Jet Mariano

Tag: Moses 6

  • MIT8 – “Walk With Me”

    Walk With Me.
    Jagna, Bohol — my second area. One year a member of the Church, already a full-time missionary, learning what it meant to walk with God.

    Excerpt

    God’s invitation is not always to arrive quickly, but to move together. When He says “walk with me,” He is offering companionship before certainty, and presence before proof.

    Intro

    I served my mission in the Philippines Cebu Mission in 1981. I had been a member of the Church for only six months. I did not feel experienced, polished, or prepared. Yet from the first day forward, I felt something unmistakable: I was not walking alone.

    There were days I did not know what to say, doors that did not open easily, and moments when I felt far too small for the work. Still, I felt the Lord beside me—quietly guiding, steadying my steps, and shaping my confidence over time. Long before I understood doctrine deeply, I understood companionship. God was walking with me.

    Notes from the Author

    Looking back, I see that the Lord did not remove uncertainty from my path. He sanctified it by walking with me through it. That companionship mattered more than eloquence or experience. It still does.

    Perspective

    In the scriptures, the word walk often describes the pattern of daily living. We are invited to walk uprightly, to walk in the ways of the Lord, and to walk after His holy order. These phrases point to consistency and direction over time.

    With Enoch, however, the Lord extended a deeply personal invitation:

    Behold my Spirit is upon you, wherefore all thy words will I justify; and the mountains shall flee before you, and the rivers shall turn from their course; and thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me.

    Moses 6:34

    God did not ask Enoch to lead from a distance. He asked him to walk together. Enoch accepted that invitation, and so did his people. Scripture records that they walked with God, and “God received [them] up into his own bosom” (see Moses 6:39; Genesis 5:22, 24; Moses 7:69).

    The idea of walking together suggests conversation, proximity, and shared direction. It implies movement at the same pace, side by side.

    Even the risen Savior chose this pattern. As He walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus, their understanding unfolded gradually. Only later did they reflect:

    Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

    Luke 24:32

    Mormon later testified of his people’s discipleship, saying he knew they were followers of Christ because of their “peaceable walk with the children of men” (Moroni 7:4).

    Children in the Church sing this same truth simply: “I will walk with Jesus, and He will walk with me” (“I Will Walk with Jesus,” Hymns—For Home and Church).

    Practice Today (Not Someday)

    Today, I will walk with God intentionally. I will not rush past Him by relying only on habit or experience. I will pause to listen before acting, pray before deciding, and trust that steady movement matters more than speed.

    Walking with God means choosing alignment over control, presence over performance, and faith over fear—one step at a time.

    Final Reflection

    God does not promise that the path will be effortless. He promises companionship. When we accept His invitation to walk with Him, progress becomes possible even when confidence is not yet complete.

    Pocket I’m Keeping

    Walking with God is not about getting ahead.
    It is about staying close.

    What I Hear Now

    If I keep walking, He will keep walking with me.
    That is enough.

    © 2012–2026 Jet Mariano. All rights reserved.
    For usage terms, please see the Legal Disclaimer.

  • MIT8 – “Seeing Afar Off”

    Seeing Afar Off.
    The eclipse rises over Joshua Tree — a reminder that vision returns, even when light feels partial.

    Excerpt

    In technology and in discipleship, problems rarely fail because of missing data. They fail because we cannot see far enough ahead to understand the consequences of our choices.

    Intro

    In IT, I have learned that anxiety often narrows vision. Early in my career, I walked into a colleague’s office convinced I had the solution to a thorny issue in a project we were co-leading. I explained what I thought we should do and why. He listened calmly, then looked across the desk and said simply, “Think about how this plays out.”

    He walked me through the likely reactions of team members, the downstream effects on systems, and the unintended consequences I had not considered. His calm allowed him to think more strategically than I was able to in that moment. What I lacked was not intelligence or effort, but perspective.

    Notes from the Author

    In infrastructure work—whether designing a Cisco Meraki network, planning a VMware migration, or making security changes—short-sighted decisions can create long-term pain. A fix that looks elegant today can become tomorrow’s outage if we fail to see how it will unfold over time.

    Perspective

    When God called Enoch to be a prophet, He described a people who suffered from the same problem:

    I am angry with this people, and my fierce anger is kindled against them; for their hearts have waxed hard, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes cannot see afar off;

    Moses 6:27

    This was not merely a failure of perception. It affected how they treated one another and how they made decisions. Their inability to see beyond the present moment led to cruelty and violence. God’s work with Enoch began by expanding his vision before expanding his influence.

    The Lord said to Enoch:

    Anoint thine eyes with clay, and wash them, and thou shalt see.

    Moses 6:35

    After doing so, Enoch saw “things which were not visible to the natural eye” (Moses 6:36). With that expanded perspective, he was prepared to teach.

    In modern terms, this feels familiar. When working with systems, clarity comes only after stepping back—diagramming dependencies, understanding traffic flow, or modeling failure scenarios. Seeing afar off is what separates reactive fixes from resilient design.

    Peter later warned Church members of this same danger:

    He that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off.

    2 Peter 1:9

    Elder David A. Bednar taught how this expanded vision is developed, especially within families:

    Parents who consistently read and talk about the Book of Mormon with their children, who share testimony spontaneously with their children, and who invite children as gospel learners to act and not merely be acted upon will be blessed with eyes that can see afar off.

    “Watching with All Perseverance,” April 2010 general conference

    He directed this promise to parents—a reminder that, like Enoch, we must see more clearly ourselves in order to help others develop clearer vision. Scripture study sharpens perspective the way system diagrams sharpen architectural thinking. It reveals consequences that are not obvious in the moment.

    Moroni extended a similar invitation:

    …remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

    Moroni 10:3

    Practice Today (Not Someday)

    Today, I will slow down long enough to see farther. Before making decisions, I will consider downstream effects—on people, systems, and relationships. I will study the gospel not only for answers, but for perspective, trusting that clearer vision leads to wiser choices.

    Final Reflection

    Whether designing networks or building faith, short-term fixes can create long-term problems. Seeing afar off requires patience, humility, and calm. When perspective expands, decisions improve—and so does the impact of our service.

    Pocket I’m Keeping

    Clarity comes when I stop reacting
    and start seeing farther.

    What I Hear Now

    If I expand my vision,
    the right decisions become clearer.

    © 2012–2026 Jet Mariano. All rights reserved.
    For usage terms, please see the Legal Disclaimer.

error: Content is protected !!