Hank Smith: 00:02 Hello everyone. Welcome to followHIM Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I’m here with John Bytheway. This is where we tell a single story to go with each week’s Come, Follow Me lesson. John, this week we’re in Doctrine and Covenants section three, four, and five. You’ve told me you have a story prepared, I’m excited to hear it.

John Bytheway: 00:20 Yeah, it’s one that some of our listeners might’ve heard before, this little verse in section four, very oft-repeated section, “O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve with all your heart, might, mind and strength,” which sounds like all of you, right? You got to be all in. The church made a little movie years ago called Dayton’s Legs, and it all started in Arizona, there was a Teachers Quorum President whose name was Spencer, I had to look hard to find his name, but the Teachers Quorum President said to the Teachers Quorum, “Hey guys, let’s do a triathlon.” We were always doing that, right, Hank? When we were in the Teachers Quorum?

Hank Smith: 00:57 It’s always our first activity of choice.

John Bytheway: 00:59 Of course, let’s do that. All of them were excited, except they had a member of their quorum named Dayton who had cerebral palsy. They were like, “Well, what should we do for Dayton?” And Spencer was like, “No, I got it, I’m going to take him as my partner.” “Oh, well, how are you going to do the swimming part?” “Well, I’m going to put him in a little inflatable boat and I’ll tie a rope to my waist and I’ll swim that part with him.” “Well, how are you going to do the biking part?” “Well, I’ve got a trailer, I’m going to hook it up to my bike and I’m going to pull him along in this trailer.” “Oh, well, how are you going to do the running part?” “Well, I’m going to take off the trailer and push it in front of me.”

  01:33 This 15-year-old, I assume, this Teachers Quorum President, takes Dayton and runs the triathlon. The coolest thing about watching the little movie in here, and I just think this kid is serving with heart, might, mind and strength, is watching as they interviewed Dayton’s parents to imagine a Teachers Quorum President who really knows what it means to be a brother in a quorum, takes this brother with him. And he says in the article, you’ll find in New Era, article two, that towards the finish line, he says, “I was beginning to run out of strength, and then I saw Dayton smiling. That gave me the strength to be able to run past the finish line. And that was the Spirit,” he said, “Helping us to run past the finish line and finish that race.”

  02:19 And I thought, okay, I’m an old guy. This is a member of the Teachers Quorum who’s showing me what it means to serve with heart, might, mind and strength, to minister to your brothers, to push Dayton along and watch his parents’ reaction, their gratitude for a brother in the quorum who knows how to treat somebody and serve with all of this heart, might, mind, and strength. So you can find that movie. You’ve seen it before, haven’t you, Hank?

Hank Smith: 02:44 It’s beautiful.

John Bytheway: 02:46 Yeah, go find Dayton’s Legs and find a New Era article about it as well. It’ll motivate you to serve with your heart, might, mind, and strength.

Hank Smith: 02:54 John, I love that. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every young man had that type of attitude towards the less fortunate, those who are in a rough situation? There are plenty of young men that are conceited and cruel, but I’m hoping every young man listening decides to be confident and kind.

John Bytheway: 03:15 Yeah, and when you see this picture of Spencer pushing his buddy, his brother in the quorum, you see this is an athletic kid and he could have been conceited or confident and all that, but whenever I show those pictures in a PowerPoint, there’s a few sisters out there going, “Do you have his contact information? I’d like to meet that guy.”

Hank Smith: 03:38 Apparently kindness is attractive.

John Bytheway: 03:41 Yeah, yeah, something about that.

Hank Smith: 03:43 Hey, we hope you’ll join us on our full podcast, it’s called followHim. You can get it wherever you get your podcasts. We’re with Dr. Rob Eaton this week, he’s going to take on section four. He’s been a mission president, so he’s going to give a lot of wonderful advice to missionaries, so please come join us over there and then come back next week, we’ll do another followHIM Favorites.