24 Aug 2024, Saturday

 24 Aug 2024, Saturday

Prioritized Daily Task 

6:30 am - ANM at Orem Temple endowment session if an appointment opportunity opens 

11:00 am - Watch Ryan and Stephanie's children while they attend a wedding

12:30 PM - Jose de Jesus Tecalco and 3 of his family and a 7-year-old daughter came over and ran the outside electrical lights on the eves of the house - lunch at Chuck-a-Rama

worked on NOKBox

ANM endowment session at 6:45 pm in Orem Temple was full,  no. vacancies 

Note: "It is better to prepare and prevent than it is to repair and repent."  Ezra Taft Benson.  Sep. 6, 2014

Debbie and I had prayer together; she went with Jody for a walk and also exercised with weiths.  I did some Yoga exercises and am sore, especially around the hernia in my stomach. area.  Ryan and Stephanie dropped the children off on their way to their neighbor in DayBreak daughter's wedding.  Debbie fixed breakfast for Jody, Libby, and me before she went to Tate's football game.  Jose came by with some of his family and crew and installed the permanent lights on the eves in the front of the house.  Part of the lights are not working.  I called Matthew; he was in the middle of a daughter date but answered his phone and told me to not bother Jose's and his crew.  If they get the lights hung he can get the light working remotely on his phone.  They will finish the project at the cabin in Heber with the staining of the outside and replace and repair the rails and banisters by this Tuesday.  They followed me to Chuck-A-Rama buffet and I got lunch for 4 adults and a young girl whose father and mother came with Jose.  They all speak Spanish and Jose speaks some English.  They are all hard-working.  This evening Debbie went to the theater to see Blkake's new movie with Jody, Laura, and Jami.  I stayed home and worked on NokBox and the meeting next week with the attorney about updating our will and trust.  I studied scriptures and had prayer before going to bed at about 11:30 PM. 

Note:  As we rolled and tossed closer and closer to the reef, all eyes searched for the light that marked the opening—the only entry to our home. Where was it? The blackness of the night seemed to increase; the fierceness of the raging elements seemed to know no bounds. The rain slashed at our faces and tore at our eyes—eyes vainly searching for that life-giving light.

Then I heard the chilling sound of the waves crashing and chewing against the reef! It was close—too close. Where was that light? Unless we hit the opening exactly, we would be smashed against the reef and ripped and torn by that thousand-toothed monster. It seemed that all the elements were savagely bent on our total destruction. Our eyes strained against the blackness, but we could not see the light.

Some began to whimper, others to moan and cry, and one or two even to scream in hysteria. At the height of this panic, when many were pleading to turn to the left or to the right, when the tumultuous elements all but forced us to abandon life and hope, I looked at the captain—and there I saw the face of calmness, the ageless face of wisdom and experience, as his eyes penetrated the darkness ahead. Quietly his weather-roughened lips parted, and without moving his fixed gaze and just perceptibly shifting the wheel, he breathed those life-giving words, “Ko e Maama e” (“There is the light!”).

I could not see the light, but the captain could see it. And I knew he could see it. Those eyes long experienced in ocean travel were not fooled by the madness of the storm nor were they influenced by the pleadings of those of lesser experience to turn to the left or to the right. And so with one last great swell we were hurtled through the opening and into calmer waters.

The roaring of the reef was now behind us. Its infamous plan of destruction had been foiled. We were in the protected harbor. We were home. Then and only then did we see through the darkness that one small light—exactly where the captain had said it was. Had we waited until we ourselves could see the light we would have been dashed to pieces, shredded on the reef of unbelief. But trusting in those experienced eyes, we lived.

And so the great lesson: There are those who, through years of experience and training, and by virtue of special divine callings, can see farther and better and more clearly—and can and will save us in those situations where serious injury or death—both spiritual and physical—would be upon us before we ourselves could see.  Legacy of Faith, chapter 22, John H. Grobergs

I think about when the Lord told Noah to get on the boat when there was not a cloud in sight.   How hard would it have been to follow Noah?  It takes faith to follow the prophet.