A man is literally what he thinks.

-James Allen

I have thought about this quote for years and years, as someone who has quite literally been through the fires of Hell, I know a thing or two of James Allen's philosophy. I have found, if we think of filth, it is much easier for us to be attracted to squalor. It's easier for corrupt thoughts to creep into our minds. and more importantly, it's harder for us to try and get them to relinquish it's hold on our minds.

I know of this malady well. as someone who has participated in things that surely I wish I hadn't, I know that things that we take part in surely become embedded in us are most certainly hard to get rid of.

Also, I have had the pleasure and blessing to find that when we do what is right, when I do what I should be doing, it is much easier to turn bad thoughts away. it becomes habit, when a deleterious thought comes to mind, to turn it away, to say a quick prayer to my God, to ask for help through this trying time, and to eventually, be relieved from such uncleanliness.

"A man is literally what he thinks." when we think of estimable things, we are good, we are closer to our heavenly father, we have a desire to do better, to become closer and closer to our Deity. an excitement comes into my life, an excitement to see the next blessing that will come.

On the other hand, when we do bad. we attract the iniquitous things in life. and we slowly spin farther and farther away from the lucency of our lives. we become closer and closer to our brother Satan. often we think of Satan as an unfeeling, evil, hating individual. But I truly believe, he wants to be close to us, he wants to spend time with us. he knows when we are close, we become more vulnerable to his enticings. Satan knows our weaknesses. he knows what he must do to get us to start our spiral into hell.

We are that which we think. let us think of good. let us become the best we can be. and we will all be happier, stronger, and a more prosperous people. this I can promise, for I have seen it in my life. we can be better! lets try!

my mind

"O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries? Yea, O Lord, how long shall they suffer these wrongs and unlawful oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened toward them, and thy bowels be moved with compassion toward them?"

my friends, brothers and sisters, this subject has been on my mind for quite some time now, and so I decided I needed to share my feelings, and beliefs.

how often do we feel as if God's place, (heaven) is being covered from us? (personally or in other respects, for all intensive purposes, I want to address this on a worldly scale) It is my personal belief that God's Hiding place (hereafter to be referred to as heaven) is not covered from our world leaders. but perhaps those leaders are covering themselves from the influence of the Almighty.

Now, it is not my place to make judgments toward anyone, especially our country's leaders. but as we are about to find ourselves with a new Commander-in-chief I feel it is my place, or all of our places, to step forward, and vote for him who is most qualified to receive inspiration from our Heavenly Father. now, I will not go into politics for all of you know my feelings on both candidates. but, I would stress, we need to look to him who best fits that mold of the Presidents of old. those who actually, 1. listened to the people, 2. listened to their (worthy) advisers, and most importantly 3. listened to the Lord as best they could.

now, on to the 2nd part of my bluster. and the 2nd part of that wonderful scripture.
"O Lord, how long shall they suffer these wrongs and unlawful oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened toward them, and thy bowels be moved with compassion toward them?"

I feel as if we are all being oppressed, not necessarily in the ways we normally think of, or even in the ways that the prophet was speaking of. but by the Advisary, Satan knows his time is short, he knows he only has a short amount of time before the second coming of our Lord. He is fighting like never before, "he is taking the strongest, most courageous souls from the ranks of heaven" he knows exactly what can make each and every one of us fall into sin, but we are strong! "there will be a day when the hearts of men will fail, but today is not that day, today, we fight!" we must fight! there is no other way. in the end. the outcome is clear, and pre-destined, the forces of righteousness will prevail. but we must decide today which side we will be standing on when the Lord comes again.

my dear brothers and sisters, the end is near, I feel we will see the 2nd coming in our life time, we cannot wait any longer to do what is right! we can not procrastinate our salvation any longer. my brothers and sisters, take the hand of the Lord. we are in the middle of the raging sea, and only him, ONLY THE LORD can save us. he is the only one who can reach out, and take hold of us, and pull us to the surface. I pray I can take the hand of the Lord. I pray I can withstand the raging sea around me, long enough to see my savior once again, in flesh, and be able to say, in the last day, that I was faithful, that I did all I could do. that I did not just my best, but my VERY best.

