I Choose God

Erik Gray's Journals

#journalgems

Written by Erik

On a job application, May 2015

I am a 21-year-old, currently serving as a Church-Service Missionary at the St George Utah Temple.

I live in Cedar City, Utah, as the fourth of five kids.

I am a cancer survivor 

and choose to make every day great! 

I have a passion for music and running. 

Because of my experiences with cancer and student leadership, I know that people look at me constantly. 

I have made an effort to post uplifting pictures, quotes, and status'. 

Two years ago, I started a blog to write down all my cancer experiences and how they and the gospel have ultimately blessed my life. 

I've seen my blog reach many different parts of the country, as well as many countries around the world. I have come to understand that technology is a strong aspect of life today; what I put on my Facebook page matters. 

There is so much that can come from the internet, whether it be good or bad. By posting uplifting material on 

my blog and social media pages, 

I choose good; 

and by choosing good,

I choose God.

Never Stop Believing in Yourself

Erik Gray's Journals

#journalgems

Written by Erik in February 2011

His Junior Year at Cedar High

CHARIOTS OF FIRE: A MESSAGE BEHIND THE MOVIE

Chariots of Fire, a movie based on the story of two runners in the 1924 Olympics, is a very inspiring movie. It starts out showing the two stories of Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell. Harold enters Cambridge University, interested in competitive running, but experiences racial prejudice from the staff. Eric Liddell, born in China of Scottish missionary parents, is in Scotland. His sister disapproves of his plans to pursue competitive running. But Liddell sees running as a way of glorifying God before returning to China to work as a missionary.

As the movie goes on, you see the two runners race against each other, and soon they both are on the same Olympics track team. When Eric refuses to run his heat on a Sunday, one of his friends steps in and offers his place in the 400 meter. I won’t give away what happens, but from the little I’ve explained, I hope you get a pretty good feel for the movie.

This movie contains a lot of great messages and holds a lot of inspiration. One message is that if you believe in yourself and work hard enough, you can achieve anything. Eric and Harold both showed this from their end result, make the impossible… well, possible. Another message is to keep the Sabbath day holy. By respecting this, Eric was able to run in the 400 meter race, and- you’ll see what happens.

Although this is an old movie, I believe it did very well as far as the settings and music. The setting of each scene was awesome, and you felt as if you were actually there. The music was phenomenal. There was intense music at the intense moments, and of course, who can forget the famous “Chariots of Fire” song everyone sings when they run, especially in slow motion.

I definitely recommend this movie. It has a great plot, has intense moments, and has an unforgettable message: Never stop believing in yourself.

Friends can be made anywhere

Erik Gray's Journals

#journalgems

Written by Erik January 2017

Lowe's Summer job 2016

Funny story… so during “down time” when it was slow up front, our bosses wanted us to blow up red, white, and blue balloons to put on a pipe to decorate for the upcoming holiday. 

This specific time I think it was us getting ready for the 4^th of July. 

We were blowing up balloons and had an extra one or two. 

I had my utility knife with me and was talking with Annalyn, and I said something to the sort of, “Ya know, sometimes I just get in a stabby-stabby mood with balloons. And this extra one, I’m gonna pop it.” So I stuck the utility knife into the very large balloon, and it popped. But it popped SO LOUD- I have never heard a balloon pop that loud in my entire life. 

It echoed throughout the ENTIRE store and kind of sounded like a gunshot. The entire front end of the store, including the 5 or so employees that were all up there, turned and looked at me with a what the heck expression on their face. 

IT WAS SO FUNNY! Haha. 

My favorite person, her name is Annalyn. She is such a sweetheart! She and I talked a lot. She was going through a divorce around the time and it was good to hear her vent and she is such a sweetheart. One of the kindest people I have ever met. 

I think working at Lowe’s really helped show me that you can be friends with anyone- no matter how old and no matter what circumstance in life we are in. 

People are people and friends can be made anywhere. J

I also was very impressed… Lowe’s is really good to their employees. They treat them well there.