Mighty Men of Valour

1 Chonicles 2

   9 The sons also of Hezron, that were born unto him; Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai.

  10 And Ram begat Amminadab; and Amminadab begat Nahshon, prince of the children of Judah;

  11 And Nahshon begat Salma, and Salma begat Boaz,

  12 And Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse,

  13 ¶ And Jesse begat his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimma the third,

  14 Nethaneel the fourth, Raddai the fifth,

  15 Ozem the sixth, David the seventh: and so on...

I was reading this morning in 1st Chronicles, which for a great portion continues much like this.  Reading through parts of the scriptures like this is often like filtering through sand to find diamonds.  This morning I found a particular gem that got me thinking.   Further into 1st Chronicles I started seeing select groups of men referred to as 'mighty men of valour'.  The phrase is in the Old testament at least 25 times.  It got me thinking about where I stand.  Am I among those that are that my Heavenly father will think of as mighty men of valor?  The scriptures and the words of living prophets haven't said very much about the virtue of valor in particular, but it's always associated with those that exercised courage and especially risked themselves to stand up for something.  In the Old Testament, most of them are men who were willing to boldly willing to keep the commandments or defend their families.  The LDS Bible Dictionary lists Joseph's refusal of Potiphar's wife as Joseph's valor, and an "unequaled example of faith, chastity, and personal purity.  Joseph's act of valor was a great sacrifice.  The sacrifice of two years to stand up for my faith may also be an act of valor.  If that is the case, I'm surrounded by 10 mighty men of valor, and one of 50,000 mighty men of valor who are spreading the gospel.