Friday night I was stuck in the snow on a mountain in park city. I laughed and thought about how I used to call my dad when I had problems. He always helped and did everything in his power to help me. “How can I help” was what he always said. I think that this is the kind of father that Heavenly Father is for us and it shows.
One day last week I was coming home from Salt Lake and I left my app on so I could get rides along the way. It was early in the day and I was coming home to go to a BYU volleyball game. That has kind of been our date night since Covid started. We really enjoy it and we make a priority of it. I always make sure I’m home in time to go.
With the clock winding down, I was about ready to turn off my app, but I got a ride just as I entered Orem. It was a ride that took me to Pleasant Grove and then back to a place within about eight blocks of my house. It was perfect, I took it and I went.
I wasn’t sure by looking at the address where this would be but finally it led me into a trailer park in Pleasant Grove. As I pulled into the trailer park, I parked in front of this spot where I was supposed to meet the lady whose name was on the app.
I sat there for quite a bit and she didn’t come out. I was starting to think that maybe I’d have to leave so I called, still no answer. I looked over to my side and there was a guy putting things into the trunk of a Jetta and arranging things in the car. I wondered if it might be him.
Finally, he turned around and came over and said that I was his driver. I said, your name is and I blurted out the female name that was supposed to be getting in the car. He laughed and said, no that’s my girlfriend and she booked this ride for me. That’s totally legal but sometimes it’s a little scary because you don’t know who’s getting in your car. Everybody goes through a screening process when they get their app but if you book for someone else, you’re on your own as a driver.
He got in and we started off towards Orem. I said, what takes you to Orem? He said, I’m going to my addiction meeting, I looked at him in the mirror. He had that look of someone who was going through it. His eyes were tired and sad as he said these words. I could see his desperation. I could feel his hopelessness. I said, well, that’s awesome that you’re going to your recovery meeting! That’s where you need to be going!
I asked him if he could share with me a little about his situation. That’s a big no-no but I felt compelled by the spirit to find out more. He said that he had two DUIs, which is why he couldn’t drive his car and that he just had to get his life out of the spiral he was in.
I could feel the spiral and I could hear the desperation in his voice. I told him that I have a lot of people that call me for rides when they are inebriated so as to avoid the DUI but that the best way to avoid DUI is to not drink.
I looked at him and said, I think you a member of the church aren’t you? Don’t you think that bringing the church into your life a little bit more would also help you?
The spirit poured into my heart and I felt prompted to bear my testimony to him of the atonement and the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ that could help him fight those demons. I told him that Satan pulls us little by little and then pretty soon he’s got us cornered. I told him that this was the desperation he felt.
I told him that when he was young and he started drinking he thought it would be fun and that Satan used to pull him into that corner where he found himself now. He said, I never thought about this in that way. I bore my testimony of the atonement and the power of Jesus Christ to fill that hole in his soul and lift him above the pain.
I told him that when Jesus Christ died and paid for our sins, he also paid for the pains, afflictions, inequities and infirmities that would happen to each of us. He asked, even when you’re stupid and bring it upon yourself like I have?
I told him that his father in heaven loved him and that I believed he was put in my car to hear that message. I told him that Heavenly Father was his father and he loved him and wanted him to be safe. I told him that his father in heaven was his father and he didn’t want him to destroy his life. I told him that his father in heaven wanted him to come home.
I asked him if he was a father and he said yes. He said I’m a father but I’ve lost it all. I said, even though you’ve lost it all, would you die for your children? He said, yes, in a heartbeat. I asked him if one of his children was in a situation that he could help them, would he do it? He said yes, he would. I asked him if he would sacrifice everything for his child and he said, yes.
I reiterated to him that his father in heaven was his father and felt that same way about him. I said, because of this, you are never a lost cause, because of this, you are never unsalvageable and because of this love, you can come home to your father in heaven.
I told him that the atonement of Jesus Christ was how God accomplished this for him. I told him that Jesus Christ suffered these things so that he can pay for the negative results so we don’t have to.
