all over the place. Because it is so beyond comprehension for me to try and understand the atonement.
In addition, I believe the Pharaoh and armies are a type both of the adversary and of us. Of the adversary because he followed Israel to the bottom of the sea, just like Satan followed the Savior as far as he dared. And both of them stayed right there after the Savior and Israel departed safely.
Think about this: Satan went as far as he could to descend with the Savior in order to mock him, to get him to fail. But the Savior went further, below ALL things, including the devils. That is the only way he could be a Judge of all. When we are all judged, and that includes the devils, Satan and his devils cannot look at the Savior and say, "Hey, you're the golden boy, the charmed one, father's favorite. You had it easy. You can't judge us." Because the Savior can look at them and say, "Go as deep as you dare into hell. Look further down that road and you will see, alone, looking back. I've been where no one has ever gone, or ever will go."
Of us, the Red Sea is type because we often tempt the devil himself, daring him to fight us. Instead of keeping our eyes on the distant shore and not on the walls of water, and looking back over our shoulders when we should be forging ahead, we give power to the devil to impede our progress. You can't run a marathon when you keep looking backward. Nobody runs backward faster than they run forward.
Doctrine and Covenants 128:22
"Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free."
The prisoners are the dead who are freed by the atonement and resurrection of Christ. But they are also us, who are dead as to eternal life for the time being. We are freed, too.
So keep your eyes up, whether you have illness or employment difficulties or children who make their own decision and you don't agree with them or you have worries or you have doubts or you have stress or you have money issues or anything else. Keep them up on Christ. Keep the commandments of God. Sooner or later, usually sooner and when you least expect it, the windows of heaven will open upon you and you will smothered by so many blessings that you cannot count them and almost dare not open your eyes to look.
I testify of it.
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