WEBVTT
00:00:03.156 --> 00:00:04.376
Welcome to followHIM Favorites.
00:00:04.416 --> 00:00:07.656
This is where John and I share a single story to go with each week's lesson.
00:00:07.796 --> 00:00:11.036
John, we are in our fourth lesson of Isaiah, and I have a story for you.
00:00:11.196 --> 00:00:12.886
I was reading Isaiah 55.
00:00:13.016 --> 00:00:15.076
The Lord says, my ways are not your ways.
00:00:15.156 --> 00:00:16.537
My thoughts are not your thoughts.
00:00:17.057 --> 00:00:20.817
The heavens, they're higher than the earth, so are my ways than your ways.
00:00:20.857 --> 00:00:25.077
I mean, that's like, do you see the distance between the stars and the earth?
00:00:25.257 --> 00:00:26.877
It's kind of like my brain and your brain.
00:00:27.217 --> 00:00:28.437
You're going to have to trust me.
00:00:29.137 --> 00:00:30.617
I see things you can't see.
00:00:31.037 --> 00:00:37.397
Oftentimes, terrible things happen or what seemingly terrible things happen, and we think, oh no, all is lost.
00:00:38.177 --> 00:00:40.817
Well, something happened way back in the 1800s, John.
00:00:40.837 --> 00:00:45.698
It has to do with the Salt Lake Temple, which has had construction going on for the last five years.
00:00:46.178 --> 00:00:46.678
Kind of fits.
00:00:47.038 --> 00:00:48.118
It's 1857.
00:00:48.558 --> 00:00:52.738
Now, you know the days of 47, that's when the pioneers come into the Salt Lake Valley.
00:00:53.238 --> 00:00:57.658
It's July 24th, 1857, 10 years to the day.
00:00:58.158 --> 00:01:00.178
They're having an anniversary celebration.
00:01:00.638 --> 00:01:07.118
When news comes, imagine this, John, on that day that the United States Army,
00:01:07.719 --> 00:01:14.679
a third of the United States Army is coming to Utah to take care of these Mormons.
00:01:14.699 --> 00:01:15.659
That's what they call them, right?
00:01:15.699 --> 00:01:16.859
These Mormons at the time.
00:01:17.339 --> 00:01:22.319
That's a long ways for the army to go, to stop the Mormons, whatever they're doing out there, it must be awful.
00:01:22.499 --> 00:01:26.559
Incidentally, John, this is one of the reasons that the Civil War goes on so long.
00:01:27.019 --> 00:01:33.640
It's because when the Civil War starts, a third of the United States Army is out in Utah taking care of people
00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:34.740
who aren't doing anything wrong.
00:01:35.540 --> 00:01:38.940
Brigham Young, they had been building the temple, the Salt Lake Temple.
00:01:39.520 --> 00:01:44.200
It's 10 years into this process, and he says, we need to cover everything we've built.
00:01:44.620 --> 00:01:45.600
Here comes this army.
00:01:46.080 --> 00:01:48.400
So they cover the temple foundation.
00:01:48.520 --> 00:01:50.440
They completely cover it, which had to be heartbreaking.
00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:55.240
You've dug it all out, you've got all of this rock in there ready to go, and you're going to cover it up,
00:01:55.320 --> 00:01:57.900
and it's going to take a huge amount of work to uncover it one day.
00:01:58.260 --> 00:01:59.501
Maybe you never even will.
00:01:59.721 --> 00:02:03.641
You don't know if you're ever going to be able to uncover all this work that you've done.
00:02:04.541 --> 00:02:09.941
I'm getting this from a devotional by President Kevin Worthen when he was president of BYU.
00:02:10.121 --> 00:02:12.601
This is from his 2020 devotional.
00:02:13.281 --> 00:02:14.621
And he was my boss at one point.
00:02:14.701 --> 00:02:16.401
I don't think he has any idea who I am.
00:02:16.701 --> 00:02:18.361
He's a great man, President Worthen.
00:02:18.841 --> 00:02:20.241
And this is where I get this story from.
00:02:20.721 --> 00:02:24.842
When the army arrived the following year, Temple Square looked like a freshly plowed field.
00:02:25.082 --> 00:02:28.202
There was no visible evidence of the temple's construction.
00:02:28.962 --> 00:02:32.782
So the army ended up not harming the property.
00:02:33.502 --> 00:02:39.422
They marched through where they were in Salt Lake and went out down 30 miles south near Utah Lake.