My friends, we are in the final days, there is no doubt about it, all is falling into place, prophecy being fulfilled, the time is gone when we could stand, and bathe in Hell's cesspools with the supposition that we can repent later, and all will be forgiven. the time is now to repent, and come unto Christ. I pray I can do what is right, I pray I can do all the Lord asks of me, and I pray I can be a light on a hill, and shine to the world. this I pray, with my humble plea, come unto Jesus my brothers and sisters.

OOH GOODNESS!!!

ok!
so today has been a really long day, not simply for the fact that I had to be in Lehi all day, but! because........ (**flash back**)

so there we are, Alan (a co-worker) and I JUST getting on the South bound I-15 (the 31st street on ramp) and as I'm paying attention to other more important things (my doughnut) I hear Alan say "WOAH! what's that!!!?" and so I look up, and see a car, buried in the middle divider. (it didn't seem to hurt the divider at all...) and smoke coming from the engine, so Alan pulls over and hits the breaks. we both get out, and I call 911, the guy gets out of his car, and kinda sways on the spot, and without looking, starts to bolt across the freeway. at this point, Alan and I are FREAKING OUT! so once he makes it across the freeway, Alan looks at him, and asks him if he's alright. he kind of looks dazed at Alan and says "I'm really cold" so Alan assumes he's in shock, so he walks him over to the Van, (still running) and sits him down in the passenger seat facing out, and as Alan goes back to look at the car from the freeway and as I'm busy talking to the 911 dispatcher, I look over, and there goes the van, Passenger side door WIDE open, and he's driving down the 15. so needless to say we were upset, but luckily, I'm on the phone with 911! so I tell her that the van was stolen, and I swear within 2 min. there's a UHP car going at least 90 MPH southbound. that was a good feeling, to see that our tax dollars DO do something!!!

so we talk to the UHP for about an hour. and then they leave us, we cant get a hold of my boss, so we start walking... about 4 miles back to the bakery... and then finally when we get there, my boss gets back, and looks at us like "WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?!" so we recount the tale, and at first he's upset... but then calms down, realizes we were just trying to help a guy...

so then about an hour later (around 11:30 id say) we get a call that they found the van! in Riverdale!!! so we go to pick it up, and they have to dust for fingerprints, and they bring a K-9 unit in... it was great! so we get the van back, and head down to Lehi, do our work, and then head home.

so we get back to the bakery, and a police officer shows up, and asks us to give a positive ID on the guy, (they had a pic) so we did... it was him, and he Tell's us, it's a good thing you weren't in his way, because he's been known to shoot people, and have weapons on him. he's also a drug dealer, and a maverick at stealing cars, plus, he's been into counterfeit money. the officer said the guy shoots people like we put on socks.....

so yea, I'm grateful that the guy just stole the van, we got it back (although I was really afraid to finish our doughnuts) and no one got hurt.
I have really gained a testimony today that the Lord watches out for us, he knows whats best for us, even having a company van stolen, it was much better than having my live taken away for trying to stop him.
GOD LIVES!

The Count of Monte Cristo changes lives

so, I just watched "the Count Of Monte Cristo" I can honestly say it's one of my most favorite movies of all time. not because of the action, romance, suspense, or any of the other theatrical elements it possesses.(although they do make it a darn good movie) it is one of my favorites because of the message, " God will give me justice"

that has been one thing in the forefront of my mind as of late. I want justice, I want what is promised. through God himself, I am promised certain blessings through my faithfulness. now, I do understand that there is improvement to be had on my part. but, never-the-less, I would Think that the Lord would bless me as I try to do good, to move me along the right path. I have not felt this for a very long time now, I know he blesses me, don't get me wrong, I KNOW he blesses me. it just seems as though I'm not being showered with blessings as I once was. I feel I need these blessings, some more than others, and if I were to have these blessings, I could do more good, and be a better person. but again, I feel I'm being denied.

then I watch this movie, one of the greatest movies of all time (in my opinion) and see this message, carved in stone (quite literally) "GOD WILL GIVE ME JUSTICE" and I feel the spirit within me saying, "wait" "God will bring you justice"

now, I know most all of you wont understand what I'm saying, because most all of you dont know my situation, but just know. I'm going through trials that bear the need of justice, maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, I will have justice.

