It is Finished.

When I took my exam for my counseling license, it turned out to be the hardest test I have ever taken,

even compared to Naval Nuclear Engineering - those tests could be upwards of four hours long, all math and physics, written or demonstrated.  A correct answer but your work does not add up to the answer you got?  Instant accusation of a lack of integrity: cheating.  A court martial or Captain's Mast was on the table, everything had to be perfect, all of the time, each time, every time, all the time, exactly the same.  

On this counseling test I got only partway through it and I knew I was failing.  

There was zero way I was passing this test.  

I looked at this and actually thought about it.  I went to stand up and hand in the test and call it quits to come back and study better and try another day because I had zero clue on what they were testing me on and none of it made any sense. Nothing here was anything I had studied.  

Flash back to the military police academy, the Master at Arms set a sailor up to fail again, another gunman popped up and I watched another police officer get shot.  Again.  

He dropped his gun as the assailant pumped a full magazine into his chest. 

Suddenly the Master at Arms started yelling at him about the "will to survive" and started screaming at him that he still had 21 rounds left, that until he was actually completely dead he was to keep fighting, buy the other sailors some time to get into position.  

He failed.  

The Master at Arms told him we were going to run the exercise again, and we were going to learn to never give up until we couldn't do anything else to keep going, even if it was using our body as a shield or to key a radio to buy time or pull a trigger and make noise as a decoy or to draw fire from others.  

"You're dead, set up another one." 

Again, and again, and again, we ran and ran until we learned not to quit and always keep going no matter what happened.  

On the practical side, I'm not that tall, I'm on the small side of the military's service-members and it seemed every Marine Infantryman had to test his Wheaties on one of the shortest sailors there was.  (I loved working with the Marines, they were America's Finest, though they are a really deadly bunch when drunk and feeling froggy, though you never took on just one sailor if you started anything, you'd have an entire bar or street jumping in with you so there was that as well). .

I never lost a fight.  Not once.  Never was touched.  I have been outnumbered and outgunned six to one and always walked away and turned the tables on every single fight I got into (I got smacked in the face once through a detention cell but that was a cheap shot and doesn't count).  It wasn't because I was good as much as I had learned not to be stupid or be overconfident and put myself in a bad position.  The job was dangerous.  I had seen nearly every sailor I worked with sent to the hospital for an injury at some point.

Being short(er) has its advantages.   I'm going to come up from underneath and you won't see it coming and you'll be off balance trying to get to my level and I've had to work hard my entire life to overcome everything anyways.  A lot of prayer helped, definitely.  

And now here I was having my rear end kicked by a test that was impossible I was passing.  

I have three children and I expect them to fight their way through things.  Now what was dad going to do?  Be beaten by a piece of paper?   I knew* I was failing, but I wasn't going to quit.  

A flash-back to a tire company working to pay for my mission, freshly out of the Navy with the tire guys yelling at me "C'mon Navy boy, let's see what you got!" and I was running out of sheer Navy Pride to not let those guys outrun me, even though I was dying. 

Back to the test.  

I decided to keep going and do my best and see what I could come up with.  I put my head down and tried even though none of this made sense. 

A few hours later I handed in my paper and waited for the notice: you failed. 

I stood there waiting for the inevitable.  

A moment later they told me, "Congratulations!  You passed!" 

"Wut....?" 

"You passed!" 

"No....way....there's zero way I passed that....." 

"Well, you did!" 

She looked excited for me.  I looked stunned and in disbelief.

I marveled and went outside, trying to ponder what had just happened.  What would have happened had I quit? 

I later received my scores.  I had apparently been given some new sample test that was being beta tested, and it had insane failure rate of ~80% failed that test.  

But by the time they did some complicated algorithms, I had actually managed to score in the top 1% of the United States nationally on my test.  

I pondered it all and its spiritual significance.  

Like our life, there's a time coming when we all have to turn in our papers, the test will be over, no more do-overs, no more erasures, no more explanations, just turn it in.  

But what happens when we quit testing early just because we think it's over?  

It's all a lie of the adversary, a deception to get us quit, telling us that we have failed or it's time to go or we can't make it.  The stakes of this game are real, high, and eternal and permanent.  You don't get another chance after this to do what you're doing now.  So, take a breather, get back in there, and keep going.  It's not over until it's over. 

And, most likely, you're doing better than you think.  I thought I failed and I was at the top of my curve and my game but never knew it.  Just keep going. 

The Savior did not quit, it was not until it was all over that he finally said "It is finished."  Those being crucified next to him, one told him to save himself and them, but the Savior remained.  He wished for his time to pass, but instead said "not my will, but thine be done."  We're here for a reason, now it's time to get into the fight and keep going until we're done and go do our best.  It's who we are and were born to be and were and are in all eternity.  We got a mission to finish and work to do, we are to keep going until we're done and not a moment before, keep fighting, keep trying, keep going, KEEP WINNING, even when we are "sure" we aren't. And if we aren't sure, or feel we're losing, it's time to hit our knees and go ask for help, and then get up and go again.  

It's time to go join our Savior.  Keep going until it - we - are finished with him.  Together.  

Getting Started in Your Own Small Business - Basic Steps

 Lessons I've learned from starting my own small business - THIS IS NOT an exhaustive, legally binding, all-encompassing post, these are just things that really jumped out to me that I wish I had known. My field is extremely specialized, and it's taken a ridiculous amount of time to do what I want.  But these are things that may not seem big but became big or I realized were bigger than I thought over time. 

