I'm Kent E. Nielsen, a friend of Christ, husband, and father of six. I served a mission in Mongolia, studied American Studies at BYU, and in 2016 wrote a short book as a witness of His mercies and of who you already are. I give it away on this site. The journal is the daily record of the same work.

You were not born to build an empire to get gain, or to stamp your name on something finite and collect the praise of the world. That is not what you were born for. You were born to remember what you knew, and to carry it into eternity.

My greatest fear was mental illness. I would not wish it on my worst enemy, and in my mid-twenties that is what I was diagnosed with. No drugs, no addiction. I was a good kid who got sick anyway. In nine months I went from a six-pack to sixty pounds heavier. My car was impounded and sold while I sat in a hospital bed. My engagement ended just before I was hospitalized. Not one friend from those years came to visit. My parents rode the public bus every week. My dad slipped me a roll of quarters each time. My ecclesiastical leaders showed up too. They taught me where real power lives: not in status, friends, or things, but in family and priesthood.

I laid my life before the Lord just before I turned nineteen, walking away from a mind chasing status, when a nudge from the still small voice asked why I would not let Him do more with my life than I could on my own. My answer: "Let Him I will." Thirty-plus years later I still marvel. Fast-food worker, missionary in Mongolia, BYU honors graduate, a marriage with six children, a disciple who knows and serves God with all he has. A light meant to lift others, not stand above them.

Come take the yoke of Christ upon you. The free book is the invitation. The journal is the daily walk. You already know more than you live. The stars will burn out. You won't. Live like it.