3 Nov 2024, Sunday

 3 Nov 2024, Sunday

Prioritized Daily Task

Nov 3rd at 7:55pm Carter has a flight back to Utah on Frontier Airlines

reservations, 2 rooms on Nov 3 in Gainesville Hilton (2 People and 1 person) Gardens Booking reference: #1904152 Confirmation code: 9048856300397

I got a good night's sleep, had prayer, stripped the bed linen, showered, and shaved.  I drove up to Days Inn and paid the motel bill for the two rooms.  I knocked on Carter and Alex's room 129, and Brett's room 131.   I took Alex and Carter with me to church at 10:00 AM.  Brett drove his car and met us in Sacrament meeting.  Charlie and Shirley Hibbert were here today.  Their son Jonathan Hibbert conducted.  I shared my testimony in the meeting.  I talked to David Yandow IV "Anthony". counselor in the stake presidency.  He gave me his grandfather's phone number.  I attended Sunday school; the teacher, Brother Andrew E. "Drew" Jones told about Orval "Duke" Porritt who was a colonel and inactive for years.  He became a bishop and stake president.  Drew's mother, Karen, told me more about Duke and her husband, Andy Jones, who is deceased.  Andy's older sister, Linda, was one of Debbie's best friends.  (Karen's phone number 770-715-5630, email karenkaeyjones120@gmail.com).  Debbie fixed lunch for everyone.  Max and I called Earlton Youngblood who was at church and could not talk.  We had prayer, broke our fast, and ate lunch.  Later Brett left and went to Gainesville through Actworth.  Alex and Carter played a game; Max, Debbie, and I visited until Debbie, my wife, called and I went into the bedroom and talked to her.  We had prayer together, and I finished packing.  Alex and I took Carter to the Atlanta Airport and dropped him off at 6:20 PM.  He caught his Frontier Airline Flight to SLC.  Alex and I drove up to the Hilton Garden Inn in Gainesville.  They did not have a reservation for Alex and they only had Brett in the two-bedroom unit I rented.  I got it all straight and Alex and I took our things up to our rooms.  Brett was waiting for us.  Matthew called and asked us about our A&M meeting tomorrow.  I called and talked to Debbie.  We had prayer together and I got to bed about 10 PM.

Note, taken from Andrew Jones's book: "Chronicles of a Worn Soul"

The goals we have set for ourselves may not be the same as those set by the Lord.

THE DESTINATION

MAY NOT BE

THE OBJECTIVE

You know, applying business principles to personal goals is

not that difficult. It is all in the organization. First you

figure out what you want to do. Then, you figure out the

best way to get there. The route is carefully considered,

weighing all the options, the plan is adopted and put in

motion. It seems simple, but the best laid and perfectly

executed plans sometimes just don't work out, sometimes

not at all! I had done everything right, I thought. What 1

had thought to be a tragedy of fate was actually planned all

along, just not by me.

Duke Porrit had lived a long and productive life

and was now retired as a full bird" Colonel from the

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United States Air force. As a B17 pilot in WWII, Duke was

shot down three times behind enemy lines, captured and

held captive as a prisoner of war twice. It was difficult for

the Germans to hold Duke for long however. He seemed to

escape every time they caught him.

One time he was taken outside the POW compound

work on reinforcing the walls. Duke hid in the very hole

he was tasked to dig. As the daylight began to fade, the

guards gathered the prisoners to return with one less

prisoner; that would be Duke Porritt. Duke would later

unearth himself from the dirt and slip into the night to find

his waiting compatriots.

Duke was a man of character and presence. He was

"bigger than life, " a man of great interest to those

surrounding him. Because of his worldwide travels in the

military and endless experiences in the various cultures of

the world. Duke was a virtual treasure-trove of knowledge

and wisdom on endless topics.

Duke was raised in the Church by a stalwart family.

but allowed his military career to separate him from the

constant fellowship necessary to maintain resistance to the

relentless pressures of the world. He was however, always

faithful to his beloved wife and high school sweetheart who

suffered greatly because of his persistent pursuit of duty to

county and the cause of the Allied Forces over Europe.

Duke recalls saying, "Here we go again," as his bomber

took enemy fire penetrating the fuselage (and his legs) as

he occupied the pilot seat. Duke's wife knew her husband

was in harm's way, and knew that he was captured (each

time) but it was something she never got used to.  

