How 'Bout a Donut?

I received a copy of this story at church a few weeks ago and I felt like I should share it with you.  Here's the story:

There was a boy by the name of Steve who was attending Seminary in Utah.  In Utah Seminary classes are held as release time during the school day.  Brother Christianson taught Seminary at a high school.  He had an open-door policy and would take in any student that had been thrown out of another class as long as they would abide by his rules.  Steve had been kicked out of his sixth period class and no other teacher wanted him, so he went to Brother Christianson's Seminary class.  

Steve was told that he could not be late, so he arrived just seconds before the bell rang and he would sit in the very back of the room.  He was also the first to leave after the class was over.

One day, Brother Chriastianson asked Steve to stay after class so he could talk with him.  After class, Brother Christianson pulled Steve aside and said, "You think you're pretty tough, don't you?"

Steve's answer was, "Yeah, I do."

Then Brother Chriastianson asked, "How many push-ups can you do?"

Steve said, "I do about 200 every night."

"200?  That's pretty good, Steve, "Brother Christianson said.  "Do you think you could do 300?"

Steve replied, "I don't know... I've never done 300 at a time."

"Do you think you could?" Again asked Brother Christianson.

"Well, I can try." said Steve.

"Can you do 300 in sets of 10?  I need you to do 300 in sets of ten for this to work.  Can you do it?  I need you to tell me you can do it."  Brother Christianson said.  Steve said, "Well.... I think I can... Yeah, I can do it."

Brother Christianson said, "Good!  I need you to do this on Friday."

Friday came and Steve got to class early and sat in the front of the room.  When class started, Brother Christianson pulled out a big box of donuts.  Now these weren't the normal kinds of donuts, they were the extra fancy BIG kind, with cream centers and frosting swirls.  Everyone was pretty excited- it was Friday, the last class of the day, and they were going to get an early start on the weekend.

Brother Christianson went to the first girl in the first row and asked, "Cynthia, do you wan a donut?"


Cynthia said, "Yes!"

Brother Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so the Cynthia can have a donut?"

Steve said, "Sure," and jumped down from his desk to do a quick ten.  Then Steve again sat in his desk.  Brother Christianson put a donut on Cynthia's desk.

Brother Christianson then went to Joe, the next person, and asked, "Joe do you want a donut?"

Joe said, "Yes."  Brother Christianson asked, "Steve would you do ten push-ups so Joe can have a donut?"  Steve did ten push-ups, Joe got a donut.

And so it went, down the first aisle, Steve did ten push-ups for every person before they got their donut.  And down the second aisle, until Brother Christianson came to Scott.

Scott was captain of the football team and center of the basketball team.  He was very popular.  Then Brother Christiansn asked, "Scott do you want a donut?"

Scott's reply was, "Can I do my own push-ups?"

Brother Christianson said, "No, Steve has to do them."

Then Scott said, "Well, I don't want one then."

Brother Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so Scott can have a donut he doesn't want?"

Steve started to do ten push-ups.  Scott said, "HEY!  I said I didn't want one!"
Brother Christianson said, "Look, this is my classroom, my class, my desks, and my donuts.  Just leave it on the desk if you don't want it."  And he put a donut on Scott's desk.

Now by this time, Steve had begun to slow down a little bit.  He just stayed on the floor between sets because it took too much effort to be getting up and down.  You could start to see a little perspiration coming out around his brow.  Brother Christianson started down the third row.  Now the students were beginning to get a little angry.

Brother Christianson asked Jenny, "Jenny, do you want a donut?"

Jenny said, "No."

Then Brother Christianson asked Steve, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so Jenny can have a donut that she doesn't want?"  Steve did ten, Jenny got a donut.

By now the students were beginning to say "No" and there were all these uneaten donuts on the desks.  Steve was also having to really put forth a lot of effort to get these push-ups done for each donut.  There began to be a small pool of sweat on the floor beneath his face, his arms and brow were beginning to get red because of the physical effort involved.

Brother Christianson asked Robert to watch Steve to make sure he did ten push-ups in a set because he couldn't bear to watch all of Steve's work for all of those uneaten donuts.  So, Robert began to watch Steve closely.  Brother Christianson started down the fourth row.

During his class, however, some students had wandered in and sat along the hearters along the sides of the room.  When Brother Christianson realized this, he did a quick count and saw 34 students in the room.  He started to worry if Stever would be able to make it.

Brother Christianson went on to the next person and the next and the next.  Near the end of that row, Steve was really having a rough time.  He was taking a lot more time to complete each set.

Steve asked Brother Christianson, "Do I have to make my nose touch on each one?"

Brother Christianson thought for a moment, "Well, they're your push-ups.  You can do them any way that you want." And Brother Christianson went on.

A few moments later, Jason came to the room and was about to come in when all the students yelled, "NO!  Don't come in!  Stay out!"

Jason didn't know what was going on.  Steve picked up his head and said, "No, let him come."

Brother Christianson said, "You realize that if Jason come in you will have to do ten push-ups for him."

Steve said, "Yes, let him come in."

Brother Christianson said, "Okay, I'll let you get Jason's out of the way right now.  Jason, do you want a donut?"

 "Yes."

"Steve, will you do ten push-ups so that Jason can have a donut?"  Steve did ten push-ups very slowly and with great effort.  Jason, bewildered, was handed a donut and sat down.

