Monday, June 11, 2012

Monday Memories – On the Line


Yesterday in church I gave a lesson on prayer. As I was teaching I remembered this story:

Cali was going to college at BYU–Hawaii and worked in the school bakery. Every morning, a little after 5:00, she rode her old beach comber bike from her apartment down on the ocean up inland to the school kitchen. It was always dark when she left for work, but one morning it was also stormy, windy, and almost black. Nervous, she called Calvin and said, “Dad, can you just talk to me until I get to work? I'm scared.  There’s a bad storm and it’s scary riding by the houses.”

Calvin talked and kept her company as she rode through the storm and dark neighborhoods. Every now and then he’d say, “Where are you now?”

After fifteen minutes Cali said happily, “Okay, I’m here now. Thanks Dad!” then hung up the phone and was gone.

Calvin turned to me and said, “She didn’t need anything. She just needed to know I was there.”

Stacy Child Weeks said, “I continue to find that life can be scary and uncertain. … The lesson in faith and trust [my father] taught me on that [morning] years ago still comforts me. Now, when I need comfort and reassurance, I pray to my Heavenly Father, ‘Father, are you there?’ And I am comforted, knowing that he loves me and is still on the line, aware of my situation and ‘a very present help in trouble’ (Psalms 46:1)” (“Dad, Are You There?” Ensign, June 1996, 53).

That was a sweet memory to go with the very comforting thought that our Father in Heaven is on the line.

6 comments:

melanie said...

Thank you for this post. I love every bit of it.

Jill said...

You always have the best stories!

I feel like this more often than I'd like.

Deidra said...

I wish I could sit in on your lessons. Or have you teach our YW for me one week. I'm sure your lessons are even better than your posts, and that's saying something.

Elizabeth said...

Very sweet!

Chandra said...

Such a great post. Thanks Jane. I needed that. Isn't it nice that when we say "father are you there?" that He always is.

Becky said...

This made me cry...what a sweet, sweet story.

P.S. I'm having so much fun getting caught up on your blog! :)