now, for those of you that have seen this wonderful movie, you will know The Count Of Monte Cristo AKA Edmond Dantes is betrayed, handed to authorities for crimes he did not commit, and sentenced to a life time in the prison chateau d'If he spends a total of 16 years away from all whom he loved. he (though a fictional character) let his revenge consume him to the point of madness. he forgot God, and all alike. but after he finds his revenge, he accepts that "God will give justice" and believes one more, and promises his friend, and God, "all that was used for vengeance will be used for good" (not exact quote) this got me thinking. am I in the beginning stages of 'Count Of Monte Cristo' syndrome? am I enveloped with revenge, sins, or likewise? do I think I am doing what is right? or even needed? and in the end, will the Lord allow me to simply say, "all that was used in sin, will be used for good"?

I believe that I am an intelligent person, (contrary to popular belief) I know whats right and wrong, we all do, but from time to time, isn't it easy to get mixed up? like Vertigo? maybe we don't know which way is up and which way is down. but, as we all well know, the lord is always there to set us straight, he is there with his arms outstretched, waiting for you (me) to see the situation we are in, straighten ourselves up, and run to him. and as the well known hymn says, "put his arms unfailing round you"

now I know a blog isn't for preaching, or testifying, or anything of the like, but as I have stated before, it's my blog, and hopefully someone will read this and understand what I'm trying to say, and at that exact moment, the spirit will witness to them what I'm about to say is true.

my Brothers and Sisters, for you are my Brothers and Sisters, I know Jesus Christ lives, I know God is our true, living, and literal Father. I know he lives, I know he loves us, I know the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I would ask those of you who have a burden, to take it to the Lord our God, and lay it upon his shoulders, let him have it, for he can take all burden, he can heal any wound, and he can save any soul. my brothers and sisters, I love you all, I may not even know some of you, but I love you. You are a Son or Daughter of God, think about that, YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD! you have been sent here to fulfill a latter-day mission, you are here to show him you are worthy to become as he is. let us not disappoint. I look forward to the day when I can look into my saviors eyes, and look into his face, and see him smile, and say, my brother, you did it. you passed. enter. once again, I know God lives, I know he loves us, and I know Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed son of God. and this I testify with all the love in which I possess. and seal my testimony in his name, even the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

blogging once more...

so, as many of you may have noticed, I stopped Blogging for quite some time (close to a month, which translates to about 1,317 years in blogging time) but I'm back! I am one who must be in the mood to author words of sagaciousness (look it up) and wit. sure, I can crap out a blog in about 15 min. if I must, and I'm sure it wouldn't be terrible, but then again, who wants to read my crap... seriously?!

anyways! on to my subject for today,
as some of my Facebook friends will have noticed, I just returned from the land of milk and honey, that is to say, California. sure, one can argue theres close to 38 million living there, (compared to Utah with it's meager 2.645 million(which means LA alone has about 4.5 times the population as Utah)) or that the pollution is close to unbearable, or the fact that (as per most of the worlds understanding) California has "unsafe places" (Compton, Carson, east LA, West LA, South LA, North LA, LA, Hollywood, Inglewood, Oakland, Ontario, Oxnard, Long Beach, among others) but you know what, I honestly don't care. it's my home, I love that state, and theres no amount of coaxing that will detour me from that notion.

secondly!
I honestly don't understand why, ever time I am asked if I want to go fishing, I accept. I get perniciously ill every time I step foot on a boat smaller than a cruise liner. but still, the beef-witted person that I am, accepts. so this time I came prepared, I brought Dramamine! and of course it didn't work, all day I was chumming the fish, emptying my already uninhabited stomach. so, after a good 7-8 hours of vomiting, sleeping, waking, vomiting, and so on, I decided I wouldnt go fishing the next day. but to my surprise, I am awoken at 4:30 by my brother who says, if you dont want to go, talk to Dad, so I get dressed, and walk (groggily) to my dad's hotel room. (of course im playing it up just a bit, because obviously I don't want to do today) and he smiles and says, look what we got! and he points out, more (apparently more powerful) Dramamine, Ginger Gum, and wrist bands, which claim to undo sea sickness altogether, after seeing my fathers face, I decide to go, no matter how sick I might become.