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Retiring from the Air Force later in life, Duke

settled in the small fishing community of Destin, Florida

where he was close to the nearby Eglin Air Force Base and

Hurlburt Field. His modest brick/ranch home was tastefully

adorned with souvenirs accumulated as he served in

command positions and administrator in various locations

in Europe, Asia and the United States. A man of great duty,

honor, respect, capability and knowledge was resting in the

single family dwelling along with all the others of this

small residential neighborhood.

The kids, all grown now have long since moved away to begin lives of their own. Scattered across the county engaged in their various professions, they stay in touch with mom and dad as needed but leave them to enjoy the balance of their lives protected from the horror of war and separation. Duke had served his country with honor and was now enjoying his life with his sweetheart and the of quiet Mexico. life on the sandy soil of the emerald coast on the Gulf to begin It was a day like any other when Duke Porritt woke his day. Following his morning coffee and the read of the newspaper headlines, Duke knock on responded to a the door. As the front door outline of a swung open, the

stood on tall man dressed in a white shirt, suit and tie the small concrete porch. Without introduction, the man held out his hand to engage in a friendly gesture and as he shook hands the stranger boldly said, “Duke it is time for you to get your life in order.  The Lord has need of you." Following the apparent direct instruction, the military retired line officer, familiar with the frankness of direct

                          Page 162

instruction, engaged in light conversations and thanked the

stranger for the visit.

The door was politely closed leaving Duke a

moment to contemplate what had just happened. With his

hand still on the door knob, moments following the

exchange, Duke opened the door again to inquire how they

had found him. Obviously, this man was a member of the

church of his youth and has somehow found out he was

living in the area. It was curious however, Duke had made

no effort to make his presence known to the church. It was

a mystery.

Seeing that the stranger had left the front stoop,

Duke proceeded to the front yard expecting to see a vehicle

so that he could inquire further, but the driveway was

empty. "Certainly, he didn't have enough time to walk

from my door, get in a car and leave in that amount of

time," he thought. The yard, street and sidewalks were

however, most definitely void of any presence. As strange

as it appeared, Duke resolved himself to find the closest

LDS congregation and make an appearance to congratulate

the gentlemen for getting his attention. "Some of those

home teachers can be pretty ingenious," he told himself.

Dressing himself up, Duke passed over the threshold door

of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for the

first time in fifty years.

With this arrival. the Lord returned what would

prove to be a valuable servant to the kingdom of God. Duke

never saw that stranger at church that day nor any day

following. As a matter of fact, the members of the Fort

Walton 1st Ward had never heard of a man fitting that

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description, nor were they aware of Duke's residence in

their boundaries. However. from that day forward, Duke

devoted all of his waking hours to the building of the

kingdom of God and was instrumental in the reactivation of

an entire less active community of God. Duke became the

executive secretary. Bishop and member of the Stake

Presidency. His uncompromised leadership and magnetic personality began a wave of growth and activity unmatched by memory or experience. I can say with all sincerity and honesty, that Duke Porritt was the most spiritually instrumental man to have ever influenced my life. I loved this man and drew strength from him. The Lord knew where Duke was and what

great potential he represented. I know that the Lord reactivated him for the welfare of many of His sons and daughters but at times I believe that the stranger commanded Duke to return to the Lord's service because he knew that Andrew E. Jones was coming to his area and

Arriving in Destin, Florida following my discharge from the United States Army as an emotional and physical train wreck: I was quickly taken in by this great man serving then as the Bishop. It would be over the next several years that Duke made an extraordinary eort to spend personal time with me to teach gospel details, to share in his life's experiences and his love for me. Looking back I do not believe that there could have been any other man alive that had the combination of personal traits that could have provided the healing I needed. Duke was a tender mercy delivered to my figurative doorstep that set the foundation of leadership

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I have been called to fill since then. I can trace the progressionary path of my life that

defined who I was and what I would become. It was under

Dukes tutelage that I understood what leadership looked

like and what it was intended to do. Duke led by doing, not telling. He was the first to

do the right thing and invite others to follow. He used his

past as a strength to him rather than to allow it to haunt him

as an image of lost opportunity. His life's experiences

served him wonderfully as he was able to communicate and

console others in a way he would have never been able to

without such experiences. He did not apologize for his past.

