A major concern in my life has been whether I have been accomplishing the things the Lord would have me do. Am I on the right path? This was a particular concern when I had been a graduate school seemingly forever, wondering if I was doing anything useful.
The Lord speaks to each one of us in his own way: a feeling, a circumstance, a scripture, a friend, a sunset. This time the Lord chose to use a calling.
When Julie and I married, I was nearly immediately called to be the Cub Scoutmaster, Akela. Julie and I attended a ward temple night and the first counselor in the ward bishopric caught me in the Celestial room and asked me to serve in the scouts. A year later, they asked me to serve as Scoutmaster. The entire time we were in Orem I was in Cub Scouts or Scouts.
The trend continued when we lived in Provo. I served in the Scouts, as the Varsity Scout coach, ward and stake activities chair and committee member, ward choir, sports, hometeacher, all service-type callings.
I enjoyed the callings. Boy Scouts was especially instructional and rewarding. As a boy, I attended Scouts during the winter months. My parents’ penchant for 6-week summer vacations in Yellowstone precluded participation in summer Scout camps. As Scout master, I enjoyed the experience year after year after year. I was particularly inspired by the example of Richard Henry, who as the Scout Committee Chairman would spend the summer camp with me. Other callings were equally beneficial. I enjoyed sports. Leading the sports activities was educational, s well as, rewarding. I learned that just because people want to do something doesn’t mean they will.
The point was that I never presided. I was never called to a position of so-called recognition in the church. I loved and appreciated the callings, but there was no particular message in the calls, other than the call to serve and grow.
It was similar when I was single . I had been involved in a variety of callings that helped me grow and where, hopefully, I was able to serve. A change in callings were just a change of where I might serve. I did not expect much from a new calling.
Therefore, I was surprised by two callings that happened toward the end of our stay in Provo. Not so much by being called, but by its impact on my life.
The first call was in 1993, as I was finishing up my graduate work. My graduate work had gone o seemingly forever, and I wondered if I had frittered away time vital to the progression of my family and me by not focusing better on the graduate work. I was also uncertain about the future. Finances were tight because the department had stopped paying me, hoping to motivate me, and I was contemplating started a business with a partner, Craig Eatough, and my advisor, Doug Smoot. Was I doing the right thing? Was I being true to my family?
It was at this time that I was interviewed and called to be a member of the Stake High Council in the Bonneville Stake. With that calling, I was made a High Priest.
In many ways, this calling was no different from serving in the Scouts, in the nursery, or on the activities committee, indeed, one of my assignments was the Stake Activities Committee.
But this calling was not only a calling. It was the Lord telling me that the path I was on and had taken my family along was acceptable to the Lord. The blessing from Stake President DeLoy Young touched my heart and soul. Though definitely, but taken as vindication of what I had or hadn’t done, but rather the Lord telling me that all was well.
I enjoyed my service in the Stake . The people who serve in the church are truly saints and try so hard to help out. As a member of the Stake High Council, I had the opportunity to sit in bishopric meetings, attend stake Primary presidncy meetings, participate in stake roadshows, basketball tournaments, and high priests group meetings. I learned to love fellow members of the high council, members of other wards, and individuals brought to stake disciplinary councils.
I also learned that the Lord was the leader of the church. Calls were pondered, prayed over, discussed and debated. And the Lord defined what should be done. It was wonderful to see the inspiration work and how names and people fit together like a great network, a great puzzle.
Which leads to the second calling. Knowing how the Lord works, and how names are given by the Lord to call, I was surprised when soon after I had accepted a job at Pratt & Whitney, I was called to be second counselor in the bishopric. The stake knew I was going to leave in four months, the bishop should have known as well, and the Lord certainly knew. Yet I was called and was of course willing to serve.
What a wonderful education. I puzzled how I really contribute, but I was certainly willing.
In this ward, there was very high turnover every start of the school year. Quickly we had to staff many of the callings of the ward. I remember one calling in particular. We were looking for that ever-hard-to-fill position of activities chairman. In Bishopric meeting, my mind was directed to the names of a husband and wife who had just moved in the ward. I didn’t know them but felt impressed to call them. The rest of the bishopric agreed.
I was a bit hesitant when I went to their home to call them. I talked to them briefly and explained why I was there. I called them and saw them respond so positively. The husband had served in a singles stake activities committee and had really enjoyed the experience. It was almost a dream of theirs to be called to this position. The Lord knew.
I have wondered often why I was called to serve in a bishopric for four months. I’m certain that I don’t know the entire story. But for me, the calling served as an education and a testimony. I had witnessed the calling of people while in the high council, in the ward I had a chance to call and know the inspiration. In the high council, I had a chance to participate on a stake audit committee, in the ward I had a chance to accept tithing, count the contributions, and take the funds to the bank. In the high council, I sat in bishopric meetings, in the ward, I was in the bishopric.
Many times afterwards, as I served on other high councils, and in other callings, I could refer back to those experiences. And I could testify with no question that the Lord was in charge of His church and His callings.
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