Hank Smith: 00:03 Hello, welcome to followHIM Favorites. This is where John and I are sharing a single story to go with each week’s lesson. John, we are in section 45 this week, and I have a story that I think fits really well with verses 34 and 35. The Lord says, he’s talking about the second coming and he seems to know that people are going to be scared and nervous and frustrated. He says, this is what I told my disciples, and I’m going to tell it to you too. Be not troubled, for when these things shall come to pass you may know that the promises which have been made unto you shall be fulfilled. He says it over and over in the section. Listen to me, hearken to me, hearken ye people over and over. He is saying, just trust me. So here’s my story, John. I think you know this, that I grew up the son of a golf professional.

  00:51 I don’t know if you’ve ever forced your hobbies on your kids, but that’s all we did it seemed was golf growing up. I grew up in St. George. It was quite hot a lot, but my dad still wanted to go golf and he tried to teach us life’s lessons in golf. There’s one time, it’s just him and me. We’re playing this par five on the back nine at Southgate Golf course. I don’t even know if the hole is still there. It’s this really long hole. But John, you golf a little bit on a par five. If you can get to the green in three, you have a chance for a birdie putt.

John Bytheway: 01:24 To two putt. Yeah.

Hank Smith: 01:25 No not to two putt to one putt. You can one putt

John Bytheway: 01:29 to two putt to par. One putt. Yeah.

Hank Smith: 01:31 Birdie. This is a chance to get a birdie on a par five.

  01:33 The problem is on this green is there’s this big hill in the middle of the green. Usually the cup where you’re going to try to putt the ball was down below. And the one place you didn’t want to be was up above it because there was a hill there. If you land above it, it’s impossible to put it into the cup because it’s just going to pass it because it’s on this hill, this big hill. So I hit it up on the green in three, and you gotta climb up there to see where you landed it. And I landed it right on the edge of the hill. I know what’s going to happen is I’m going to putt this ball, it’s going to hit this downward hill and just fly off the front. It does it every single time. I sat there and I looked at it and I thought maybe if I just tap it, it doesn’t matter.

  02:16 The hill is so steep, the ball would just pick up speed. I swear it’s going like 40 miles an hour by the time it flies down past the hole. And you know, John, you’ve seen golf balls defy the laws of physics. They go right over the top of the hole. I was right on. It just went right over the top, like there was a piece of glass or something over the hole. So I stand up there to putt, and my dad, who’s a golf professional, he said, what are you going to do? And I said, well, I’m going to tap it down the hill. And he said, well, you know, that’s not going to work. And I said, I know, but what else am I going to do? As the golf professional he said, here, do this. And he looked at the green as if he was studying it for something, studying all this grass.

  02:58 He said, what I want you to do, he walked away from the hole and he put his foot down and he said, I want you to hit the ball right here, right to my foot. John. It was away from the hole. And I’m like, okay, that’ll work. Are you kidding? That’s the wrong way. We went back and forth. He said, no, this is better. And I said, dad, at least this way, the ball’s going towards the hole. And he went, no, no. Listen to me. And I’m like, dad, I’m not going to do this. And then he stopped me, John, I still remember this. He stopped me and he said, Hey, who do you think knows more about this? Me or you?

John Bytheway: 03:35 Do I have to answer?

Hank Smith: 03:38 Yeah. I think I was 15 at the time. And I said, well, you know, he had golfed for something like 60 years as professionally, and I had been golfing for never really professionally.

  03:50 And I said, I think we’re about equal, right? He laughed and he said, just trust me. I promise you I know more about this than you do. Hmm. And I said, okay. So I thought, well, what do I got to lose? I looked at his foot, which again, John was a long ways away from the hole. I putted the ball right towards his foot as it’s making its way. It’s a long ways. It’s a good 15, 20 feet to his foot. But I hit it really well. And the ball headed right to his foot. And just about as it was getting to his toe, it didn’t touch his toe. It turned John and it turned back towards the hole because of the slope of the ground, which my dad understood because he was the professional. I didn’t understand. It’s called the lie, I think of the green.

