Warning Signs & Tender Mercies

Yesterday Stan and Benson went to Nevada to appraise 1200  acres in a remote area, out in the middle of no where.  They took the 4-wheelers to do this assignment.  All day long they were not within cell phone reach.  About 6:30 pm Stan was coming back driving on a dirt and gravel road going a little too fast (55 mph to be exact).  The trailer totally detached from the truck, rolling 3 times,  4-wheelers broke loose from the trailer flying through the air.  Two of them were upside down.  Scary!!!  This is where the tender mercies come into play:

1)  A blessing to have the trailer detach – can you imagine if the truck with Stan & Benson in it where still attached?

2)  Two guys witnessed it, where did they come from out in the middle of no where?  To give you an idea of how remote this was, they traveled for 6 hours and only saw 3 cars.  I told Stan maybe they where 2 of the 3 Nephites,  he said one of them had a cigarette in his hand.  Maybe not.

3) These guys were handymen and strong (which was essential when loading the machines back into the broken down trailer).

4) The truck was not damaged a bit.  As you can see the trailer and 4-wheelers were.

 

They helped Stan jimmy-rig the hitch back on the truck.  As you can see the ball wasn’t even in the socket.  Everything was broken and bent.  Only one machine would start, so they had to lift them back into the trailer.

 

 

It took Stan and Benson 8 hours to drive home (normally it should have taken 4).  They had to drive 15mph on back roads.  They returned at 4 in the morning.  You know the Spirit warned me that something was wrong.  I knew I wouldn’t hear from them during the day because they were so far out but I figured they would call in the evening when they got back onto the highway with cell phone reception.  At 10:30 at night still no answer.  I expected the worse and was wondering how I would make it as a single mom.  I remember saying a prayer at dinner right about 6:30 pm for Stan and Benson’s safety.  The Lord heard that prayer.  I asked Stan if he learned his lesson?  He said, “oh yeah”.  Next time you see one of these,

           realize they put it there for a reason.  You better heed the warning.  Stan didn’t have one of these to warn him.  Elder Bednar tells us of spiritual warning signs in our lives.  They’re given for a reason, we better listen.  Today our prayers reach heaven in gratitude for having another day to live.