00:02:39.882 --> 00:02:46.482
Even during the years that when the army was sitting in Utah, the architect's office was busy planning the shape
00:02:46.522 --> 00:02:48.982
of all these stones they would need for the temple.
00:02:49.762 --> 00:02:54.823
Then the American Civil War starts in 1861 and the army heads back out east.
00:02:55.563 --> 00:02:58.343
When they're gone, the Latter-day Saints uncovered the foundation.
00:02:58.763 --> 00:03:00.163
Here's something interesting, John.
00:03:00.383 --> 00:03:06.843
When they examined the newly uncovered foundation, they became aware that it was defective.
00:03:07.823 --> 00:03:13.983
They noticed large cracks and concluded that what they had been doing, which was the small stones held together
00:03:14.023 --> 00:03:17.524
with mortar, could not carry the massive weight of the temple.
00:03:18.304 --> 00:03:25.384
So on January 1st of 1862, Brigham Young said, we have to remove the entire foundation and replace it with one
00:03:25.524 --> 00:03:30.944
entirely made of granite and the footings would need to be 16 feet thick.
00:03:32.124 --> 00:03:37.404
Brigham Young says, "I want to see the temple built in a manner that it will endure through the millennium."
00:03:37.844 --> 00:03:40.404
I bet he'd be pretty happy with what we're about to unveil.
00:03:40.804 --> 00:03:42.185
Now, here's what President Worthen says.
00:03:43.005 --> 00:03:47.535
Now, I'm certain that Johnston's army was not a welcome site in 1857.
00:03:47.865 --> 00:03:49.565
John, I'm sure that the saints were scared.
00:03:50.045 --> 00:03:51.885
I'm sure they thought this is a disaster.
00:03:52.145 --> 00:03:52.765
All this work.
00:03:53.465 --> 00:03:58.165
Especially what had happened to them earlier when they were in the United States thought, oh, this is awful.
00:03:59.285 --> 00:04:05.865
When this danger is gone, they find out that it actually became a blessing to them because perhaps they would
00:04:05.905 --> 00:04:11.346
have never known about the cracks in the foundation if their work had not been interrupted.
00:04:11.946 --> 00:04:12.246
Stopped.
00:04:12.926 --> 00:04:18.486
John, when the Lord says, "My ways are not your ways," perhaps he's saying, you're going to have to trust me.
00:04:18.826 --> 00:04:23.926
What looks awful now may end up being a blessing later.
00:04:24.706 --> 00:04:29.086
Hank, that reminds me of that recurring skit they used to have on a show called Hee Haw.
00:04:29.726 --> 00:04:30.366
"Oh, that's bad.
00:04:30.406 --> 00:04:31.146
No, that's good."
00:04:31.186 --> 00:04:34.647
And they just go back and forth and something that you think is bad is good.
00:04:34.687 --> 00:04:36.227
And my uncle died.
00:04:36.427 --> 00:04:37.547
Oh, Roy, I'm sorry.
00:04:37.987 --> 00:04:38.647
Oh, that's bad.
00:04:38.707 --> 00:04:39.367
No, that's good.
00:04:39.427 --> 00:04:39.887
Well, why?
00:04:39.907 --> 00:04:41.287
Because he left me $50,000.
00:04:41.347 --> 00:04:42.407
Oh, that's good.
00:04:42.467 --> 00:04:43.247
No, that's bad.
00:04:43.287 --> 00:04:43.687
Well, why?
00:04:43.707 --> 00:04:46.467
Because the government took half of it.
00:04:46.487 --> 00:04:47.007
Oh, that's bad.
00:04:47.027 --> 00:04:47.447
No, that's good.
00:04:47.467 --> 00:04:47.768
Oh, why?
00:04:47.808 --> 00:04:50.368
Because I had just enough to buy an airplane I wanted.
00:04:50.468 --> 00:04:51.068
Oh, that's good.
00:04:51.128 --> 00:04:51.889
No, that's bad.
00:04:51.949 --> 00:04:54.129
I was doing a loop-de-loop and I fell out.
00:04:54.509 --> 00:04:55.149
Oh, that's bad.
00:04:55.189 --> 00:04:55.949
No, that's good.
00:04:55.969 --> 00:04:57.950
Because there was a haystack down below.
00:04:58.110 --> 00:04:59.410
Oh, that's good.
00:04:59.490 --> 00:05:00.291
No, that's bad.
