Hello, everyone. Welcome to Follow Him Favorites. John and I are sharing a single story to go with each week's lesson. John, we're in Doctrine and Covenants section 29, which is all about the second coming. When you think second coming, you think could happen anytime. I better be prepared. All right. This comes from Howard W. Hunter, who told the story of a quarterback on a high school football team.
This young man managed to make the team, but it was clear he was not going to be an All-State or All-American player. Indeed, it didn't look like he was going to be all anything except perhaps all battered and bruised. He was the fourth of four quarterbacks. By season's end, He had never been called into a game and had given up hope. During the final game of the year, he pulled off his shoes, wrapped himself in a blanket, and settled down on the bench to watch his buddies play.
Midway through the game, he heard the coach shout his name. He was startled and wondered if he had been mistaken. Then it came again, right from the coach's lips. Hey you, get in there and move the ball. What should he do? His first impulse was to lapse into a coma. His second was to pretend he didn't hear. His third was to say, wait, wait, while I put on my shoes. He did the only manly thing, strapping on his helmet as he ran. He made straight for the huddle.
His white stockinged feet were conspicuous to the players on both teams, as well as the spectators and the coach, who also must have been ready to lapse into a coma. He called the play, but the shock of his first game was obviously a little disconcerting. By the time he took the snap from center, he had forgotten the play. His teammates moved to the right, but he gamely went left. There, alone against the world, he met the opposition head-on and was swallowed up in a snarl of onrushing linemen.
He later said, no one expected me to make a touchdown. Even running the wrong way was understandable, but there was no excuse for a quarterback without shoes. So the idea is keep your gospel shoes on because you never know. You never know when it's going to be your turn to get called in. Boy, that reminds me of a BYU quarterback named Riley Nelson, who suddenly with I don't know how many minutes in the fourth quarter got put in the game and led.
the offense to score and win that game. At the end, they interviewed him afterwards. And Riley Nelson said this thing that I was like, man, I got to write that down. He said, well, my attitude is to have my toe on the sideline, my head in the game and to be physically prepared.
And I was like, whoa, toe on the sideline, head in the game and be physically prepared. And I was like, I'm going to remember that. 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 Eric Richards this week. He's been a friend of both John and mine for a long time, and you're going to love what he does with Section 29. Then come back here next week. We're going to do another Follow Him Favorites.