As a software engineer, it's my job to find the optimal way to do things. I'm constantly looking for the most efficient method to sort a list, store stuff in a database, and speed up a program. And once my brain is set to "optimization mode," it's hard to turn it off.

For example, recently, as I waited for a Temple session to start, I found myself mentally inventing ways...

It's amazing how much we can learn from a story the second time it's told. Details and viewpoints you missed entirely the first go-round tend to come out in subsequent tellings (like Joseph Smith's First Vision). You may not have caught it, but this month in Come, Follow Me, we're reading one such re-telling that teaches us some important truths about love– what it is and what it isn't....

On June 5, 1976, Idaho's Teton Dam broke, sending a massive wall of water fifteen feet high over the valley below. The 80 million gallons of water that rushed over Sugar City and Rexburg carried away houses, demolished businesses, and covered the whole community in a thick layer of rancid muck. Pres. Henry B. Eyring, then president of Ricks College (now BYU-I) noticed that some individuals went to work and...

I've recently been impressed to study the teachings and biography of the First Presidency. My respect, love, and feelings for these men grow deeper with every chapter. It has been a powerful, revelatory experience. I also learned more about doctrine and Church history. For example, Pres. Nelson's biography relates how Pres. Nelson's grandfather received a visitation from his late father from beyond the veil and recorded the interview.

I have a confession to make. Most people don't know this about me, but I sometimes, even often, get bored at Church and zone out. Shocker, I know. But it's just not often that we learn something new about the core of the Gospel, right? Don't get me wrong, the principles of the Gospel never stop being interesting and wonderful, but sometime after the 40th lesson on a subject, it...

The best period of Nephite history, hands-down, is the few hundred years after Christ visited them. Mormon records this idyllic point in their history in 4 Nephi, saying:

There were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of...

My first son kid was born during a very busy time in our lives. I was working full-time, going to college full-time, and serving as a counselor in a branch presidency. It was a rough time of early mornings and late nights. Sometimes, I didn't see my baby boy awake for several days at a time. For his first birthday, my wife created a video of the moments she had...

I've been less frequent in my blogging this past year. A large part of this has been a shift in my spare time to launching the Conference Talk Podcast (if you haven't given it a listen yet, check it out)! Meg, One of my co-hosts ran yesterday's episode. She discussed Elder Hugo Montoya's talk "The Eternal Principle of Love." In that talk, Elder Montoya says "Jesus walked with...

We have observed a new religion seeping into the membership of the Church over the past decade. This religion is a deconstructed imitation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It copies the culture, vocabulary, and standard works of the Gospel, but waters down (and sometimes rejects outright) the foundational truths of the Gospel. If the Gospel is the healthy cows of Pharaoh's dream, then this alternate religion is the sickly...

We have three kids ages 6 and under. Time out as a couple is rare and fleeting. Movie theaters are virtually out of the question. But when the first two episodes of The Chosen hit the box office last month, my wife and I made sure to go. I loved it. Watching those episodes was a wonderful experience.

Until I ruined it.

Spoilers ahead, you've been warned.