Calling all fathers

One night it was late and I was down by Lehi. I got a ride clear down to Santaquin. I didn’t want to go to Santaquin because I had been down there earlier that day and it was pure ice. A semi truck and a bus had slid off the freeway and it was sketchy at best. I was going to let the ride go because it wasn’t nearly enough money for the ride, but I felt very strongly prompted to take it.

As I arrived at the Thanksgiving Point exit I noted that there were about 20 sets of police lights on the freeway at Point of the Mountain. I made a note to self that I wouldn’t be going any further north.

I pulled into the Maverik on the west side of the freeway and there was the guy that I was supposed to take. He was standing out in front with a backpack in the shivering cold. He was a 6’4”, African-American man and he had truck driver vibes. We give rides to a lot of truck drivers and he just had that kind of vibe around him.

He got in the car and we started to drive. He asked me about driving and how it was. I answered his questions. I felt impressed that I needed to get into talking about his life so I could find out why I had been prompted to take the ride.

I felt impressed to talk about the importance of fathers, how important fathers are, even though their role is minimized and demeaned in almost every segment of our society.

We talked about how children stand on their father‘s shoulders in life. I said that expectations that are set by their father‘s achievement level in society become a starting point rather than a ceiling for most children. I said, that’s what fathers do, you stand on their shoulders. I said, father’s become both our social and spiritual foundation.

I said, in our society, in many cases we have pushed the fathers down and out of the lives of their families, especially in disadvantaged communities. We talked about how horrible this scourge has been in these communities.

He said, I sure have seen that in the black community. He said that fathers had been replaced with the government and the result had been devastating.

He was remarkably open about who he was in some ways and very closed up in others. I was by surprised the areas where he volunteered information.

He told his story about growing up in West Valley and how after his parents broke up his father lived in Alaska. He said that his father tried to do as good as he could over the phone, but it just wasn’t the same.

He told me about his troubled youth and young adulthood. He talked about how he had a daughter who was now three years old but he had spent most of her life in prison. He said, what you said rang true and my mind is blown.

He said, I’ve been working with my attorney and in two weeks I’m going to see my daughter for the first time in three years. I’m so excited!

With the conversation clearly focused towards families and fathers I decided to talk about the church and our belief in families.

I told him that our belief in families starts with the fact that we have a firm knowledge that we have a Heavenly Father who knows and loves each one of us. I talked about how much we loved him and loved being with him. I told him that this love continues here on earth.

I told him that we believe that our Heavenly Father loves us and he also loves to hear from us. He wants each of us to come home someday. I said, that’s why he gave us Jesus Christ and the church so that we could feel his presence and have the things we need to come home.

He said, that’s really cool! I have never heard religion framed in that context. I told him it’s all about families.

He said, I like that. He said, I don’t really believe in any church in particular, but I had a cell mate who had some books that I thought raised some interesting points regarding our souls being eternal. I told him we have some books like that too, they’re called the scriptures.

I said, there are a lot of things that people know almost instinctively. I said, one of the reasons why they know things like that is because they are eternal truths. I said that we learned them from our father in heaven and our spirit remembers them still. I said, that’s why those things that you learned from your friend’s books resonated with you. It wasn’t the first time you’d had those thoughts or those feelings.

I said, your father in heaven loves you and he’s always reaching out to you. By this time, the spirit was in the car and I could tell he was feeling it. I told him, that’s why these things I’m saying feel right. They feel like they fit like a glove. He said, that’s it. It doesn’t feel strange to hear you say those things. He said, it’s always fun to learn more.

He said, I like this conversation. This is my favorite ride ever. I feel like my heart and my mind are open to what you’re saying. I love talking to you about these things.

I told him that because our Heavenly Father loves us so much, he didn’t want us to suffer and wallow in sin. I told him that Heavenly Father sent his son, Jesus Christ, to pay for our sins so that we could repent and come home to him. I told him that Heavenly Father is the father of everyone and he sent his son for everyone. He sent his son to his children all over the earth.

I asked him if he ever heard that Jesus came to America? He said, no, really? Where does it say that in the Bible?. I said, in a couple of places. I mentioned how Isaiah had said that Jesus would go to Europe, Asia, the Isles of the sea, and Africa. He said, I had no idea of that. Where does it say that?

I said, after he was resurrected he said, other sheep I have which are not of this fold and that he was going to go to them so they could hear his voice and be counted as his sheep. I asked him who he thought that might refer to. He said, all of those other people, including Africa?