1) Choose a unique business name - completely* unique - if you pick a name similar to everyone else, you may run afoul of trademark lawsuits.  If you use your name, or a mix of names, or made up names, depending on how big you get, you won't have to worry about a lot of things.  

2)  Check the US PTO website for other names in your industry to see if you're running into competition. 

3) Check your state's secretary of state business listings for other similar names so you aren't accidentally stepping on someone's toes. 

4) Once you get your business name chosen, you can register for a federal trademark - it will cost a few hundred, but will save you headaches in a world where "It's just business" as they try to run you out. 

5) Form an LLC or and S-Corp in the state your business is - can be free to a few hundred dollars, establishing where you are and what your business is - can be done on the secretary of state's webpage. 

6) Get an EIN - Employer Identity Number from the IRS.  

6) Get a bank account for your business - Chase Bank is really friendly to veterans, they waive all the fees for business for US Military Veterans.  Other banks may offer other perks. 

7) Get an electronic means of getting paid - I use Stripe Capital - for online sales. I used to use Paypal but the fees were adding up to be too much for the scale I began operating at.  You can look at having an electronic swiping machine, those may cost a subscription, other apps like Venmo and others may have restrictions or fees, it's nice to serve customers, but when you're running a business, at some point it's going to be a matter of time/energy and you'll want to focus on what you can do best, so you'll have choices to make and people will have to go with those. 

7) Design a logo - ChatGPT can help you design one but you better not steal anybody's work or look like anybody's work, make it completely unique and do some searching for it as well - register that as trademarked as well.  If it looks like anybody else's, you're going to be wrong. 

8)   Assuming you know what you're doing, get a banking software program for keeping your books - I like Quickbooks - use it to keep track of expenditures.  Learn how to account for your expenditures. 

9) Start saving immediately*** you'll need it.  Start setting money aside for taxes.  

10) Get insurance for your business - both professional, as well as physical, malpractice (if applicable) and what's the latest I heard?  Malicious advertising?  In case you get called into court on a trademark dispute. 

11) Avoid kicking the can down the road, if you have something that's a struggle, take the time to learn it the first time because it's easier to learn it once and never have to re-learn it and have the benefit of the knowledge, than to struggle with it repeatedly. 

12) Go to work, it's going to take more time, energy, effort than you ever imagined, but - freedom isn't just not having to worry about things, it's calling your own shots.  My business is a ton of work, but if I need extra cash I don't have to beg or hope my boss puts me in for more, I just work more and book more and bill more, and when I want down time, I schedule accordingly.  

13) LIVE - but always be preparing for the future, don't just live to work and work to live, start preparing from the beginning.   

14) Do what you love, and be good at it.  Always* be ethical, always* be honest, always* do what's right, because you'll get bit in the assets if you don't, it will snag you and catch up to you, and dedicate some time to helping people for free and donating to the community, never compromise your values, always do a gut-check.  

You Must Ask the Right Question...That Is the Right Question.

One of the marks of Jewish society and teaching was an ability to ask the right question, so that questions were as much a mark of enlightenment as they were a step and progress relating to spiritual growth. 

 However, we need to not make the mistake of you young rich man who asked what he must do to inherit eternal life, and then "how readest thou" was the response, which he answered that he read all the scriptures and knew and kept the commandments, and then was told "This do, and thou shalt live."  

Jesus Teaching as a Young Boy in the Temple

The Jews today still maintain this tradition of learning and questioning today. 

There isn't a soul alive who hasn't asked heaven a question if they've been alive long enough.  At some point we all have questions, and we will all say prayers.  But, as most of us have found the heavens may be quiet silent on about any topic we might ask - from "What is the meaning of life" to "Please help me pass this test."  It seems much of humanity stops at this point when no outpouring of wisdom is showered down with the resultant conclusion is that there is no God, or he doesn't answer questions. 

I have learned that heaven progresses on "Line upon line, precept on precept."  

Meaning, most of us aren't ready for what heaven has to show us, and the nature and laws of God regarding our progression and purpose are such that they can't show us, until we are ready. 

So what's the catch? 

As we learn in Doctrine and Covenants 9, when attempting to exercise the gift of seership, Oliver Cowdery was taught: 7 Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.

The Lord further instructed him: 8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right...

The Lord did not say he would not give him, but the works of God - His mysteries and truths - aren't just to be for the asking, they carry weight, responsibility, require insight and effort because as was noted in the Garden of Eden, such wisdom and knowledge had an eternal effect: 22 ¶ And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil (Genesis 3). 

The requirement is: You must ask the right question.  It does not good to ask questions about calculus when we haven't even understood algebra.  

Now, we need not lose hope when we do not feel we know the right answer, because we can also ask for that as well just as James 1:5 teaches us, that if you lack wisdom, ask of God.   

We can even ask what question to ask so that we might ask and enlightened, purposeful question.

 But we also have to learn to listen.  The Lord starts us off with a beginner concept of a type of 20 questions, where you ask a yes/no type question and the Lord will let you know if it is right.  

However, asking the question and getting an answer alone is not enough. 

We are required to live the knowledge gained: If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine (John 7:16).  

We cannot simply ask God a question and consume the answer upon our lusts, knowledge and wisdom are precious gifts from heaven, we have to demonstrate our gratitude for those things by living them when receiving them, and seeking to become like God - not using him to simply navigate our way through a bunch of problems we cause ourselves and others while regarding the Lord's truths for personal gain and convenience.  They are given to help us become like Them.  

So the key is not only asking the right question, but for the right purpose.   And when you have honed your spiritual abilities to where you can not only ask but also recognize, receive, and apply it, then, you can become as the young boy Jesus and progress back to Heavenly Father coming to know what they do.