00:05:00.311 --> 00:05:04.552
Because there was an upside down pitchfork in the haystack pointed at me, oh, that's bad.
00:05:05.032 --> 00:05:05.732
No, that's good.
00:05:05.852 --> 00:05:06.112
Why?
00:05:06.132 --> 00:05:07.752
Because I missed the pitchfork.
00:05:08.232 --> 00:05:08.853
Oh, that's good.
00:05:08.913 --> 00:05:11.293
No, that's bad because I missed the haystack too.
00:05:13.594 --> 00:05:14.854
And they just go back and forth.
00:05:14.874 --> 00:05:16.414
They just go back and forth forever.
00:05:16.534 --> 00:05:18.655
And that's a perfect example.
00:05:19.115 --> 00:05:25.397
What a blessing they discovered that foundation was cracked so they could do it right.
00:05:26.157 --> 00:05:26.297
Yep.
00:05:26.657 --> 00:05:31.418
So if you're going through something really difficult right now, and it is really difficult, like there's no way
00:05:31.438 --> 00:05:33.178
around it, it's a difficult thing.
00:05:33.959 --> 00:05:39.620
Just maybe, maybe stay with the Lord and you'll find out that he had a bigger plan in mind,
00:05:39.860 --> 00:05:40.660
bigger plan in mind.
00:05:40.960 --> 00:05:45.921
I remember, John, when you had your kitchen pretty much burn your house to the ground, you said,
00:05:46.122 --> 00:05:47.482
"I had to go live with my in- laws."
00:05:48.942 --> 00:05:49.582
That's bad.
00:05:51.623 --> 00:05:54.183
Well, we hope you'll join us on our full podcast of followHIM.
00:05:57.724 --> 00:05:58.725
We are with Dr.
00:05:58.925 --> 00:06:00.325
Ezra Gwilliam this week.
00:06:00.365 --> 00:06:06.806
He is from BYU, Idaho, and he gives us some impressive insights in these chapters, things I had never seen before.
00:06:07.567 --> 00:06:09.667
So join us over there and then come back here next week.
00:06:09.707 --> 00:06:11.248
We'll do another followHIM Favorites.
00:06:12.148 --> 00:06:12.948
Love my in-laws.
00:00:03.156 --> 00:00:04.376
Welcome to followHIM Favorites.
00:00:04.416 --> 00:00:07.656
This is where John and I share a single story to go with each week's lesson.
00:00:07.796 --> 00:00:11.036
John, we are in our fourth lesson of Isaiah, and I have a story for you.
00:00:11.196 --> 00:00:12.886
I was reading Isaiah 55.
00:00:13.016 --> 00:00:15.076
The Lord says, my ways are not your ways.
00:00:15.156 --> 00:00:16.537
My thoughts are not your thoughts.
00:00:17.057 --> 00:00:20.817
The heavens, they're higher than the earth, so are my ways than your ways.
00:00:20.857 --> 00:00:25.077
I mean, that's like, do you see the distance between the stars and the earth?
00:00:25.257 --> 00:00:26.877
It's kind of like my brain and your brain.
00:00:27.217 --> 00:00:28.437
You're going to have to trust me.
00:00:29.137 --> 00:00:30.617
I see things you can't see.
00:00:31.037 --> 00:00:37.397
Oftentimes, terrible things happen or what seemingly terrible things happen, and we think, oh no, all is lost.
00:00:38.177 --> 00:00:40.817
Well, something happened way back in the 1800s, John.
00:00:40.837 --> 00:00:45.698
It has to do with the Salt Lake Temple, which has had construction going on for the last five years.
00:00:46.178 --> 00:00:46.678
Kind of fits.
00:00:47.038 --> 00:00:48.118
It's 1857.
00:00:48.558 --> 00:00:52.738
Now, you know the days of 47, that's when the pioneers come into the Salt Lake Valley.
00:00:53.238 --> 00:00:57.658
It's July 24th, 1857, 10 years to the day.
00:00:58.158 --> 00:01:00.178
They're having an anniversary celebration.
00:01:00.638 --> 00:01:07.118
When news comes, imagine this, John, on that day that the United States Army,
00:01:07.719 --> 00:01:14.679
a third of the United States Army is coming to Utah to take care of these Mormons.
00:01:14.699 --> 00:01:15.659
That's what they call them, right?
00:01:15.699 --> 00:01:16.859
These Mormons at the time.