He used it as an example of how the world can lure us

away from the most important things in life, and I loved

him for it.

As our lives continue down the road toward

eternity, Duke moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado with

his companion and within a few years he quietly passed

away. Serving as a Bishop at the time, I flew to the local

ward to attend the service. I expected there not to be a

facility large enough to house those that would attend, I

found many open seats among the pews of the building.

"Surely,"I thought, "These people have no idea who Duke

was." As the family lovingly asked me to say a few words

at the service, I recalled a few choice experiences we had

together. Standing at the pulpit above the casket containing

Duke's body, I took one step back, snapped to attention and

briskly raised my right arm to salute this man whom had I

had known so briefly but who had had such a profound

influence on my life.                        Page 165

Odd still, was the apparent convolution of 

‘random events" that presented me to Duke's tutelage. In a

seemingly catastrophic collapse of expected outcomes, my

disfigured spirit was dropped at the doorstep of this friend

with a stranger saying, you are needed in the kingdom.

Duke heard and answered the call as should all of us.

We never know what the Lord has in store for us

and what set of seemingly random events are perfectly

orchestrated by the Master's hand to benefit in eternal

measures. Our destiny is sometimes in the Lord's hand, we

just need to give Him a chance to arrange it. It was only

after Joseph Smith's father lost the family's wealth that

they were influenced to move to Palmyra where Joseph

could find the plates and be an instrument in the hand of the

Lord to restore the Church. We do not know nor can we tell

what the Lord has in store: we only need to believe. have

faith and maintain worthiness so that His will may be

manifested in our lives.

I cannot speculate, nor did Duke speculate, who the

stranger was (at least not openly). We only knew that he

came, he was real and that he knocked on the door. The

visit began a series of events that influenced many people

for good. It was the Lord's work and He has servants.

There are many such examples in the scriptures. Wouldn't

the Lord use the same tools today as He has in the past?

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I believe the message from my experience with my friend Duke is clear:             Remember the Lord loves you.                                                                   He is aware of you and wants you to reach your potential.                             It is important to remain worthy so that the Lord can bless you.                     Do not second guess His promptings.

There are times when we think we have it all figured out.  We pray, we receive answers, and we follow the promptings.  However, somewhere along the path, the train jumps the track. 

We believe we knew its destination but it never got there.                                      (The destination was not the objective.  He never said that we would reach our intended destination, He only told us to begin the journey.)

  Something was placed in our way and a derailment occurred, a disaster, right?  Well, no, not necessarily.  At the accident scene, there is a person, a place or an object we find that we would have never discovered unless we landed at that specific spot at the specific time.  It took a train wreck to get us there.

This was the lesson I learned that has served me valuably since then and one we must apply to our lives.  I would have never met Duke on my planned route; it necessitated a diversion.  It was never a train wreck; I perceived it to be.  There is great healing in this                         Page 167

understanding and a concept that delivers the methods of God to His children.

There will be places we need to be, people we need to meet and things we need to do. We have no way of knowing what they are; we are mortal and cannot extend our consciousness beyond our Scope of knowledge or understanding. The Lord however, sees it all, the world and

every person in it and all at the same time. He knows what we must do and who we must meet.

No mortal has this ability, only the Lord. He sends His servant's to further the work. Sometimes they come in the form of friends, family members, church leaders or teachers. However, in extreme circumstances and when necessary to fulfill His eternal purposes, He will send a stranger to YOUR door and remind you of a motto we had in the military..."You can run, but you cannot hide." ..especially from the Lord!  I can only imagine what kind of person Duke would have been if he had been in the Lord's service longer. The thought brings joy and sadness same time.

I look back and consider the possibilities. If my plans had totally succeeded and my diversion to Florida taken place, I would have never had the association with Bro Porritt.  I believe now, that nothing I would have successfully achieved professionally could have compensated for the blessings of his fellowship. I did not then, but the Lord did. I know it now and am thankful that the Lord intervened in my life to bless me this gift that will forever serve me in a positive way.

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We should all consider the fact, if we remain worthy, the Lord well bless us.  We may not understand it at the time but all things will reveal themselves in due time.  After all, the God of Heaven and Earth, is our Dad.

                           

Picture taken when he was a bishop, about 1986

Orval "Duke" Porritt, retired Colonel US Airforce WW 2