Thankfully as far as my goal is going i'm getting everything read on the right day, but my posts are lagging a day behind.  I will try to fix this soon!
    The beginning of 2nd Nephi has Lehi blessing his posterity.  In chapter 2 we are told many things concerning the plan and the fall of Adam and Eve.  We learn that "...he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon." (2:14) and that "...the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself." (2:16)  so we learn of our agency, and then Lehi teaches why we need our agency: "And the days of the children of men were prolonged... that they might repent while in the flesh..." (2:21)
    Many ask why the fall was necessary - why couldn't Adam and Eve just have had children in the garden?  why did they have to partake of the fruit?  I believe much of this is answered in verses 22 and 23: "And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained int he garden of Eden.  And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end.
    And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin."
    I really don't know how to paraphrase into anything that makes more sense than that.  I, at least, have my questions addressed within those two verses. 

I finished up first Nephi where the main theme toward the end seems to be how the Lord will lead the righteous to the promised land.  He has promised to preserve it for the righteous' sake and none other will find it except if the Lord leads them there. 
    Some of my favorite verses come from Nephi quoting Isaiah.  In chapter 20 verse 10 (compared to Isaiah's ch 48) the Lord says "For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."  Nothing brings me more comfort in times of affliction than the Lord's reference to the refiner's fire.  At the end of this post I will give the reason in a short little story, but first I want to quote my other favorite verse from 21:16 - "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me."  How does the Lord remember each one of us always?  Well not only is He a God, but the Lord Jesus Christ has special reminders of us daily - He kept them with Him even through the resurrection when His body was to be restored to a perfect state:  those nail prints in his palms.  I truly know He remembers us always and His love is continually turned toward us to be received as long as we turn toward Him.
    Now one of my favorite stories as quoted from one of the first pages of the book In Quiet Desperation.

The Refiner's Fire
    Some time ago, a few women met in a certain city to study the scriptures.  While reading Malachi 3, they came upon a remarkable expression in the third verse: 
    "And he shall sit a s a refiner and purifier of silver" (Malachi 3:3).
    One woman proposed to visit a silversmith and report to them on what he said about the subject.  She went accordingly, and without telling the object of her errand, begged the silversmith to tell her about the process of refining silver.  After he had fully described it to her, she asked, "But sir, do you sit while the work of refining is going on?"
    "Oh, yes, madam," replied the silversmith.  "I must sit with my eye steadily fixed on the furnace, for if the time necessary for refining be exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver will be injured."
      The woman at once saw the beauty and comfort in the expression, "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."  God sees it needful to put his children into a furnace.  His eye is steadily intent on the work of purifying, and his wisdom and love are both engaged in the best manner for us.  Our trials do not come at random, and he will not let us be tested beyond what we can endure. 
    Before she left, the woman asked one final question.  "When do you know the process is complete?"
    "Why, that is quite simple," replied the silversmith.  "When I can see my own image in the silver, the refining process is finished." 

    Author Unknown

There is frequent contact between heaven and earth.  The Lord makes this contact in a variety of ways, principally through His prophets.  The connection is made also by us when we pray.  The Lord promised Nephi and his family that He would be their "light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments..." (17:13)  He also "leadeth away the righteous into precious lands, and the wicked he destroyeth and curseth the land unto them for their sakes." (17:38)  Again there is the idea of perspective and attitude when comparing the attitudes of Nephi and Laman and Lemuel.  Even after they had seen an Angel, heard the voice of the Lord, been shocked by the Lord, Laman and Lemuel still were given to rebellion and bound Nephi on the ship and were driven back by the storm sent by God for four days before they could be persuaded to release him.  17:45 says "...ye have heard his voice from time to thim; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words; wherefore, he has spoken unto you like unto the voice of thunder, which did cause the earth to shake as if it were to divide asunder."  Oftentimes on my mission people asked for signs.  If they could just see a sign from God, they would believe.  I have learned, though, that a testimony is made out of the stuff it was born on.  If your testimony came from a sign from God, you will need continuous signs from God to maintain that testimony.  If it came from a spiritual confirmation through prayer, then you must simply continue praying and being worthy to feel the spirit.  Which do you suppose is easier to maintain?
    In 17:42 Nephi, referring to the children of Israel, says, "And they did harden their hearts from time to time, and they did revile against Moses, and also against God; nevertheless, ye know they were led forth by his matchless power into the land of promise."  In the 'nevertheless' statement I can see the tender mercies of the Lord.  He must have had great hope for the potential of the children of Israel.  I think many times I have been led by the Lord even when I was rebelling against him because He knew of my potential and what I could eventually become if He would just give me a little direction.
   

