Last updated on August 1st, 2024 at 03:16 pm
July 21, 2024
Here is the best thing I heard (What?), saw (Eye.), and read (Read.) this week, as well as the best idea (💡) I developed.
What?
followHim Podcast – Alma 30-31 – Dr. Brent Top:
- [John Bytheway] “I do love the question that Korihor asks in verse 15 [of Alma 30], ‘How do ye know?’ I hope it’s one we ask ourselves. When I was a bishop, I would take notes on every testimony, every month in testimony meeting. I began to notice the answers of how people said that they knew, and I divided it into feelings, exalted feelings they had like you just expressed there in the temple, and I’ve had those, but there’s also been experiences. Sometimes, you ask the Lord, ‘Tell me that this is true,’ and he doesn’t tell you in words. He tells you in an experience and it takes a year or two. Evidences, fruits of the gospel that they have noticed, that nobody can take away from. They’re right there. Lastly, there are some things that seem to make sense. I called it logic so that it would spell FEEL: feelings, evidences, experiences, logic or reason. Things like at the title page of the Book of Mormon where it says, ‘Manifesting himself unto all nations.’ Yeah, it just makes sense that Jesus would go other places and visit his people. To me, that’s logical. So I like the question, ‘How do you know?’ It helps me to ask the next question: is there a way to know truth outside the scientific method?”
Eye.
Six Weeks to Live – Will Smith Talking About His Father (Instagram):
- “I sat down with my father. The doctors told us he had six weeks to live. We talked about everything, so I said everything that I wanted to say. And we got to those six weeks and we were clear. But then he lived for another three months. So what happened was every time I saw him I was like, Oh, thank God. And then every time we said goodbye, we made sure we said a good, thorough, full goodbye, because we knew at any moment that could actually be the last goodbye. But the lesson was: it’s always like that. You should never greet someone casually or say goodbye to someone casually. And that lesson came from that experience. Every moment was so rich. Every time we saw each other was ‘ah.’ And every time we said goodbye, we made sure it was a good, thorough, full goodbye. That’s how you’re supposed to live every day anyway!”
Read.
Wasatch Front Service Mission Quarterly Conference Talk, June 20, 2024, Sister Nanci Pickett:
- “In Mark 2:1-12 we learn that Jesus was teaching in a home in Capernaum. Hearing that Jesus was nearby, four men came carrying their friend on a bed because he was ‘sick of the palsy.’ Having heard of the miracles Jesus had performed, they had faith that Jesus could heal their friend. They carried him through the crowded streets, but by the time they arrived at the house there was no room for them. These four friends were not deterred. They were creative and fearless—a combination that might equal crazy. But they were also full of faith and were determined to bring their friend to Christ. With each man on a corner of the bed, they carried their friend up some stairs to the roof. Then they broke open the roof over the room where Jesus was teaching and lowered the man down into the middle of the crowd. When Jesus saw THEIR faith, (the faith of the four friends) He said unto the sick of the palsy, ‘Thy sins be forgiven thee. Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.’ Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth. They were all amazed, and glorified God.
“What were the man’s thoughts when he realized that his friends were going to carry him up some stairs to the roof, make a hole, and then drop him down so Jesus could meet him? With four men on a narrow staircase, it would have been difficult to keep the bed level and prevent it from tipping even the slightest. We recently moved and I watched four men carry our furniture up and down stairs. I’m just glad they weren’t carrying the man with the palsy! Fortunately the four friends were able to get the man to the roof safely. But with 5 people on the roof, I’m surprised that someone didn’t fall through or that the roof didn’t completely collapse!
“What about the crowd outside the house, those who also wouldn’t fit inside the house…as they watched this scene unfold, were they shaking their heads and pointing and calling out how crazy the friends were to try such a thing?
“I don’t think these friends took the time to think through all of the logistics of the task or to consider all of the possibilities of what could go wrong. And they certainly didn’t listen to the crowd. They felt an urgency to bring their friend to Christ. And so in addition to being creative and fearless, they were focused and full of faith that if they could just get their friend to Jesus, He would heal him. What a powerful example for us.
“A young adult met with her stake president and requested the removal of her records from the Church. The stake president told her he would help her with the process, but he asked if she’d be willing to study a miracle of Jesus first—specifically, about the man with palsy who was healed after being lowered through the roof by his friends. When she came back two weeks later, she told him that she’d read those 12 verses over 50 times. By focusing on this miracle, she understood the doctrine of Jesus Christ as being her personal Savior in a way she hadn’t before. She no longer wanted to have her records removed. This sister realized she needed to find 4 people with strong gospel roots who would be willing to help her as she came back to the Church.
“She asked, ‘Who were those four people on the roof? Were they friends, family, people who didn’t have tickets to get in? You could not tell me that they didn’t try many other things than throwing a guy up on a roof with blankets and a rope ruining someone’s house, disrupting Jesus Christ in the middle of His teachings—that could not have been their first idea.’ She continued. ‘I need to find four people that will carry me to Christ and will be non-traditional and find unique ways that will work for me.’
“As missionaries we are all engaged in the work of bringing others to Christ. (And it is work! A lot of work.) We need to bring them to Christ until they are strong enough to get there on their own. The qualities exhibited by the four friends are worth considering and emulating.”
💡
When my wife, Morgan, posts my social media stories letting my followers know about new General Conference Applied episodes and which general conference addresses to study for next week, I could also have her post a question to my stories: What was your biggest takeaway from the most recent General Conference Applied episode?