Listen and Obey: A Word of Caution

I'm going to share a story from my life and compare it to the gospel.

Here it goes....

One particularly cold winter night, in the frozen plains of Southern Alberta the place that I call home, some friends and I set out on a journey. Our quest was simple. Find the biggest hill in town with snow on it and slide down it. So off we went. We drove down by the river bottom and gazed over the landscape before us. There were hills all around, but our eyes settled on a specific group. "The Dump". These hills were obviously used for land waste, but also used for dirt biking in the summer time. there were plenty of steep hills around and I knew them well. My friends and I would ride up and down the hills on our mountain bikes when we were younger. The hills looked a little different now covered in a thick layer of white snow, in fact they looked even bigger. These were the ones! 

We parked the car and started our long walk towards the hills. You couldn't access them from the roads, and so we trudged through the snow and brush. We passed a few small hills here and there, still searching for the one we would descend. As we continued our walk through the night we came to a frozen pond.

There was the first red flag.

"Stop!" the thought flashed in my mind but quickly followed by my own rebuttal "Don't be a wuss. Its frozen solid!" I looked at my friends, smiled, and stated our friendship motto out loud. 

"Punk ain't dead. You only live once!"

and without hesitation I was on my stomach, crossing the cold pond surface. I had learned that Polar bears would crawl on their belly across frozen lakes and not fall through, if a polar bear can do it so can I! I was about half way across before the others began to follow. As we all got to the other side and stood up to continue on I thought to myself  "See! I knew the ice wouldn't break!"

We climbed a few more gentle hills and eventually found ourselves staring down what must have been the biggest hill in the dump. The bottom looked a long, long ways away. A chill of excitement went through me, and then another feeling came shortly after that.

"Don't go down the hill"

  "But it looks like so much fun! I have too!"

"No, don't do it."

I pushed the thought from my mind and with that I sat down on my sled, which was nothing more than a thin piece of plastic that resembled the lid of a garbage can. I inched my way closer to the edge, and with a glance back at my friends worried faces I pushed off and yelled...

"PUNK AIN'T DEAD!"

It was fun! It was fast! too fast. and cold and hard. The snow on the hill wasn't snow at all, it was ice! I slid faster and faster, more and more out of control, I was no longer facing forwards towards the bottom of the hill. I hit something, a bump and it bucked me off the sled (The thing had broken to pieces anyways) and I tumbled over and over until I hit the bottom. 

I stood up after a little while. I could hear the cheers from my friends above. I smiled, but that quickly faded as I felt a throbbing in my head, and I looked down and saw drops of bright red blood on the white floor beneath me. I reached up to where the pain was coming from and felt the heat and the stinky fluid of the blood. I shouted to my friends.

"Stop! Don't come down!"

They didn't listen of course. They came down going much slower than I did, making sure to stay in control and to drag their feet the whole way down. They helped pick up my shattered sled and we made our way back to the car.

At the Hospital.

I was fine in the end, just a few minor scrapes and a huge head ache but I learned my lesson. Actually the lesson I learned on the icy hill and the adventure of "Danger Sledding" was actually taught to me and learned long before that night. I have learned in church and through my own scripture study this important message.

Elder Boyd K. Packer President of the Quorum of the twelve Apostles said in his talk titled 'Personal Revelation: The Gift, The Test, The Promise'

"[The] voice of the Spirit speaks gently, prompting you what to do or what to say, or it may caution or warn you. Ignore or disobey these promptings, and the Spirit will leave you. It is your choice..."

I chose to disregard the warnings and cautions that the Spirit gave to me, and because I acted against those feelings, I in the end was hurt, whereas it could have been avoided. This taught me that God is mindful of us. He knows what we are doing and He knows the course our actions will take. He loves us enough to let us make our own choices, but he also loves us enough to warn us of danger. Those spiritual promptings that I felt that night would have saved me a trip to the hospital and a major head ache. I chose to ignore my Heavenly Fathers protection because I thought I knew better. I didn't trust God, and I should have! I ignored the revelation that God was giving me, that there was danger ahead.

 I chose to ignore the Lords warning. I lacked the faith that i needed to see that there really was danger in what I thought was fun. If I would have seen what He could see I would have listened. So how can we see how He sees?

Elder packer goes on to say " The flow of revelation depends on your faith. You exercise faith by causing, or by making, your mind accept or believe as truth that which you cannot, by reason alone, prove for certainty...

...As you test gospel principles by believing without knowing, the Spirit will begin to teach you. Gradually your faith will be replaced with knowledge.

You will be able to discern, or to see, with spiritual eyes.

Be believing and your faith will be constantly replenished, your knowledge of the truth increased, and your testimony of the Redeemer, of the Resurrection, of the Restoration will be as “a well of living water, springing up unto everlasting life.” You may then receive guidance on practical decisions in everyday life."

I invite all of you to follow Elder Packer's advice and "Be believing." Have the faith to follow the Lord even if you can't see. Trust the Lord. He loves us, and cares about us. As we exercise our faith in Him and follow his promptings He will bless us more with his spirit, to guide and direct us for good.

I know that this is true, and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.