25February2001 #0109.html

Expedient

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Dear Paul and Kate, Melanie and Jared, Bridget and Justin, Sara, Ben and Sarah, Heather, Audrey, Rachel, and Matt via hardcopy,

cc: file, Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail, Sara and Des Penny, Claude and Katherine Warner, Lloyd and Luana Warner, Diane Cluff, Maxine Shirts via mail.

Welcome to "Thoughtlets." This is a weekly review of an idea, belief, thought, or words that will hopefully be of some benefit to you, my children, with an electronic copy to on-line extended family members. Any of you can ask me not to clutter your mail box at any time.

"This morning was Stake Priesthood Meeting, and then we had Ward Conference. Stake Priesthood Meeting happens once a quarter, and is an opportunity for the Stake Presidency to give guidance to the priesthood holders. Ward Conference occurs annually, and is an opportunity for the Stake Leaders to attend Ward Meetings and see how the Ward is doing, give instruction, and identify areas where they can help their Ward counterparts. I don't seem to be all here this week, and I think it was in the early morning meeting that President Jones quoted from D&C 88 and got me thinking about what is expedient:

`64-65 Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name it shall be given unto you, that is expedient for you; And if ye ask anything that is not expedient for you, it shall turn unto your condemnation. 76-77 Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand; Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgements which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms-'

I ask for much that is not expedient. It strikes me how these prayers have turned to my condemnation. I regularly pray for those I love, and as a specific example that hurts deeply, when I go down to talk to adminstrators at Briarwood, at their request, I find out the annual school play will probably be canceled because Rob left Briarwood. Also, he had committed to do a service project as part of his graduation requirements, and he just didn't bother to show up. The impression is he is punishing Briarwood because they are somehow responsible for his not passing the drug test. Yet, at the same time, it is obvious to me that I have seen how the requests from my most private moments have been answered in a most public way, and completely outside of anything I was thinking was a reasonable request. Again, a specific example is I asked for someone to hold my hand, to let me open the door for her, and to be my helpmeet and companion, and Andrea dropped out of heaven and into my life.

It is hard, from the limited future perspective viewable from our knees, to know what is expedient. So how do we know what to ask for? Hopefully we get better as we get older, becoming better and more perfectly instructed in theory, in principle, in doctrine, and in that which is expedient to bring us joy and happiness. Family has not always brought me joy and happiness, and so I have buried myself in professional and church work, and have seen some of my efforts turn to my condemnation. After a week like this last week, it is easy to sit back and wonder if I am any closer to having my priorities right than when I wrote the words to this song:

`Why I Try' written 07 August 1980 and finished 12 December 1980 `1. I think of all the things I'm missing Things to do that I just keep on listing Projects only time knows how to buy To write a book or paint a picture And take the time to stop trying to be richer Seems to me that all I do is try C. Trying hard is not so bad If I take the time to enjoy what I've had And if I find friends along the way To build me up with good things to say Then it seems like there's nothing in this world I can not do 2. I think of all the things I'm doing Dousing fires and jaw chewing Things that to eternity won't fly But there's times when a child stumbles And I can help and I feel so humbled And I know that this is why I try 3. I think of all the things I've got A lovely wife and (ten) beautiful tots Family life that brings a loving sigh A nice house that we can call home With lovely things in every room Way too much for how little I try 4. I think of all of God's other children And the things needed to bring them to him Then I set my goals way up high I never seem to meet the plans And success still returns seven fold to my hands The more my debt, the more I want to try.'

I spent most of the week putting together material to encourage Joe Watson (0108.html) to invest in Dynamic Resources (see http://www.walden3d.com/dynamic/AMI013). I went to the GSH luncheon talk on Exxon's recent work in Sequence Stratigraphy and to a talk on large scale visualization of extremely large scientific simulations at Los Alamos, which was given at Rice University, on Tuesday. There were conversations with Swede Nelson and Ed Story about possible investment (www.walden3d.com/dynamic/news/200102.html), a High Adventure Planning Meeting for the Venturing Scouts, and the 2nd Dynamic Technology Meeting with talks by Dave Agarwal, Roger Anderson, Neal Brossard, Dick Coons, Sam LeRoy, Swede Nelson, Christian Singfield, Riley Skeen, and myself. Other attendees were Les Denham, Bob Horner, Heloise Lynn, Andrea, and Rocky Roden. I didn't have the words to describe the week and the meeting as Riley drove me back out to Katy from downtown on Friday night after the meeting. Maybe this is why I picked up on the word expedient as it was read from the scriptures this morning.

Riley and I spent Friday evening talking through what needs to happen to make Dynamic into a viable business. I called Harold Burnham and told him I needed some help, and he came over and helped us brainstorm. We came up with a list of needs, which can hopefully drive funding and implementation of the ideas we have been talking about at Dynamic:

  1. California energy needs (if California has blackouts, they will propagate through all of the western states);
  2. New chairman for FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commision) was Bush's guy in Texas and he will help find funding for any new energy solutions;
  3. Pipeline capacity (Williams Company is aggressively working to fill up it's pipelines);
  4. Gas for electricity plants (particularly a need in the west); and
  5. Gas for stroage facilities (Dave Donihue of IHRDC runs a large gas Repository outside of New York City and Boston).

We even came up with a plan for Dynamic, which appears expedient:

  1. Define energy needs better and talk to those "on-the-line";
  2. Share the Dynamic data mining plan to find bypassed hydrocarbons;
  3. Based on a solution to their need they will find required investment;
  4. Establish project management;
  5. Use technologies to locate bypassed hydrocarbons;
  6. Partner with operators to produce hydrocarbons to meet need; and
  7. Turn Dynamic Resources Corporation into a significant oil & gas company.

Saturday morning started with Choir Practice (we were practicing to sing at Ward Conference). Then I caught up the news. Matt and I finally found Emily Moore and brought her home from ballet dance lesson for her parents. Colleen (and Andrea) were at the Stake Relief Society annual meeting). Matt cut the tops off of the Crepe Myrtle trees by the basketball hoop, and I cut the ones in front of the house. I spent the rest of the evening preparing my talk for the Corpus Christi SIPES meeting this next Tuesday (0110.html) while Andrea and I watched a couple of movies. Maybe I am tired from the work outside, and maybe it is just one of those days to feel lethargic. After church Matt and I finished up our Home Teaching, there were 4 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies delivered, and I found it hard to get motivated to write the Thoughtlet this week. I havn't taken time to read the e-mail's Andrea sent Roice and Ben, I havn't responded to e-mails from several of you, I'm tired, and I hope you will each do better than I have about identifying what is and what is not expedient. Have a great week!"

I'm interested in sharing weekly a "thoughtlet" (little statements of big thoughts which mean a lot to me) with you because I know how important the written word can be. I am concerned about how easy it is to drift and forget our roots and our potential among all of distractions of daily life. To download any of these thoughtlets go to http://www.walden3d.com/thoughtlets or e-mail me at rnelson@walden3d.com.

With all my love,
Dad
(H. Roice Nelson, Jr.)

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Copyright © 2001 H. Roice Nelson, Jr.