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Showing posts from December, 2011

I confess I am an imposter!

             I have to come clean. I have to expose a secret side to my life. For the past ten years I have been hiding behind a mask, well actually a beard. I am now ready to confess, my name is Andrew Mair and I play Santa Claus.   It all started innocently enough. My younger brother had taken up the habit several years before me. And I told myself that that was not for me. I would never do that. But then I bought a Santa hat, it made me look jolly and "Christmassy".     Then I would throw in a "ho ho ho" from time to time just to try it out.   Even still I never thought I would become one of “those” people.   And then one day while walking through the Brigham City Deseret Industries thrift store I saw it, A Santa Suit.   I wasn’t sure if it was had all of its pieces, or if it was still intact and functional.   It had everything, a beard, a full suit, a belt, boot coverings, a hat and a wig.   If I bought the suit, what would I do with it?   Would I be one of

I Can Still Hear the Bells

I have had several requests to repost this entry I wrote last Christmas Eve, 12/24/2010,  It actually is the first blog entry I made.  However, since I had the opportunity to revist it I have spent time to edit it.  Well I edited it with the help of my good friend Julie Boam anyway.  I rarely look back on old posts but this one seems to still be very appropriate: I Can Still Hear the Bells By Andrew Mair on 12/24/2010 When I was a young paper boy in my neighborhood in South Ogden, Utah, I would often stop delivering papers to hear the strains of church hymns played through the air by the local Catholic Church and their beautiful bells.   The Holy family Catholic Church is located at 1100 East 5550 South Ogden, very close to my home. Weekdays I delivered in the afternoon , but on the weekends I delivered in the early morning hours.   This is when I was pleased to be able to hear the sounds of hymns I was both familiar with and some that were not known to me.   But at Christmas ti

Band of Elders!

Today I found myself in the company of several of my friends I haven’t seen in a while.   I first met these men while serving in the Australia Perth Mission.   We have come together from time to time over the last 15 years, our little reunion.   There are others we would like like to attend, but due to proximate and losing touch, our core group has been only 4 of us most of the time.   I am always touched by the love for each other that remains intact all these years later.   When we first began to meet we spent a lot of time discussing the past and the future, memories from the mission, and plans for what is ahead.     And now we spend the majority of time on the present.     I sat there between comments we were making dumbfounded that I could feel so much Love and concern for these men so many years later.   I never was in a companionship with any of them, yet all of them served near me.   And I began to realize, that you could probably add or take away anyone I knew from the mis

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress. When through the deep waters I call thee to go, The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow; For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless, And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress. I find it interesting the author uses the word “Sanctify” in the final line of this verse.  The word Sanctify, could be replaced with “set apart” however, it has more of a meaning than to only set apart, but to set apart for a holy purpose .  Sanctification is a process we go through to become more like Christ.  Dalin H. Oaks has taught: “… This process requires far more than acquiring knowledge. It is not even enough for us to be convinced of the gospel; we must act and think so that we are converted by it. In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something.” The author of this hymn suggests that it is through our deepest distresses that we become more like