For anyone who was unclear about the way the Lord works:  If we repent and are righteous we will prosper, if not, we won't.  It is obvious from daily witness that this prosperity is not instantaneous after we are righteous and there is nothing that says prosperity comes without trials.  This point is iterated here in 14:5 "...if the Gentiles repent it shall be well with them...whoso repenteth not must perish."  As the Lord is omnipotent I assume Him to be teaching this principle with eternal perspective. 
    14:14 reads "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory."  The word in this scripture that stood out to me tonight was the second 'and' like it was differentiating between the saints of the church and the covenant people of the Lord who were scattered.  To me this suggests that one doesn't need to be a member of the church of the Lamb to receive the Lord's power.  Again the Lord is cognizant of those who don't have access to the fullness of the Gospel.
    In the end of chapter 14 Nephi talks about how John is going to write the book of Revelation because "the Lord God hath ordained the apostle of the Lamb of God that he should write them (25)."  He goes on to reveal that "also others who have been, to them hath he shown all things, and they have written them; and they are sealed up to come forth in their purity, according to the truth which is in the Lamb in the own due time of the Lord, unto the house of Israel (26)."  This all indicates the writing of scriptures as mentioned in the footnote but I started wondering how many prophets were able to be shown all things by the Lord?  How many were commanded to write them?  Was it shown them because of their faith only, or to provide as many witnesses as possible of the great plan of the Father?
    In chapter 15 in verses 23 and 33 we are taught that all must be judged before God "of their works."  It is indeed up to us to be actively following in the plan of our Father.  Of this I know.

One thing's for sure:  God is pretty adamant that scripture be recorded.  Scriptures are to be used "unto the convincing of the Gentiles and the remnant of the seed of my brethren, and also the Jews....that the records of the prophets and of the twelve apostles of the Lamb are true." (13:39)  Scriptures testify of Christ.  They outline the Gospel and the commandments of God.  At this point in our lives they are readily available to us and they were put on this earth for us to study and to teach us the ways of salvation.  Heavenly Father was never vague about the path we must follow.  Thankfully He prepared a way by which more could be saved than just those who have access to this knowledge, but for those who do have access, I believe He expects us to utilize the scriptures in every way we can not only so that he can one day save us, but so that he can daily bless us.
    In 12:18 we read "And the large and spacious building, which [Nephi's] father saw, is vain imaginations and the pride of the children of men.  And a great and terrible gulf divideth them; yea, even the word of the justice of the Eternal God , and the Messiah who is the Lamb of God, of whom the Holy Ghost beareth record..."  Here we see that the pride of the world and the tree of life (where Lehi is) are not merely divided by a line in the sand, but a "great and terrible gulf."  I believe this is not just a picturesque scene but an actual illustration of how far apart the worldly aspects of this world are from the godly aspects of it.  It isn't a line to be toyed with.  We don't wake up one morning and decide we're in the great and spacious building that day and we'll go back to the tree of life tomorrow.  Getting to both places is going to take some doing. 

