NEVER TOLERATE TYRANNY!....Conservative voices from the GRASSROOTS.

Your Personal Marathon…

I speak to you tonight as part of my Family Preparedness calling in my church- and to help you prepare for all the dire emergencies and the most difficult circumstances which lie inexorably ahead. In that regard, my chosen topic this evening is your personal marathon- and while few of you may consider yourselves marathon runners, please listen carefully to my message.

Upon the fall of Corregador, the Bataan Death March commenced on 10 April 1942. Stewart Willever, Radioman Second Class, USN, was one of the heroic survivors of Bataan. While Stewart was not taken prisoner until 6 May 1942, thus avoiding the infamous Death March by doggedly fighting against the invading Japanese until he could hold out no more, my uncle endured his own deathly marathon- his own long brush with death as a POW at the hands of the brutal Japanese. He was wounded repeatedly by their bayonets. As a boy, I witnessed the bayonet scars on Stewart’s stomach.

In March of 2009 and in memory of my uncle, I ran the Bataan Memorial in New Mexico with my hero sons Heath and Trevor. Dressed in full uniform, complete with combat boots, it would be the most challenging marathon of our lives- the rough terrain and excessive desert heat providing additional punishment as we covered the 26.2 miles. My sons even carried heavy rucks.

In the fall of 2009, I ran the Saint George Marathon with my hero son Christian. This time I wore feather-light clothing and real running shoes, finishing in just four hours, twenty-two minutes, forty-six seconds and cutting more than two hours off my time in New Mexico.

Infinitely more challenging and significant, however, is the marathon run by our dear Savior, a marathon which began with his baptism- and which ended with his brutal crucifixion. Even so, the excruciating pain and suffering experienced by Jesus on the “Old Rugged Cross” was unfathomably exceeded by the painful portion of his glorious atonement that he lovingly endured for us in Gethsemane. Yes, blood oozed from his every pore- exquisite suffering that we can only try to imagine.

But you each have your own personal trials- your own personal marathon, if you will. No follower of Christ is immune- neither male nor female. Such is the inherent nature of mortality. We come to Earth trailing heavenly glory from afar to gain a mortal body and be tested- but more importantly to receive opportunities for critical personal progress during our mortal probation.

Now, all of you have been called to mortality at an especially challenging time- a point in our nation’s history- in world history- where men’s hearts shall fail them as they face what appear to be insurmountable odds against their own survival. I have heard living prophets testify of these terrible times since I first joined my church in 1967. Since that time, I have watched general human conditions on Planet Earth steadily deteriorate.

I came to Earth in October of 1944- in the midst of a most terrible World War characterized by the barbaric tyranny and aggression of both Imperial Japan and Germany’s Third Reich- not to mention the impending advent of atomic warfare. My parents were both US Army officers- and though my father was on active military duty from before Pearl Harbor until after the war’s end, both of them were spared the horrors of combat.

And like my good parents during World War II, I was apparently spared from combat during the Vietnam years and throughout my twenty years of military service- especially when serving on active duty in the Air Force during the first Gulf War. Moreover, the lives of my four children have most definitely been spared- their combined eight combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan notwithstanding.

You see, despite the unspeakable horrors of war, God Almighty is still in control of human events- whenever and wherever he chooses to intervene.

As you run your personal marathons in these Last Days, be assured that Jesus Christ is still the Good Shepherd. He still watches over his flock- and like a mother hen eager to gather her chicks, the Savior is eager to watch over all of you in the midst of your trials.

But God’s willingness to preserve you and your families notwithstanding, you each have the responsibility to heed the warnings of living prophets he has sent to warn you of the coming cataclysmic events.

Even I, the least of all God’s servants, have warned you for many months to escape the bondage of debt- to lay up sufficient stores of food and other household supplies to sustain your families during the approaching manmade calamities and natural disasters. I have pleaded with you to at least gather enough food and water to see you though a three-week siege in your own homes. Have ye done so?

For decades I have stored wheat. Some of that precious grain was placed in metal cans more than forty years ago- tightly sealed in heavy plastic bags and fumigated with dry ice. I have learned to bake whole wheat bread and have accustomed my body to live on it indefinitely- if I must.

My dear ones, time for preparation is all but past. It is my fervent prayer that we will yet have the balance of this year to prepare ourselves.

As best you are able, get out of debt. Prepare yourselves in every needful thing. Do not by any means attempt to run before you can walk, but get yourselves busy. We have reached a point where the shortage of preparation time is in itself an emergency.

Almighty God will empower you as you seek to heed his counsel. He will open the windows of Heaven and fortify your cottage doors against all opposing demons- if you will but don your running shoes and get in the race. Though the starter’s pistol has long cracked, the echo of that reverberating shot still summons you to the great marathon of the Last Days.

One last story. Dieter Uchtdorf recently related the story of a man who had scrimped and saved the more part of his life to take a Mediterranean cruise, yet failed to partake of the fullness of the amenities available when he finally was able to make the voyage- even living on his humble store of beans, for example, because he didn’t realize the cost of his meals was included in the price of his ticket. He was living far below his privileges.

Well, back in 1968 while stationed in Worms, Germany, I traveled by train to Barcelona, Spain to purchase my first new guitar. From there, I had agreed to meet friend and Soldier Tad Talbot in Italy. In Barcelona, therefore, I booked passage on a Turkish ship- landing first in Marseille, then Genoa- and finally Naples. At the beginning of my own little Mediterranean cruise, I was unaware that the cost of my ticket included meals. Fortunately, however, a member of the crew spotted me in my sleeping quarters- just as I had finished dining on something from my rucksack- a can of sardines, I think. When the man assured himself that I was not seasick, he invited me to dine with the rest of the passengers. Fortunately, I didn’t miss a single meal. Thanks to that kind crew-member, I did not live beneath my privileges on that cruise.

The Lord gives no commandment unto the children of men without preparing a way for that commandment to be fulfilled. Said another way, when Jesus booked your passage to Planet Earth, he also prepared the way for your meals. Said yet another way, Jesus did not put you in this grueling marathon to run barefoot over rock and thorn. Don’t run your personal marathon beneath your God-given privileges. Let faith permeate your every footstep! Let courage lengthen your every stride! In the name of Jesus Christ and by the power of the priesthood, I leave my blessing upon you that you might all run the race well- not only sufficiently, but at your personal best. Amen.