Redemption

Brandon Flowers (lead singer of 'The Killers") is a Mormon and he has a video on mormon.org.  You can watch it here.

I found this to be very interesting, so I of course Wiki'ed him.  Even as a Mormon, I find it fascinating that a rock star is a Mormon.  And I always love it when people who are famous are Mormon.  It makes us seem more normal.  Which is good, because I really don't think we are that weird.  But this story reminded me of a theme in life that I absolutely love - redemption.  Stories of people overcoming are just the best.

The twenty minutes I spent reading up on Brandon Flowers on the internet made it clear that he has had his share of struggles living exactly what he believes all the time.  But "there is still a fire burning" for him in regards to Mormonism. And the fact that he acknowledges both his mistakes and his testimony is the winning combination that will lead to repentance and more happiness as his actions better align with what he really wants in life.

I love this. I love that we all have the ability to choose and to change. I love that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a church for sinners.  I think that when we are truly trying our best, we are in a state of triumph.

Clearly, Mormons aren't the only ones who triumph over their problems.  Which brings me to one of my all time favorite movies, "Walk the Line" which is about Johnny Cash. I have also read about him on Wikipedia.  And it is true that Johnny Cash was definitely not a perfect person.  In fact he did some pretty terrible things.  But he decided to change, and he never stopped fighting to become better.  I am sure it was really wearying for him that he had to keep checking himself into rehab for his addiction to amphetamines, but the point is that he kept doing it over and over. 

There is a guy in our ward that just got re-baptized into the church, and I loved hearing his story as well.  It was painful to hear about because he clearly had to go through a lot of pain to admit his mistakes and change who he was, but the result made me so excited for him! His future is so bright.

I just think that there is really nothing more noble than changing yourself for the better.  And I think that there is nothing to be more grateful for than our Savior and Redeemer who gives us enabling power to do what we wouldn't be able to on our own, after we have done all that we can do. I hope that I can be the type of person who never gives up on making changes for the better.