Hank Smith:                      00:03                   Welcome to followHIM Favorites. This is where John and I share a single story to go with each week’s Come, Follow Me lesson. John, we’re in the final lesson of Psalms. You have a story.

John Bytheway:               00:12                   I do. Hank, I know you love Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin. I’ve heard you talk about some of his stories before. I was looking at the Psalm that is kind of well known, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet.” Psalm 119 verse 105. I love the idea of light to your feet symbolically. This is so you’ll know where to go and your path in life. So Elder Wirthlin said, “In my younger days, I’d love to run. Although it may be hard for you to believe it, I did win a few races. I’m not so fast anymore. In fact, I’m not sure how well I would do in a race if the only contestants were the members of the Quorum of the Twelve.” I’d like to see that. He said, “My ability to run is not so swift now. While I’m looking forward to the future time when with a resurrected body, I can once again sprint over a field and feel the wind blowing through my hair. I do not dwell on the fact that I cannot do it now. That would be unwise.”

Hank Smith:                      01:07                   He had no hair. Right.

John Bytheway:               01:09                   He talked about John Wooden, who was the greatest basketball coach in the history of the game. Remember him, Hank? UCLA, legendary coach.

Hank Smith:                      01:16                   Amazing.

John Bytheway:               01:18                   Four full undefeated seasons, 10 national championships, a streak of 88 consecutive wins. And he told his players, “Don’t worry about trying to be better than someone else. Learn from others. Don’t try to be better than they are. You have no control over that. Try very hard to be the best that you can be. That you have control over.” Then Elder Wirthlin said, “Let me cite a hypothetical example of a dear sister in any ward.” And I was like, “Wait, hypothetical of a dear…” Okay, so it’s not a real person. “Let me cite a hypothetical example of a dear sister in any ward, the one who has perfect children, who never cause a disturbance in church. She’s the one working on the 20th generation in her family history. Keeps an immaculate home, has memorized the book of Mark and makes wool sweaters for orphan children in Romania.

                                           02:15                   No disrespect, of course, intended for any of those worthy goals. Now, when you get tempted to throw your hands in the air and give up because of this dear sister, please remember you’re not competing with her any more than I’m competing with other members of the Quorum of the Twelve in winning a 50-yard dash. The only thing you need to worry about is striving to be the best you can be. And how do you do that? You keep your eye on the goals that matter and you move forward towards them step by step. Truly, God’s word, through scriptures and modern day prophets is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.”

Hank Smith:                      02:53                   I love it. The Lord’s like, just take another step.

John Bytheway:               02:56                   Don’t look sideways. You do the best you can. Take another step.

Hank Smith:                      03:00                   Love your path. Focus on it. I love it. We hope you’ll join us on our full podcast. It’s called followHIM. You can get it wherever you get your podcasts. We are with Dr. Michael Ballam this week. Now, if you don’t know who that is and you’re a member of the church, ask your grandma. She will know who Dr. Michael Ballam is. You’ll want to come over for Dr. Ballam. He is an opera singer. He does some singing on our show. It’s really fun. Then come back here next week. We’ll do another followHIM Favorites.