“Ours is a journey of great potential, full of excitement, as well as unexpected occurrences along the way,” Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, told students this week during the campus devotional at Brigham Young University.
To better illustrate the excitement, potential, and unexpected outcomes of our own personal lives, Bishop Waddell shared the familiar story of the Apollo 13 space mission. Two days into their mission to the moon, the crew had a circuit breaker malfunction on their spacecraft, compromising the astronauts’ oxygen supply. Their mission was unsurprisingly cut short and after some tense junctures, they were able to return to earth after just six days.
“More than anything else on their epic adventure, … returning home to their loved ones was their most important objective,” Bishop Waddell’s story concluded.
Bishop Waddell went on to point out two major keys to a successful return home for the Apollo 13 crew. First, the crew stayed connected to the only source who could guide them safely home; and second, they trusted and carefully applied the instructions they received.
Just as the crew on the Apollo 13 mission had equipment and Mission Control to guide them home, “our Father in Heaven has provided a variety of resources to assist us in our effort to stay connected to the Savior,” Bishop Waddell remarked. The rest of his message highlighted three of those resources: the scriptures, the sacrament, and living prophets.
Watch Bishop Waddell’s full address below:
