Hank Smith: 00:03 Hello everyone. Welcome to another followHIM Favorites. John and I are sharing a single story to go with this week’s lesson. John, we’re in sections 49 and 50 of the Doctrine & Covenants. You’ve told me that you have a story.

John Bytheway: 00:14 I love all the stories about light. I just think light is kind of a fascinating subject.

Hank Smith: 00:19 Me too.

John Bytheway: 00:19 And Section 50 talks about light, so many everyday applications of light, which this one might have been in the last century. Do you remember Sister Margaret Nadauld?

Hank Smith: 00:29 Oh, I do. Incredible.

John Bytheway: 00:31 Yeah, incredible. Incredible. And she told this story. She said it was just a few days before Christmas. We were newlyweds traveling home for the holidays. It was a 42 hour drive by car, but that didn’t discourage us because we were so excited to be home with our families again. I mean, how many gallons of gas go along with that?

Hank Smith: 00:49 42 hours.

John Bytheway: 00:50 She said we’d been on the road all day and most of the night when we came upon a terrible snowstorm, we found ourselves in a blinding blizzard. The snow is growing deeper on the highway with each passing moment. The night was pure black. We couldn’t see where we were going, and because of the deep snow, we couldn’t see the lines on the road. This was a frightening situation. Suddenly in front of us, sister Nadauld said, we begin to see a huge semi-truck going slowly and steadily ahead.

  01:19 We could barely make out his taillights, but seeing them gave us hope. My husband, who was driving, fixed his eyes on the light from the truck. As we drove along in the tracks it made through the deepening snow. Okay, follow an example. Follow the light. Our panic subsided somewhat with that guide up ahead because he knew the route. You can hear the applications there. He sat up higher than we and could have a better view. Semi-trucks are up there right? And surely he had communication equipment if it was needed. With prayers on our lips and white knuckled hands holding on. We followed that light through the storm. We passed many cars off both sides of the road before we sensed the truck was slowing down and pulling off the highway. In an act of faith we followed him. Followed the truck off the highway and found ourselves to our great relief and a place of safety, a place of refuge. It was probably Maverick or Flying J or something.

Hank Smith: 02:28 Those are places of safety.

John Bytheway: 02:30 Yeah.

Hank Smith: 02:30 If they have good drinks.

John Bytheway: 02:32 Right, right. We were so very thankful we could hardly wait to tell the driver of the truck how grateful we were for his help for leading the way. I loved the story because he knew the route, he sat higher than we did. It’s kind of like the watchman on a tower has a better view than we do, and he had communication equipment and they followed the light to a place of safety. Back in section 50 verse 24 That which is of God is light and he that receiveth light or we could say, follows the light and continues within God receiveth more light and the light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day or until you get to Maverick or Flying J in this example. I love that verse so much. In fact, president Hinckley said it was one of his favorites. Section 50 verse 24.

Hank Smith: 03:24 Follow the light. I love it. Just right close, nice and slow and steady. Keep your eyes right on the prophet. Right on the Lord, right on the church, right on the scriptures.

John Bytheway: 03:33 Trust that they have a better view. Trust that they have a better perspective.

Hank Smith: 03:37 Yeah, and you’ll see others slide off the road, but you, you just stay on. I wonder if the truck driver got out. Why are you following me?

John Bytheway: 03:46 We came to buy you an A&W. You know? Yeah.

Hank Smith: 03:51 We hope you’ll join us on our full podcast. It’s called followHIM. You can get it wherever you get your podcast. We are with Dr. Aaron Franklin this week and he’s the closest thing we could interview to a doctor of light. He is really fun and walks us through these verses. Then come back here next week. We’ll do another followHIM Favorites.