00:01:17.339 --> 00:01:22.319
That's a long ways for the army to go, to stop the Mormons, whatever they're doing out there, it must be awful.
00:01:22.499 --> 00:01:26.559
Incidentally, John, this is one of the reasons that the Civil War goes on so long.
00:01:27.019 --> 00:01:33.640
It's because when the Civil War starts, a third of the United States Army is out in Utah taking care of people
00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:34.740
who aren't doing anything wrong.
00:01:35.540 --> 00:01:38.940
Brigham Young, they had been building the temple, the Salt Lake Temple.
00:01:39.520 --> 00:01:44.200
It's 10 years into this process, and he says, we need to cover everything we've built.
00:01:44.620 --> 00:01:45.600
Here comes this army.
00:01:46.080 --> 00:01:48.400
So they cover the temple foundation.
00:01:48.520 --> 00:01:50.440
They completely cover it, which had to be heartbreaking.
00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:55.240
You've dug it all out, you've got all of this rock in there ready to go, and you're going to cover it up,
00:01:55.320 --> 00:01:57.900
and it's going to take a huge amount of work to uncover it one day.
00:01:58.260 --> 00:01:59.501
Maybe you never even will.
00:01:59.721 --> 00:02:03.641
You don't know if you're ever going to be able to uncover all this work that you've done.
00:02:04.541 --> 00:02:09.941
I'm getting this from a devotional by President Kevin Worthen when he was president of BYU.
00:02:10.121 --> 00:02:12.601
This is from his 2020 devotional.
00:02:13.281 --> 00:02:14.621
And he was my boss at one point.
00:02:14.701 --> 00:02:16.401
I don't think he has any idea who I am.
00:02:16.701 --> 00:02:18.361
He's a great man, President Worthen.
00:02:18.841 --> 00:02:20.241
And this is where I get this story from.
00:02:20.721 --> 00:02:24.842
When the army arrived the following year, Temple Square looked like a freshly plowed field.
00:02:25.082 --> 00:02:28.202
There was no visible evidence of the temple's construction.
00:02:28.962 --> 00:02:32.782
So the army ended up not harming the property.
00:02:33.502 --> 00:02:39.422
They marched through where they were in Salt Lake and went out down 30 miles south near Utah Lake.
00:02:39.882 --> 00:02:46.482
Even during the years that when the army was sitting in Utah, the architect's office was busy planning the shape
00:02:46.522 --> 00:02:48.982
of all these stones they would need for the temple.
00:02:49.762 --> 00:02:54.823
Then the American Civil War starts in 1861 and the army heads back out east.
00:02:55.563 --> 00:02:58.343
When they're gone, the Latter-day Saints uncovered the foundation.
00:02:58.763 --> 00:03:00.163
Here's something interesting, John.
00:03:00.383 --> 00:03:06.843
When they examined the newly uncovered foundation, they became aware that it was defective.
00:03:07.823 --> 00:03:13.983
They noticed large cracks and concluded that what they had been doing, which was the small stones held together
00:03:14.023 --> 00:03:17.524
with mortar, could not carry the massive weight of the temple.
00:03:18.304 --> 00:03:25.384
So on January 1st of 1862, Brigham Young said, we have to remove the entire foundation and replace it with one
00:03:25.524 --> 00:03:30.944
entirely made of granite and the footings would need to be 16 feet thick.
00:03:32.124 --> 00:03:37.404
Brigham Young says, "I want to see the temple built in a manner that it will endure through the millennium."
00:03:37.844 --> 00:03:40.404
I bet he'd be pretty happy with what we're about to unveil.
00:03:40.804 --> 00:03:42.185
Now, here's what President Worthen says.
00:03:43.005 --> 00:03:47.535
Now, I'm certain that Johnston's army was not a welcome site in 1857.
00:03:47.865 --> 00:03:49.565
John, I'm sure that the saints were scared.
00:03:50.045 --> 00:03:51.885
I'm sure they thought this is a disaster.
00:03:52.145 --> 00:03:52.765
All this work.
00:03:53.465 --> 00:03:58.165
Especially what had happened to them earlier when they were in the United States thought, oh, this is awful.
00:03:59.285 --> 00:04:05.865
When this danger is gone, they find out that it actually became a blessing to them because perhaps they would
00:04:05.905 --> 00:04:11.346
have never known about the cracks in the foundation if their work had not been interrupted.
00:04:11.946 --> 00:04:12.246
Stopped.