I said, that’s exactly right. That’s what I believe. I asked him if he’d ever heard of the Book of Mormon and he said yes. I said, the Book of Mormon is another Testament of Christ because the people who lived anciently in America had prophets, and Jesus visited them. I told him that they touched the prints of the nails in his hands and feet. He taught them and he blessed them.. I told him that he blessed their children and their posterity. I testified that those prophets wrote about these things and those testimonies of Christ ARE the Book of Mormon

By now the spirit was really strong and I could tell it was working on him. I said, when he had finished in America, he said that he still had other sheep that weren’t from here or from Jerusalem, and that he had received a commandment from his father to go to them so they could hear his voice and be counted among his sheep. I asked him who he thought those people might be.

He said, well clearly the other people he was supposed to go to. I said, yes! Even possibly your ancestors. Right then this tall hulking man in my backseat had tears in his eyes. He said, wow I never thought it could be possible that Jesus might have visited my ancestors. I said, I believe he did and I believe he did all of the same things there that he did in America. I said, I believe he taught his gospel, I believe he gave them authority to baptize, and he commanded them to be baptized.

I believe he gave them baptism and repentance so that they could come home to his father. I talked about repentance for a moment and how through repentance we can become clean. I emphasized repentance and not baptism. I did teach that baptism is a part of repentance and that Jesus brought baptism to them and taught all about repentance .

I felt a desire in him to be clean and I wanted him to understand not just the cleansing power of repentance but the importance of repentance in changing your life and your soul. I told him that he could become the person he wanted to become through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and his repentance. He could become the father he wants his daughter to know. As I talked about repentance and the atonement, the spirit was really strong in the car and I knew that I was saying the words I was supposed to say, but I wasn’t expecting what I heard next.

I asked him if he had a copy of the Book of Mormon and he said no. I reached and grabbed one of the copies prepared by the Secrists and gave it to him. I said, this is your copy. He held it in his hands and stared at it. Then he said, you know, I was baptized a member of your church when I was a teenager. He said, I was even given the priesthood at one point. He said, apparently I didn’t learn very well, I failed.

He said, I guess I just never learned all of the good stuff. I said, there’s a lot of good stuff in there and it will change your life. I said, if you will read that book, say your prayers, repent and go to church, you will see a great transformation in your life. I said, you need to go to your ward, find your Bishop and talk to him about this ride and what you have felt here.

He said he would do that. He said his girlfriend’s father had been trying to get him to go to the church there but he had resisted. He said, I guess that makes me pretty stupid. I said, that would make you just like the rest of us. We all fall short, we all have sin, and we all need Jesus Christ and his atonement to become clean. You’re just one of the crew.

I looked down between my seat and saw a calendar that I had stuffed down there. Liz Lemmon Swindle is one of my neighbors and a good friend. She’s in my ward and she reads my blog. Every year she makes a calendar with her beautiful paintings of Jesus Christ. She gives me some of those to use in my missionary work. She’s always been very supportive with her art in any way that I needed or that could bless the lives of the people I was working with. I had one of those calendars right there between my seats. I reached and grabbed it. As I did, I saw that one of the paintings was her painting of the young black child being held by Jesus. I thought that this was very interesting given the context of the situation and knew that my eyes had been guided.

I held up a calendar and said, look at this! This is a painting representing Jesus in Africa. My neighbor is the artist and I think it’s very cool. He said, can I look at that? I gave it to him and he stared at it for several seconds and said, I love this. This feels right. I said, what you’re feeling is the spirit of your father in heaven. This is how you know the things I’ve said are true. I said, when you feel this, you know the things you’re hearing are true and that you’re supposed to do them.

I told him that Heavenly Father had put him in my car this night so that he could receive this message and so that he could know that his father wanted him to come home. I told him that his Heavenly Father wanted to have a relationship with him just like he longed to have a relationship with his daughter. I told him that this is the way. I told him Jesus is the way and repentance is the way.

It must’ve been really dusty in the car because his eyes were really moist and he was sniffling a little bit. He said, I feel that and I haven’t felt peace like this for a long time. He said, I’ll go to church with my girlfriend’s father this week. He said, obviously that’s why you’re here because that’s what I’m supposed to do.

He grabbed me on the shoulder and shook my hand and shook my shoulder and shook me and then he said, thank you for everything. He handed the calendar back to me. I said, Liz didn’t give me that to tease you with, Liz gave me that to give to you. That’s yours. As you look at those pictures of Jesus Christ, know that your part of that whole story and that your ancestors are part of that whole story. I said, know that it’s through Him that you can feel like you feel right now for the rest of your life. He smiled and said thank you. He grabbed my shoulder and my hand again and shook me one more time.

He said, I’m glad God put me in your car tonight. Now I know what I’m supposed to do! He got out of the car and went into the house.