The Plan of Salvation [Admin]

For most of January, I've been talking about the Plan of Salvation [Or plan of Happiness].
To seal what I've posted, I've had a special experience that proved to me that God does love us, and how much a reality His plan is.
This post may not matter to many people, but it matters to me, and I pray that God's spirit will accompany it as well.

Corey
In the summer of 2010, me and a group of my church friends started a backpacking trip going through Zion National Park. Among them was a Eagle scout, a good friend of mine Named Corey Buxton.
Prior to coming on this trip, due to his size he trained himself for weeks for endurance. Aside from physical training, like any good Eagle Scout he had everything he needed to survive should we/he get lost somehow.
After a long day of walking through the rough sand in the blazing heat, we set up camp and slept on any flat rock that could serve as our beds.
Early next morning, we tracked up and down hills, enjoying the beautiful lands that both God and man preserved.
Our march, however, was relentless as we staggered hard to complete a 50 [?] mile stretch through mountains, streams and canyons in the space of five days. Our resting periods, no matter how long, never seemed long enough.
Me and others stayed behind with Corey [he was the only one really lagging behind] to make sure he could keep moving on. He complained several times of his pain, but urged us to keep moving on without him.
At one point, Corey fell from our radar.
We were forced to get out to the closest road while several of our leaders [though fatigued] march back through the steep hills and sharp grass blades to go look for him.
Soon, the park rangers were involved, and our group was forced to spend a long night in the park.
However, I knew he would come out, and the spirit made sure I knew.
The next morning, we spend half the day in the park's camping grounds, telling jokes, playing short games and waiting for further news on Corey.
I remember seeing the devastated look on a friend's face [one of our leaders] who came to us later that afternoon to give us the terrible news.
The search party found Corey's body at the bottom of a canyon.
I remember our leader, my Dad, and my eldest brother expressing their sorrow and their personal testimonies of God's love.
I too was sorrowful, but I was strangely at ease. I understood God's love; Corey DID come out, and it was a blessing to have his body secured and taken back home.
Even more, I feared more about what this meant for his parents. BUT THEY UNDERSTOOD GOD'S LOVE TOO.
They were grieving, but THEY KNEW that their son was not forever gone. They knew that they would one day see him, just as we all can.
What I've said is not just a waste of words. It is a REALITY of a grand scheme of a Grand God who reveres us as his own children.
To finally close this long string of post in Deus Ex Gospel, I've asked Corey's parents share their own witness of knowing this truth:
“One of Corey's favorite scriptures is Helaman 5:12 which says, "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it's upon the rock of our Redeemer who is Christ, the son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds; yea his shafts in the whirlwind, yea when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf do misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation where on if men build they cannot fall."

We have built our faith and foundation on the Savior. He is our rock and Redeemer. We know where we came from and that we are here to gain a body and be tested. With the knowledge that Christ suffered and died for us and that we can all be resurrected, we know that we will see and be with Corey again. We will be re-united as a family unit finding peace and joy as a forever family.”

Boyd and Suzanne Buxton

Corey Buxton

1/12/1993-7/22/2010

I want to thank the Buxtons, and to those I knew that passed away in the coarse of my lifetime:

Ryan Sneed

John [grandpa] Trout

Corey Buxton

Larry Heki

Raymond Vandavoort
Tom Shelly

Cynthia Davis

God loves us,

He weeps when we suffer,

and rejoices when we experience happiness...

and his happiness is complete when we march onward to heaven.

We can live again. THAT is my testimony in Christ name, amen.