so, there i was, getting on the boat at 6:00AM hoping and praying (as had become routine) that I wouldnt get sick, and I would have a good day, and as we set out, I feel alright, and after about an hour, I feel FINE! by thins time I should be thanking God that i'm not puking over the side of the boat, but seeing as how I dont often do as I should, I simply thank my heavenly Father for his blessing, and go get myself a GREASY, DELICIOUS breakfast sandwich. (eggs, bacon, toast, hashbrowns, cheese, and about a full gallon of bacon grease.) after this marvelious sandwich, I still feel fine! I fish for a few hours, and then comes the magic time of lunch, I still feel great, so there I go, get a double cheese burger, once again, saturated with wonderful artery floging... i mean clogging liquid gold, GREASE! and much to everyones suprise, im feeling great! so long story short... the Lord blesses you with the things you need, wow.. I should be the Gospel Doctrine teacher... ooh wait... lol

anyways! there you have it! a BLOG! feel free to comment!
yours always,
-Eric

love stinks... for me

dearest readers,
I come to you once more, but this time, not as a whimsical person full of hilatiousness. but as a man, broken hearted, and defeated. from time to time we all have our moments of pain and suffering, but my friends, I have had enough, enough of falling for one girl after another, hoping, and quite literally praying, that she will be the one, that at least we can become friends, and more. that she will give me the chance to show her that i can make her the happiest woman on the face of the earth. but, as is custom, this cant happen. because for some reason, the name Eric Chantry is cursed, for some reason, a woman CAN NOT fall in love with Eric Chantry, whether it's my personality, or some primal womanly instinct, I don't know. but what I do know is I'm tired of it! I want a relationship to work out for once! just once, once is all I need!

so this subject would lead me to my next point, and although many of you will think I'm falling into another depression cycle, I'm not, I'm just simply stating the facts.
my point being, what is it about me that all females detest?! I try my best to be the one they al dream about, I'm kind, I care, I listen, I'm a worthy priesthood holder, I love my family, so one would say, wow, Eric, your amazing! and many have! but WHAT THE CRAP IS GOING ON?! why can I go on dates with girls, and they like me, but ONCE I try to take it to the next step, it all falls apart? ok, I will admit more often than not, I do move fast, but thats not because I want to get my giggy on, I just want to get things going, I want her to know I'm interested. but for some reason EVERY girl on the planed that I've met thinks that that means I'm ready for marriage, and they say slow down, so I step back, because the last thing I want, potential girlfriend or not, is for her to be uncomfortable.

anyways, I know this was random. but ooh well, it's my blog!
hope all is well.
much love
-Eric

lawn mower from hell!

so, my father somewhat recently bought a lawnmower, it's a very nice John Deere 0 turn radius mower, and until yesterday I have never had the emmence privilege of operating it. and believe me, when I say emmence privilege, I mean it. this thing has more horse power than my CAR! it's incredibly fast! and it does something my car cant do. that is, make my parents lawns (all 5 of them GRRRRR) look quite nice. all my Lexus could do is make some considerable glassless tire marks in it.

now, I know this is a step away from my normal posts, but from time to time, I must indulge in my manly instincts and do a sweet donut in a lawn mower. if you would like to know more, or even operate this beast of a machine, please feel free to contact me, and I'm sure we can work something out.

yours truly,
-Eric

Eric 101 Chapter 2

so, as promised, I will now entertain you with a rant on the word "Nerd" what it means to me, how and how not it should be used... and any other tangents that may pop into my mind while writing this. :-)

so, up until the middle of my mission (which was served in the best of all missions, the Ohio, Columbus mission.) my entire life I thought it was a bad thing to be a geek, or nerd, or any other word meaning thus. until I really got to know my companion. Elder Andrew Jeppesen. (AKA Nancy, Fancy Nancy, and Elder Jepperson... thanks to the Birches children for that name) now here’s someone who honestly, in all sense of the word, would be considered a nerd... simply for the fact that he enjoys Star Trek, Lord Of The Rings, and other forms of geeky entertainment. BUT on the other hand, he's one of the "coolest" cats I have ever had the privilege of knowing. he's confidant in the fact that he's a nerd, he takes no shame in the fact that he DOES enjoy Star Trek.

