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9am on Sunday

OK, let me start by saying that now that I am older and have kids, church at 9am is just fine. At 9am, I have already been wide awake for hours. But when you're a freshman in college and living away from home for the first time? Who thought that one up? Leave the early morning sessions for the off-campus older crowd and let the youngins' sleep, I say!

So....I didn't make it to church that often my first year. And to be honest, not much my 2nd or 3rd years either. The other issue was the fact that holding Sacrament meeting in the same room used by your science lecture class is a little weird. Kind of hard to geto the spirit of things with the table of elements poster on the wall staring you down, reminding you of your test the following day.

But at least we had the coolest bishop, Bishop Earle Larsen, who also managed the Cannon Center operations (place of food). You could always talk to Bishop Larsen -- good man with a great sense of humor.

The other thing I didn't like about church at school was the fact that there were no families, no babies crying during sacrament, no diversity of age. Just the same faces you saw every day in the dorms, with a few off-campus adults thrown in to run things. I just couldn't get into the swing of things.

On Religion While at BYU

Just a quick reflection on my involvement with religion while attending BYU... for most young men and women, to suddenly find themselves on their own, away from home, and in control of their own schedule -- its a huge change. And then to try and make those young students get up for church at 8am on Sunday? Give me a break. I rarely, if ever, made it to church on Sunday. And then there was just something uncomfortable about having Sacrament Meeting in the same room as your science class. This new-found freedom, compounded by the fact that I was 15 when I entered BYU, kept me from taking things too seriously during my first year.

And my second year. And my third year. Which is not to say I had lost my faith. Quite the contrary -- I actually had some very spiritual experiences while at school, some of which I hold very private and would rather not share here. And I also had some great leadership (my freshman year Bishop, for example, who managed the Cannon Center) and friends who tried to encourage me to attend.

Sometime during my sophmore year, living at Rain Tree apartments (stories about which will be added later) I was having a deep, philosophical conversation with Preston about family and religion, and he asked me what I would do if my family ever left the Church. I told him it was a ridiculous idea -- but he said, what if? I told him that I that I guessed it would shake my faith, to see my family walk away from their religion, and I would probably leave all religion behind me.

What is interesting is that when my family did leave the church (in a big way, let me tell you), there never for one second was a doubt in my mind what I believed, and my faith did not budge an inch.

I did a lot of silly, and sometimes destructive, things while attending BYU -- most of which were captured on film, and its amazing that I never landed in the standards office like many of my compatriots. But I really see now how many of those experiences strengthened me, and prepared me for marriage, church service, and life in general. Currently serving as an Elder's Quorum President in my Ward, I have a lot more compassion for people who make mistakes thanks to my own experiences, and I know what it is like to struggle both financially, and to cope when it seems that everyone around you have beliefs in opposition to your own. I am nowhere close to perfect, but I have a greater appreciation for the diversity of personalities in my ward, and empathy for their situations.

Anyway, enough of my soap box. I guess my point is that sometimes when you are unsure you have any faith in your beliefs, you have to rely on hope -- and remember back and rely on those times when your faith was strong. Oh, and my other point is that screwed up people can sometimes turn out ok.