Brother Christianson finished the fourth row, then started on those seated on the heaters.  Steve's arms were now shaking with each push-up in a struggle to lift himself against the force of gravity.  Sweat was dripping off of his face and, by this time, there was not a dry eye in the room.

The very last two girls in the room were cheerleaders and very popular.  Brother Christianson went to Linda, the second to last, and asked, "Linda, do you want a donut?"

Linda said very sadly, "No, thank you."

Brother Christianson asked Steve, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Linda can have a donut she doesn't want?"

Grunting from the effort, Steve did ten very slow push-ups for Linda.  Then Brother Christianson turned to the last girl, Susan.  "Susan, do you want a donut?"

Susan, with tears flowing down her face, asked, "Brother Christianson, can I help him?"

Brother Christianson with tears of his own, said, "No, he has to do it alone.  Steve, would you do ten push-ups so Susan can have a donut?"

As Steve very slowly finished his last push-up, with the understanding that he had accomplished all that was required of him, having done 350 push-ups, his arms buckled beneath him and he fell to the floor.

Brother Christianson turned to the room and said, "And so it was, that our Savior, Jesus Christ, plead to the Father, 'Into thy hands I commend my spirit.' With the understanding that He had done everything taht was required of Him, he collapsed on the cross and died.  And like some of those in this room, many of us leave the gift on the desk, uneaten."

When everyone in the classroom heard what the teacher meant by it and realized everything, Steve smiled on the ground where he laid in his own sweat and began to cry.

Ice Cream Sandwich Uno

Monday is our preparation day, meaning that we can take care of everything that needs to be done for the week.  We get to grocery shop, do laundry, clean our apartments, wash our car, along with many other things.  My companion and I were writing letters outside in the sunshiney weather when the Elders in our district called to see if we wanted to play a game.  The game was called Ice Cream Sandwich Uno.  They explained over the phone that the way you played was whoever lost the round had to eat an ice cream sandwich.  I thought, how bad can this be?  Eating ice cream because I lost a game?  Well when we went to start playing the game and the specifics of the rules were told the game was much different than I had previously understood.  You not only had to eat an ice cream sandwich when you lost, you had to eat it before the next hand was dealt or you had to eat another one.  So we embarked on the epic game that taught me a valuable lesson.  We started and at first I didn't lose, so it was funny to watch the Elders try and shove the ice cream sandwiches in their face and get done before the cards for the next round were dealt.  Then the game took a tragic turn of events.  I lost a round and had to try to shove an ice cream sandwich in my mouth.  It was a lot harder than I had anticipated.  Thankfully the Elders took pity on me and said since I had the entire sandwich shoved (literally) in my mouth by the time the cards were done being dealt that I didn't have to eat another one.  Then it happened again.  I couldn't believe that I lost again!  I frantically grabbed the ice cream sandwich and ripped the wrapper off and began putting as much of the sandwich in my mouth as I could at one time, but the problem is that when I got my mouth full I could hardly even chew or swallow there was so much ice cream in my mouth. 

Then the game went from bad to worse when for the third time I had to eat an ice cream sandwich as fast as I could.  I begged not to have to eat the sandwich, but no one would take pity on me.  My companion even said to me, "Find someone to pay the price of justice for you, or you have to eat it yourself!"  So since no one volunteered to pay the price of my cards I had left I was forced to once again shove a big ice cream sandwich in my face.  You may be wondering why this story is applicable to a gospel setting.  Well I'm going to tell you.  Sometimes life is hard and we end up losing that "round of uno" and we have to shove an ice cream sandwich in our face.  Repentance is a gift that we each may have.  Just as my companion said to me that I needed to find someone to "pay the price of justice" we each have someone that has already paid the price of justice for each of our sins, or our "lost rounds of uno". 

The catch is that we have to ask him to help us.  He is always willing, but he can't "eat our sandwiches" or take care of our sins for us unless we allow him to.  Our Savior, Jesus Christ, loves you more than you know.  He wants you to be able to return to live with him and our Heavenly Father, so for that reason (his immense amount of love) he has taken care of justice for us.  Our Heavenly Father has to be just, but because of the sacrifice of our Savior we are allowed mercy now.  We have this gift, but we must accept this gift!  Accept the Savior and his atonement in your life today!

Spilt Water

I had an experience the other week at church that has really had me thinking the last little while.  We were at church in Ronan, MT and it was time for the sacrament to be passed.  The bread came and the water came, but something happened when the water came... I picked up the cup and then immediately dropped it.  Water of course went spilling all over me.  I felt foolish at first and thought that only a two year old would do something like that, but as I've thought about this embarrassing experience it has had much greater meaning than simply doing something and feeling dumb.  What does the water represent?  It represents our Savior's blood he freely spilt for us.  Exactly the point that has hit me:  He gave his blood for me and I can either use the Atonement and make his suffering worth it, or I can ignore his gift to me and simply spill the water cup.  I know that what I did was an innocent mistake and I thankfully took another water glass, and was able to partake of the sacrament.  I know that our Savior was willing and ready to perform the act of the Atonement for each one of us.  He loves us that much!  He wanted to make it possible for each of us to return to live with our Heavenly Father.  None of us has ever done anything too bad to use the Atonement and be forgiven of our mistakes!  Through the Atonement we can be completely forgiven of our sins and be pure and clean!  It is never too late!  Our Savior is there waiting for us with open arms, he is waiting to welcome us back to the fold!  The choice is ours-  We can spill the water cup or we can partake and be cleansed!  I, for one, would much rather partake of the Atonement and allow him to cleanse me.