up until that moment sitting in the rather spacious mission apartment in Centerville Ohio. I always somewhat kept my secrete "Treky" tendencies to myself. I didn't want to let people know! I mean lets look at the facts, the last person that told his friends he enjoyed Sci-Fi was slaughtered by a mob, with pitchforks, and torches... ahem... maybe not... but you get the point I'm trying to make, to like Sci-fi, Fantasy, or medieval folk art, it somewhat discouraged by society.

so I guess the real meaning to this post is, I honestly don't mind if I'm called a nerd. in fact, I call myself a nerd quite often. so world, know, ERIC CHANTRY likes SCI-FI, he enjoys The Lord Of The Rings!, he LOVES MEDIEVAL FOLK ART! well maybe not that.. but I do like nerdy stuff! and I am not ashamed! so mock, pillage, burn my house to the ground, do what you must, I am a nerd through and through.

so Andrew, let us unite, cool nerds of the world meet here! we still love cars, and outdoor activities, and we even make fun of those that choose to spend ALL DAY indoors and play D&D. but we like to be different! commend us for that! commend us for being more than just a mold, commend us for being better than most! because we are! were diverse! and if nothing else, we'll be the rich ones when the wannabe athletes that couldn't hack college football are at home, making 10 bucks an hour working at the Billy bobs hair care and tire center. so ladies, feel free to talk to us, the successful ones. and maybe we'll have the time or inclination to take you out!

Eric 101 chapter 1

"*Blog*
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page; also called Weblog, Web log
Example: Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.
Etymology: shortened form of Weblog
Usage: blog, blogged, blogging verb, blogger noun"

So, seeing as how this IS a blog, I thought I should share my thoughts, feelings, desires, and pretty much a collection of other crap that no one really knows about, much less cares about.

my Name is Eric, I'm an interesting person, and not really so much in that cool, mysterious interesting kind of way. I'm more... shy, but very outgoing. I know these seem to contradict, but in life, many things do. I'm shy when it comes to the opposite sex, I cant ask a girl out face to face, and no matter how lame this may seem to most of you reading this, it's true. I have a truly hard time asking a girl out. don't ask why, it's simply how my brain works.

but now lets look at the outgoing side of me, when I DO ask a girl out, (most always through text's or im'ing or on VERY rare occasion, over the phone) we go out once or twice, and I become this love machine! I want to do EVERYTHING possible to make this person happy, I try my hardest, and more often than not, too hard. this is just as bad, if not worse than being shy, because now, the girl thinks I'm completely in love with her, and want to get married as soon as possible, now, while I would like to get married before I'm 25, this doesn't mean that just because I try my hardest to make her happy I want to be married to her, simply put rather, I want to date this girl, I want to get to know her, I want her to get to know me. I want her to be happy with our "relationship".

now most of you reading will know my philosophy on females, "they always say they want a "sensitive" man, and then they go run off with some kick boxer named Dolf!" *Special thanks to Tim Allen* and I have (with a small amount of exceptions) for the most part found this to be true, the nice guy, (me) who tries so hard to make someone happy, ends up with the broken heart. but the blond haired, block headed, jock, does nothing at all and he has women swooning over him. WHATS THE DEAL?
so, I say to all women out there, all those who hear... read this text (though I know that will probably be around 2) give the nice guy a real chance. I'm not suggesting you should date ME, I'm simply suggesting that perhaps just because a man isn't the muscle bound hebetudinous land mass (no quote intended from The Princess Bride) doesn't mean that he's not worth dating, or even considering talking to.

so, I believe this is enough for now, ill add more to the "Eric 101" saga later. join me next time for a delightful rant on the word "NERD"
until then my friends. good will and God bless

first blog... EVER

so, I know many people who blog, my Mother for one. I always found it to be... how shall I say, languid? not too say I had much against "blogging" I always just thought I would have to lead quite the life to be interesting enough for people to take time to read my post's.

but I have come to the conclusion that no matter if people read my writing, or comment, or even care what I have to say, it's best I do say it. so here I go. doing something I never thought I would do. BLOG!

I'll do my best at keeping this updated, with life, lies, and anything exciting or otherwise. because whats the point of exploiting myself if it's not even up to date!

well thats all for now. it's now 44 min. past my bed time. and thats not good!

I hope you all are doing as well as possible!