 |
| Sent for the one. |
Travis is a busy father of seven. On top of his Dad duties, his
amazing wife Kiji has been fighting for her life against cancer. Her battle in
and of itself is a miracle. She and her devotion to God even in the midst of
the storm is a great inspiration to all who know her.
Travis is finishing his dental program and working with
clients up in Salt Lake. All that is on the Storey family’s plate makes his
morning routine all the more admirable.
Travis has the habit going to the gym. Before the gym (which he goes to in the early morning hours) he
finds a church parking lot where he parks and spends some time reading the scriptures
and in prayer.
Recently during in his morning routine, Travis had an
impression to go to a specific location before going to the gym. He followed that
impression and found himself driving near the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon,
which is nowhere near the gym. As he drove, he passed what he thought was a
wheelchair. The road he was on did not have any sidewalks, and it was dark, cold
and windy outside. Travis wondered what a wheelchair was doing out in the
middle of nowhere.
Feeling that perhaps someone needed help, he turned his car around
and started searching for the wheelchair he had seen. Sure enough, there was a
person in the wheelchair. Travis could tell the person was in need, so he
pulled his car over and asked what he could do for him. The story that unfolded
is amazing.
Apparently this guy,
I will call him Joe, had come with some friends into Provo to celebrate a
friend’s birthday. They had a great time. But when the evening ended and the
cars were loaded up, somehow Joe was left out of the head count. He had no way
to contact his friends to say, “Hello, I am still here!” Joe didn’t know anyone locally he could
contact. He just knew he needed to get to Mount Pleasant to make his class the
next day and he had no vehicle to get him there.
So what did Joe do? The only thing he could do—he started to
wheel himself in the direction of Mount Pleasant. (Note: Mount Pleasant is an
hour away from Provo and up through a
dangerous canyon.)
He had started his trek in Provo at 9 the previous night and
had been wheeling towards his destination until Travis found him around 4:45
a.m. the next morning! Travis said Joe was only about three feet tall and due
to a spinal condition wasn’t able to stand upright to straighten his back. He was
not dressed properly for the cold and was found shivering. Having shorter arms,
Joe moved himself by walking his feet along. With no sidewalks along the road,
whenever a car came by, Joe would move his wheelchair off the road so as to not
get hit by the passing vehicle. Joe had been praying for someone, anyone, to
help him.
Travis later found out that Joe is from California—which
“just happens” (I write that in quotes, because nothing ever JUST happens!) to
be the same state where Travis served his mission, and from Pleasanton,
Travis’s favorite city of his mission.
Joe served a mission at the MTC Call Center for two years,
taking calls and working with referrals.
He described his experience there to be difficult, spending hour after
hour, day after day in front of a computer screen taking phone calls for what
seemed like a fruitless task. When he
found that out, Travis felt the need to testify to Joe that he (Travis) had had
several referrals come through while on his mission from people who had
contacted the Church through the MTC Call Center. He felt that Joe needed to hear that the work
he had done during those difficult 2 years planted seeds that missionaries from
all over were able to harvest and that Travis had personally been able to baptize
investigators in Pleasanton, CA, the very city where Joe was from. Travis thanked Joe for all he had done on his
mission. As his morning workout was traded for a trek up to Mount Pleasant, Travis
continued talking with Joe as they made the ride together toward Mount Pleasant.
Travis relayed how we are all just like Joe. We do not physically have a way of getting
ourselves back “home.” We needed a Savior to provide the way, to provide the
“vehicle” (namely repentance, forgiveness through a perfect Atonement and a
resurrection which overcomes the sting of death) to help us make the trek back
to Heavenly Father. Travis’s car was the “literal” vehicle for the determined
and courageous Joe.
So it can be with all of us, with me! Who on the journey of
life needs a “lift”?
On Sunday, Travis bore testimony that that he always studies
the Book of Mormon and scriptures before he goes to the gym each morning
because it is his “sacred time with … Heavenly Father,” when his mind is the
sharpest and he can feel His presence the strongest. Travis said he has had
many spiritual experiences and insights during that dedicated time, his spiritual exercise before his physical
exercise.
Travis's experience with Joe made me think of a clip I watched where Elder David A. Bednar made a profound statement that has not
left me since I heard it. This clip is excellent about an extraordinary thing
that took place on the BYUI campus, but what he states at frame 4:02 has left
me with a deep profound, lasting insight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8hMhVE36M0
Did you catch that?!!! Elder Bednar was sent to England for the “one.” The conference and all the other large meetings were great add-ons, but God sent him--for the one!
Did you catch that?!!! Elder Bednar was sent to England for the “one.” The conference and all the other large meetings were great add-ons, but God sent him--for the one!
Brother Storey was sent for the one!
God is mindful of each one. What a blessing and great opportunity is ours to go out daily seeking the ones whom God would have us find, the ones God would have us give a “lift” to with the means He has provided to bring that one just another step closer to their/our eternal destination.
Seek the one.
HOW CAN I INCREASE MY SPIRITUAL EXERCISE?
Brother Storey was kind enough to share with me some things he has at the front of his study journal. The promises are clear for those who will take the Book of Mormon into their daily study. It has changed my life forever, and continues to bring me closer to Christ. I LOVE Brother's Storey's list and add my testimony to the truth of what he testified 100%! (Thank you Brother Storey for following through and sharing your story!)
President Ezra Taft Benson It is not just that the Book of Mormon teaches us truth, though it indeed does that. It is not just that the Book of Mormon bears testimony of Christ, though it indeed does that, too. But there is something more. There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path. The scriptures are called “the words of life” (D&C 84:85), and nowhere is that more true than it is of the Book of Mormon. When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance. (Ensign, Nov 1986, 4)
President Joseph Smith (Jr) Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”
1 Nephi 15:24 Nephi interpreting the vision of the tree of life to his brethren speaking of the iron rod. “…it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction.”
D&C 21:5-6 Revelation given to the prophet Joseph Smith, “for his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth”, “For by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his names glory”
2 Nephi 32:3 Nephi’s words “feast upon the words of Christ: for behold the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.”
I’ve noticed three things that occur when reading the book of Mormon prayerfully. Number one on the list always occurs. The second and third don't always occur but do very often.
1. The presence of the spirit is abundant through all facets of my life that day.
2. I find principles come alive from off the page that I need to learn and which I can directly apply to an area of my life. [And I, Bryndi, would add that often the principles that have just come alive for me, God often places others on my path that are in need of and blessed by the exact same principles.]
3. Flashes of insight, ideas and bits of inspiration occur in my mind while reading that may have nothing to do with the story but non-the less have a purpose in my life in that moment. I have come to know through time that these aren’t random ideas and thoughts but are Gods words unto me that are precious and must be recorded.
I am grateful for wonderful friends who have the gift of reviewing and reworking words! Cindy, thank you!
Happiness is a date night with Mr. Dashing to Temple Square!
Posts
