Sprinting Towards Eternal Salvation

This weekend is general conference. We had all planned to watch all the sessions from home, but last night Nathan and Matthew were given an unexpected opportunity to attend the Saturday evening session in the conference center. Kyle, one of Nathan’s roommates from last fall, called Nathan yesterday afternoon. He was downtown and had become the sole possessor of four tickets for last night’s session. He invited Nathan to attend, told him Matthew was included in the invitation, and told them they needed to be in the conference center in just under an hour. It is a good 35 minutes from our house to downtown. Add time to change clothes, park and walk to the conference center, and the time was very short indeed. But Nathan was not going to turn down an opportunity to see conference live, so he and Matthew both changed as fast as they could and headed out the door just minutes after the phone call ended with the hope that they could make it in time.

We got a message from Nathan just minutes before the 6:30 deadline letting us know that they had squeaked in just in time. They had pretty much run from the parking garage to the conference center and poor Matthew, whose legs are half as long as Nathan’s, had to sprint to keep up. In fact, by the time they got to their seats, he had to pull out his inhaler. But they made it! Stevie, another of Nathan’s previous roomies, was also invited so there were four of them.

This was the first time Matthew has had the opportunity to attend a session in person, so he was super glad that things worked in their favor. Nathan loved the atmosphere in the auditorium and specifically commented on how amazing it was to hear all conversations stop and watch as all in attendance stood as the prophet entered the room. I’ve experienced that same occurrence, and the sense of reverence is akin to being in the temple. Seriously, you can feel the righteous power those men who are prophets and apostles hold as they arrive. 

I’m so glad two of my boys were able to have such a great experience. And I’m even more glad that the opportunity to have such an experience was important enough for them to drop everything and run to get there. I would hope that they, and me and the remainder of my family, would always be ready to change directions on a moment’s notice and sprint towards the Savior at top speed. I guess that’s another metaphor for how I want to live my life-I want to be ready and willing to drop everything and run as fast as I can to do whatever the Lord asks of me. I know I’m not there yet. There are still times when I move forward more reluctantly than I should, but I’m a work in progress and hopefully my desire to be better will help me make those changes one day, one invitation and one sprint at a time.