Religious

My Farewell

"Like all great mysteries, this story begins with a corpse. On January 13, 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 smashed nose-first into the rock-solid ice covering the Potomac River just outside Washington, D.C. To horrified onlookers, it seemed impossible that anyone could be alive inside the mangled steel carcass slowly vanishing into the water. But one by one, six survivors gasped to the surface and grabbed desperately at the tail of the plane.

They'd had to swim up past their dead friends, seatmates, and spouses to escape. They knew that unless they were pulled out, fast, they'd soon be sinking back down to join them. Just hanging on was agony: The six survivors had fractured arms, shattered legs, and their hands were freezing into claws that slipped from the wet steel.

"Help us!" they screamed. "We're going to die out here!"

They were only 40 or so yards from the Virginia shore but surrounded by an arctic nightmare of jagged ice. Pushing a rescue boat into those shards would be suicide. Piloting a chopper into the whipping snowstorm would be nearly as risky - that's what brought the plane down in the first place.

Would-be rescuers yanked ladders off utility trucks and tried stretching them across the ice. They knotted scarves and fan belts into makeshift ropes and dangled them from the 14th Street Bridge. One man even tried dog-paddling through the ice chunks, hauling a jury-rigged rescue rope along with him. He couldn't get close and was nearly unconscious by the time he was dragged back in.

Twenty minutes after the crash, the sun was going down, and no one had been able to reach the six survivors. They were doomed...until suddenly, miraculously, a rescue chopper came whisking across the darkening sky. It dropped a life ring right into the hands of one of the survivors and plucked him from the water. Then things turned really strange.

The next person to receive the ring handed it over to someone else. The chopper lifted her to safety, then wheeled back.

The same man gave away the ring again.

And again.

And again.

He even gave it away when he knew it was his last chance to survive. He must have known, because when the chopper thundered back seconds later, he was gone. The man in the water had vanished beneath the ice.

Who was he? But far more perplexing: Why was he? Why would anyone put the lives of strangers ahead of their own? He couldn't even see the faces of the people he was saving, because they were on the opposite side of the wreckage, yet he made a sacrifice for them that their best friends might have refused.

The one man who knew for sure was now at the bottom of the Potomac."

This story of perfect love and sacrifice reminds me of one of my favorite versus in the New Testament: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

Today I've been tasked to speak on the topic of sacrifice.
I've pondered about what sacrifice is and how it applies to us while preparing for this talk. I've come to the conclusion that sacrifice is a true principal of the gospel. At least it is for me. You see without sacrifice, there would be no salvation. We all know what sacrifice is. Every morning our alarm clocks go off and we are immediately required to make a sacrifice. Get up out of our warm comfy bed where we are happy and get started with the chores of the day, which inevitably are not as appealing as our bed. I know that many times in my life, I've hit that snooze button way too much, avoiding the sacrifice I need to make every morning. That's just a very simple example of a sacrifice we all face each day.
A more complex example is that of my father, over the years, I watched him build a business. A business in which he sacrificed EVERTHING to build. So much so that I've often asked myself, was the sacrifice worth it? It Seemed like a heavy price to pay, but nevertheless, my dad understands how to sacrifice and I've seen first hand how his hard work has paid off.
As I've prepared over the last several years for my mission, I too have had to make several sacrifices. Such as choices of where I spend my time, who I am friends with and the activities in which I would participate in. I can't say that I always made the right choices, but I'm here now, and I think I did ok.

While further delving into this topic and searching for how Heavenly Father wants us to sacrifice. I came across a wonderful talk given by Neil A. Maxwell, from the quorum of twelve, during General Conference April 1995 where he said: "so it is, that real personal sacrifice, never was placing an animal on the alter. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the alter and letting it be consumed. Such is the sacrifice unto the Lord of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. For the denial of self precedeces is the full acceptance of Him."

True to Elder Maxwell's form, this is a deep and profound statement, but what is he really saying?

For me I would say that God asks us to sacrifice the natural man, and his carnal tendencies that lie within us in order to follow him and his son in righteousness.
Elder Maxwell's words also remind me the Profit; Mosiah, in which he said: For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticing's of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

The ultimate example of Sacrifice is without question that of our Heavenly Father who allowed His only begotten Son, to suffer at the hands of liars, who bore false witness upon Him, and tried Him in a mock court. Who then turned Him over to Roman soldiers, only to be brutally beaten with whips and clubs, and then forced to wear a crown of thorns upon His head and carry His own cross through the ancient streets of Jerusalem, up the hill of Golgatha, where sharp iron spikes were hammered through his ankles and wrists to support his weight while they callously raised the cross up and dropped it in a hole, where it finally came to rest. However unlike the cross he hung from Christ was not able to rest. For many hours He hung on the cross and waited for His death. Dying of thirst, He asked a soldier for a drink of water, only to be given vinegar. Finally, when He was ready, when it was His time, He succumbed and died. The pain that our Savior suffered in those moments is unconscionable.

From the beginning of time, Christ knew that His mission was to come to earth as the Lamb of God to be slain. He knew that this sacrifice was inevitable and that no one save it be Him was good enough-and so as He prayed to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane atoning for the sins of all mankind, literally bleeding from every poor in His body he said; "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."

For me, in that simple intimate prayer, whispered by Christ to His Father, "not my will, but thine, be done" is the true meaning of what SACRIFICE is. Sacrificing our own wants and desires for the will of our almighty Heavenly Father. I testify to you that following the lords commandments and keeping our temple covenants are the blueprints for eternal happiness, both here in this life and the next.

It is my testimony that learning to walk in the light of the gospel may at times be a "sacrifice;" however, the peace and happiness we receive are the rewards enough.

I am so happy to have been called to serve a full time mission in Columbia South Carolina. I'm so happy to grow up in the home that I did and belong loving family that I do. I am truly blessed. My Heavenly Father loves me and has always watched over me. And Now, I have been called to find Gods children who are only lost because they know not where to look and bring them the fullness of the gospel.

I want to thank my church leaders for their confidence and support in me. Most importantly, I want to thank you Bishop for helping me prepare to go and serve. I hope to be able to see you all when I return home two years from now.
I leave you these thoughts and my prayers in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, amen.