He said, how does that work? I told him I don’t know but I know that it does. I told him I look at it kind of like the check out at Smith’s where they total up all the stuff and there’s no way you can pay your bill but Jesus is standing there with the debit card at the end of the line and says, “I got that” and puts the card down on the reader. Then the checkout lady says, thank you, you’re good.
I told him that Satan sells despair and hopelessness. I said that when he’s feeling those things he’s hearing the words of Satan in his ear saying you’re bad, you’re irredeemable, you can’t be saved. You’re in a tailspin there’s no way out. I told him that Satan is a liar and he always lies and lies to everybody always, not just him.
I told him that Satan tells every single person that they are not worthy, that they’re not welcome, that they’re being judged. I told him that just last Sunday he had thought about going to church, where he hadn’t been in over 20 years and those were the thoughts he had. I told him that I want him to know that Heavenly Father knew that Satan was coming at him and that he wanted him to know that those are lies.
He said, that’s exactly what happened. I walked in front of the churchhouse two times and finally walked home. I didn’t have the nerve to go in. I didn’t feel like I could take the judgment.
I said if there is judgment in there, it’s the judgment of men and that judgement is their sin. I told him that there would be no negative judgment from God. I told him the walls wouldn’t fall in and that calamity would fall upon him for crossing the threshold into the church. He said, that’s exactly what I said would happen and then he laughed.
I told him that God would be thrilled to have him back in his home because he’s a father. I asked him what his children could do to make him not want them to come visit him and he said, there’s nothing they could do that would make that happen. I told him that is exactly the way his father feels. The church is where your spirit feels at home.
I told him that the spirit was telling me that I was supposed to invite him to go to church this week. I told him that God was inviting him to his home. He said, well, that means something! He said, I feel loved in your car.
He said, I feel loved in your car like I haven’t felt in a long time. I asked him if he wanted to have that in his life not just while he was in my car. He said, yes. I said, that’s why Satan has worked so hard to keep you out of church. He hasn’t wanted you to feel that feeling and seek for that feeing because he knows that this will give you the power to make the changes you need to make.
I told him that Satan does not want him to go to church. I told him that Satan does not want God to win. I told him that with God’s help he could fill that hole in his soul that his addiction craves. He could fill that with this feeling and be able to win. I told him Satan doesn’t want you to win.
He said, I want that. I said, do you want it bad enough to pray and read the Book of Mormon every day? He said, yes. I said, do you want that bad enough to go to church and he said, yes.
I asked him if he would go to church that Sunday and he said he didn’t know where his ward met. I had the prompting to ask if his girlfriend went to church. He said, yes she does. I asked him if he would go with her and he said yes. Just then his girlfriend called. People can call on their app when their ride is in progress or when they’re waiting for their driver. She wasn’t in the car so she called me. We talked to her about taking him to church. She said, I’m shocked! Through her tears she said, I would love to have him go to church with me.
I looked up his church time and his Bishop’s name and sent it to him by text. There was an amazing feeling in the car. I wanted to identify that spirit one more time to him.
I said, what is it your feeling right now in my car? He said, I feel love, I feel loved completely. He said, I feel a peace in my soul and in my body. Right now I do not crave my addiction. I told him that this was a hug from his father in heaven and that if he would do the things we had talked about the Lord could help him through so he could fight the physical addiction.
He said I’m going to do this. He said, I know that God put me in your car. It has to be that way, there is no other explanation. He said, I never looked at the gospel as so personal and loving. Iwant that love and that relationship that I feel with my father in heaven. I can’t believe that he loved me enough to send someone to bring this message. Now I know that I still matter.
We barely made it on time. He got out and Ran in just before they closed the door. He had said that if he wasn’t there on time he would get in trouble. I’m assuming this was some kind of court ordered meeting and I’m glad we got him there but I’m also glad we got him the help he needs to make this change permanent.
After all a father always wants their child to come home and will do anything to make that possible.
I drove home, picked up Heather and we went to the volleyball game where BYU won their first game of the year! The perfect ending to a perfect outing
Sometimes God sends you a lift 