00:04:12.926 --> 00:04:18.486
John, when the Lord says, "My ways are not your ways," perhaps he's saying, you're going to have to trust me.
00:04:18.826 --> 00:04:23.926
What looks awful now may end up being a blessing later.
00:04:24.706 --> 00:04:29.086
Hank, that reminds me of that recurring skit they used to have on a show called Hee Haw.
00:04:29.726 --> 00:04:30.366
"Oh, that's bad.
00:04:30.406 --> 00:04:31.146
No, that's good."
00:04:31.186 --> 00:04:34.647
And they just go back and forth and something that you think is bad is good.
00:04:34.687 --> 00:04:36.227
And my uncle died.
00:04:36.427 --> 00:04:37.547
Oh, Roy, I'm sorry.
00:04:37.987 --> 00:04:38.647
Oh, that's bad.
00:04:38.707 --> 00:04:39.367
No, that's good.
00:04:39.427 --> 00:04:39.887
Well, why?
00:04:39.907 --> 00:04:41.287
Because he left me $50,000.
00:04:41.347 --> 00:04:42.407
Oh, that's good.
00:04:42.467 --> 00:04:43.247
No, that's bad.
00:04:43.287 --> 00:04:43.687
Well, why?
00:04:43.707 --> 00:04:46.467
Because the government took half of it.
00:04:46.487 --> 00:04:47.007
Oh, that's bad.
00:04:47.027 --> 00:04:47.447
No, that's good.
00:04:47.467 --> 00:04:47.768
Oh, why?
00:04:47.808 --> 00:04:50.368
Because I had just enough to buy an airplane I wanted.
00:04:50.468 --> 00:04:51.068
Oh, that's good.
00:04:51.128 --> 00:04:51.889
No, that's bad.
00:04:51.949 --> 00:04:54.129
I was doing a loop-de-loop and I fell out.
00:04:54.509 --> 00:04:55.149
Oh, that's bad.
00:04:55.189 --> 00:04:55.949
No, that's good.
00:04:55.969 --> 00:04:57.950
Because there was a haystack down below.
00:04:58.110 --> 00:04:59.410
Oh, that's good.
00:04:59.490 --> 00:05:00.291
No, that's bad.
00:05:00.311 --> 00:05:04.552
Because there was an upside down pitchfork in the haystack pointed at me, oh, that's bad.
00:05:05.032 --> 00:05:05.732
No, that's good.
00:05:05.852 --> 00:05:06.112
Why?
00:05:06.132 --> 00:05:07.752
Because I missed the pitchfork.
00:05:08.232 --> 00:05:08.853
Oh, that's good.
00:05:08.913 --> 00:05:11.293
No, that's bad because I missed the haystack too.
00:05:13.594 --> 00:05:14.854
And they just go back and forth.
00:05:14.874 --> 00:05:16.414
They just go back and forth forever.
00:05:16.534 --> 00:05:18.655
And that's a perfect example.
00:05:19.115 --> 00:05:25.397
What a blessing they discovered that foundation was cracked so they could do it right.
00:05:26.157 --> 00:05:26.297
Yep.
00:05:26.657 --> 00:05:31.418
So if you're going through something really difficult right now, and it is really difficult, like there's no way
00:05:31.438 --> 00:05:33.178
around it, it's a difficult thing.
00:05:33.959 --> 00:05:39.620
Just maybe, maybe stay with the Lord and you'll find out that he had a bigger plan in mind,
00:05:39.860 --> 00:05:40.660
bigger plan in mind.
00:05:40.960 --> 00:05:45.921
I remember, John, when you had your kitchen pretty much burn your house to the ground, you said,
00:05:46.122 --> 00:05:47.482
"I had to go live with my in- laws."
00:05:48.942 --> 00:05:49.582
That's bad.
00:05:51.623 --> 00:05:54.183
Well, we hope you'll join us on our full podcast of followHIM.
00:05:57.724 --> 00:05:58.725
We are with Dr.
00:05:58.925 --> 00:06:00.325
Ezra Gwilliam this week.
00:06:00.365 --> 00:06:06.806
He is from BYU, Idaho, and he gives us some impressive insights in these chapters, things I had never seen before.
00:06:07.567 --> 00:06:09.667
So join us over there and then come back here next week.
00:06:09.707 --> 00:06:11.248
We'll do another followHIM Favorites.
00:06:12.148 --> 00:06:12.948
Love my in-laws.