  04:38 Anyway, John, it turns all the way around and it’s now going back towards the hole like in front of me. I’m watching this ball go back in front of me. It’s slowing down, it’s slowing down, and it’s turning and it’s turning and it gets right to the edge of the hole and sits there for a second and drops in. And John, I went crazy. I threw my hands in the air. I ran around the green. I got the putter above me. Woohoo! And I look over and my dad is running around the back of the green with his hands up. And we run all the way around the green, and we meet right where I had been standing. We hug and we laugh. And my dad says, that is the greatest putt I have ever seen in my life. And I said, well, you are the one that told me to do it. And he said, yeah, but I didn’t think you’d make it.

  05:33 We celebrated. And it was really hot outside. There wasn’t anybody else playing. So we got to, John, I don’t know if you’ve ever done this, but we got to go over it and over it and over it. And then we did this, and we did that. You’re going to have to see it one day in the tapes of heaven because it is going to be in the top 10 golf plays

John Bytheway: 05:48 Yeah. I wanna see it.

Hank Smith: 05:48 Of all time. If Heavenly Father has the top 10 golf plays ever, it’s going to be this random little kid in St. George, Utah. John, now, fast forward to 2021. My father’s getting older. He had had a stroke, he had cancer. But we had just been to the doctor on a Monday, and the doctor gave us really good news. He said, Hey, you’re responding really well to my dad, to the immunotherapy, his treatment.

  06:14 The doctor said, I don’t think I’m going to need to see you for at least four months. And we thought, oh good. John, it was just three days later that I got the phone call that my father had passed away in the night. He had fallen asleep and passed away. He did have cancer, and he was a little older. But I felt really kind of upset that we had gotten all that good news on Monday. John, I know you’re not like this, but I said a little bit of a prayer of frustration. I knelt down, I’m starting to take care of everything, the funeral arrangements and trying to help my mom. And I was pretty frustrated. And I knelt down in my bedroom and I told Heavenly Father all the reasons why this was not a good idea. And why the timing was bad, why did I get all this news about this?

  06:57 And I was really not listening very well, but I was doing a lot of talking. You know me well, I am not someone who hears things very often, but I really did hear this, John, in my head, I heard this voice that said, Hey, who do you think knows more about this. Me or you?

John Bytheway: 07:16 Hmm. Wow.

Hank Smith: 07:18 And I went, well, you know, I do have this big podcast, right? And I said, you, of course, obviously you know more. The idea was just like my dad on that green, I know more about this. Trust me, I decided to take a deep breath and say, okay. I remember I went into the kitchen and I said to my kids, Hey, we need to get ready. We’re going to celebrate Grandpa’s life this week. And kind of accepted the fact that God knows more about this than I do.

  07:49 It came back to me, John, when I read this verse, section 45, verse 35, be not troubled for when all these things shall come to pass. You will know that the promises I have made to you have been fulfilled. And I could almost hear at the end of verse 35. So you’re going to have to trust me. John one day I’m going to see my dad in the celestial kingdom and we’re going to talk about that golf shot. And he’ll be so happy to see me. And I’ll say, why are you so happy to see me? And I think he’s going to say those same things, John. I didn’t think you were going to make it right?

John Bytheway: 08:22 That’s good. Oh, ye of little faith.

Hank Smith: 08:30 Oh, ye of little faith. I made it. I made it. So don’t you think, John, we’re going to have to trust the Lord?

John Bytheway: 08:36 Easier said than done. But yeah, I love that little message. Who do you think knows more about this?

Hank Smith: 08:42 We hope you’ll join us on our full podcast. It’s called followHIM. You can get it wherever you get your podcast. We’re with Professor Shima Baughman this week. She is a lawyer from Iran who has fun stories both about being from Iran and also from being a lawyer, talking about how the Lord is our advocate, our lawyer, and then come back here next week. We’ll do another followHIM Favorites.