Hello everyone, welcome to Follow Him Favorites. John and I are sharing a single story to go with each week's lesson. John, this week, Doctrine and Covenants 51 through 57. I have a story. It's right in the beginning of this section, 51 verse 9, the Lord says, and he's talking about Zion. Let every man or woman deal honestly and be alike among this people and receive alike that you may be one.
I keyed in on that word, dealing honestly. And I remember about 20 years ago, a talk was given by Bishop Richard C. Edgley. I don't know if you remember Bishop Edgley, John. He had that big, deep voice, beautiful voice. He tells actually two quick stories from his personal life. He says, In 1955, after my freshman year of college, I spent the summer working at the newly opened Jackson Lake Lodge in Moran, Wyoming.
My mode of transportation was a 14-year-old 1941 Hudson automobile that should have received its burial 10 years earlier. Among the car's other identifying traits, the floorboards had rusted so badly, If not for a piece of plywood, I could have dragged my feet along the highway. Like the Flintstones, yeah. The positive is that unlike most 14-year-old cars in this time period, it used no oil.
Just lots of water in the radiator, but no oil. I can never figure out where the water went and why the oil continually got thinner and thinner and clearer and clearer. Oh no! Okay. He says, in preparation for the 185-mile drive home at the end of the summer, I took the car to the only mechanic in Moran. After a quick analysis the mechanic explained that the engine block was cracked and was leaking water into the oil.
that explained the water and the oil mystery i wondered if i could get the water to leak into the gas tank and i would get better gasoline mileage now he has a confession After the miracle of arriving home, my father came out and happily greeted me. After a hug and a few pleasantries, he looked into the backseat of the car and saw three Jackson Lake Lodge towels. the kind you cannot buy. With a disappointed look, he merely said, Oh, I expected more of you.
I hadn't thought what I had done was all that wrong. To me, these towels were a symbol of a full summer's work at a luxury hotel. A rite of passage. Nevertheless, by taking them, I felt I had lost the trust and confidence of my father, and I was devastated. The following weekend, I adjusted the plywood floorboard in my car, filled the radiator with water, and began the 370-mile round trip. back to Jackson Lake Lodge to return the three towels.
My father never asked why I was returning to the lodge and I never explained. It just didn't need to be said. This was an expensive and painful lesson on honesty that has stayed with me throughout my life. John, he goes on in this talk to share another little quick story. of where he's now on the other side of this.
He's in the role of watching someone else be dishonest. He said he was with a bunch of businessmen, and they were in the O'Hare Airport in Chicago, Illinois. One of these men, he said, had sold his company for tens of millions of dollars. But as they were passing by a newspaper vending machine, if you don't know what that is, you'll have to ask your grandpa.
This individual, he put a quarter in the machine, opened the door, and there was a big stack of newspapers in there. He began dispensing all the unpaid-for newspapers to everybody in the group. When he handed me a newspaper, I put a quarter in the machine. And trying not to offend him, but trying to make a point, I jokingly said, Jim, for 25 cents, I can maintain my integrity. A dollar, maybe. But 25 cents, no, not 25 cents.
He says, you see, I remember the experience of the three towels and a broken down 1941 Hudson. A few minutes later, we passed the same newspaper vending machine, and I noticed that Jim had broken away from our group and was stuffing quarters into the machine. So he's back there. He finishes with this. He says, my prayer is that Latter-day Saints will be known as among the most honest people in the world. Great story.
We hope you'll join us on our full podcast. It's called Follow Him. You can get it wherever you get your podcasts. We are with Emily Utte this week, a church curator. If you don't know what that is, you've got to come over and listen or talk about church history. It's incredible. Then come back here next week. We'll do another follow him favor.