Continuing on in Nephi.  Today was a little rocky just because i was working hard not to fall asleep while i was reading.  Jillian's a little under the weather and we've all paid the price for it. 
    I find it awesome that Christ's birth and ministry were so well documented before the fact.  in 10:4 Nephi records his father's profecy that "even six hundred years from the time that my father left Jerusalem, a prophet would the Lord God raise up among the Jews--even a Messiah, or, in other words, a Savior of the world."  Numerous times in the Old Testament and in the Book of Mormon it was prophesied that Jesus would come, then, both in the New Testament and the Book of Mormon there are scriptures depicting the life and ministry of Christ that show how he fulfilled ancient prophesy.  for something so well documented i am flabbergasted that people still have trouble understanding or believing that He is the Christ.  it reminds me of those who think the Holocaust never happened.
    Two other things stood out to me today.  The first is the reminder that this life is all about attitude, or perspective.  it was pointed out to me many years ago that this is one of the key differences between Nephi and Laman.  Observe that we see many recorded instances where Laman and Nephi both did what they were supposed to do (along with the others, but i just want to make the comparison between these two).  Both returned to Jerusalem for the brass plates and the daughters of Ishmael, both went unto Laban twice to receive the plates, both obeyed the Lord's and their father's commands to flee Jerusalem, both helped build a ship, etc.  So why is Nephi the glowing example of righteousness and Laman always the poster boy for what not to do?  Attitude, my friends.  Attitude. 
    The second thing came from 7:5 where "the Lord did soften the heart of Ishmael and also his household, insomuch that they took their journey with us down the wilderness..." Last week we had a hymn singing sacrament meeting.  It's the second one i've ever been too and I love it more than I can say.  The hymn I would have chosen had I the guts to go up and say something would have been number 193, "I Stand All Amazed."  In the second verse of that hymn we sing "I marvel that He would descend from His throne divine to rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine."  Now, before this moment we know pretty much nothing about Ishmael and whether or not he was a proud or humble man.  Regardless of his present state, though, the Lord through His servants did touch Ishmael's heart and thus was able to achieve the purpose of bringing his family into the wilderness with Lehi's.  Even though i know nothing about the state of Ishmael's heart at that moment, I do know something about the state at my heart in a moment when the Lord saw fit to reach out and soften it.  When i was 18 i was still in a pretty solid state of rebellion.  If you've known rebellious teenagers, you've known hard-heartedness.  I went with my cousin to Education Week down at BYU that summer.  I slept through most of the classes.  Two (though i'll only talk about one) stood out to me in a way that would change my life forever.  One of them was a class given by Marvin Goldstein.  the class consisted of him choosing a conductor, then he played an arrangement of a hymn, after which we would all sing the first verse of that hymn.  he did this (i believe) 19 times.  I remember the look on the conductors face as he became overwhelmed by the spirit of the music.  i remember the swelling in my heart as that spirit spread throughout that classroom and to this day i stand all amazed that He would bother to take the time to rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine by touching and softening my heart in so beautiful and brilliant a way.

For my first time through the book of mormon the goal is to highlight anything that depicts how God deals with his children.
    In the first four chapters of 1st Nephi I was actually surprised at how much highlighting I did.  It was a little difficult for me to differentiate between what I was really looking for and any other mention of God.  The good thing was that this helped me focus.  I kept having to determine what phrases meant.  Mostly I tried to forgo the parts that mentioned the nature of God and did my best to really stick with anything that mentions an actual connection between God and His children on earth. 
    Nephi starts with the mention of his father, Lehi, receiving revelation to move away from Jerusalem with his family.  It is obvious from the beginning that God has a personal relationship with His prophets, being persistent about communicating directly with Lehi and Nephi from the beginning.  It is also reiterated a number of times that God is going to destroy Jerusalem because of their wickedness and that the righteous will prosper and "receive much strength of the Lord."  (1 Ne. 4:31)
    One insight I got was in 1 Nephi 4:13:  "Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes.  It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief."  It occurred to me then that even God has to occasionally choose between two evils.