Conference has come and gone. I will be posting my conference thoughts soon (now that I've had a few days to chew on what I heard and saw), but I wanted to come back to my Oct. 1st post now that the "dust" has settled. Why? Because a few minutes after the Saturday afternoon session ended, I fired up the computer to gain a little bit more insight into Elder Ronald A. Rasband, Elder Gary E. Stevenson and Elder Dale G. Renlund, the new brethren called as Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pulled up the Deseret News website first and began to peruse the articles and I came across this one. I clicked on it and read it and then I came to the bottom of the "page"--the "comments" section. I will admit that curiosity got the better of me and I pulled the page further down in order to read the top three comments. At that time, all three were complaining over the fact that none of the new apostles were from Latin America, but the one that really caught my eye started off in this manner: "Not to second guess the Lord and His prophet, but ..." Really? How about: "I'm not trying to second guess the Lord and His prophet, but let me take a minute to second guess the Lord and His prophet while I carry on about the missed opportunity of not calling a Latin American apostle." I could do nothing more but shake my head; not in anger, but in sadness.
We always speak in wonder about the stiff-necked children of Israel that Moses had to lead out of Egypt. Time after time the Lord through Moses performed mighty miracles for the Israelites and time after time it wasn't long before they wanted to reject Him and His messenger ("Dudes, Moses is going into the mount for 40 days? Time to party!"), but are we any better when we question the Lord and His choices in this manner? I almost wonder if some of us Mormons are suffering from the sin of covetousness and having some sort of Pope Francis envy ("The Catholics have a Latin American pope, why can't we have a Latin American apostle?"). Whatever the case may be, no one carrying on about this seems to get the overarching answer to all this crazy criticism: Who cares what we think? We're not in charge!
Good grief, we are such a myopic bunch! I don't know if it has something to do with the fact that we can put our opinions out into the ether at a moments notice nowadays, but it's amazing how much we think our instant opinions on whatever the topic might be are so relevant (he says while understanding the irony of doing much the same thing ☺). The problem with our opinions are that they are grounded in mortality and, at times, influenced by the philosophies of men. I mentioned this back when Ben opened his mission call, but when are we going to learn the lesson the Lord taught the prophet Isaiah when He declared: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). I am constantly amazed at how the Lord puts the right people in the right places at the right time--and I am also amazed at how some people can't or won't see that because His choices don't fit with their particular agenda. Elder M. Russell Ballard, giving a follow-up to his talk about staying on the Old Ship Zion, reminded us, "God’s plan is in place. He is at the helm, and His great and powerful ship flows toward salvation and exaltation. Remember that we cannot get there by jumping out of the boat and trying to swim there by ourselves" (Oct. 2015, Gen. Conf.).
The problem with our view is perspective--we don't have much. As Elder Rafael E. Pino taught in last April conference, "Perspective is the way we see things when we look at them from a certain distance, and it allows us to appreciate their true value. It is like being in a forest and having a tree in front of us. Unless we step back a little, we will not be able to appreciate what a forest really is" (Ensign, May 2015, 117). While we pick our way through the forest of mortality, sometimes the trees are thick and the undergrowth dense and we are in danger of losing our way. We need better perspective. Why else would the Lord choose servants to stand on a watchtower? As prophets, seers and revelators, the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (with the help of the Seventies, Presiding Bishopric, and General Auxiliary Leaders) have a greater view and perspective of the forest. With their improved perspective, the Prophet and our general leaders are better able to see what paths we should follow and where we should place our feet. And when they have moments of not being able to exactly see where we, as a body of Church members should go next, they don't panic. Why? Because they are lead by the Lord Jesus Christ who has the perfect view and perspective and can see "things as they really are, and ... things as they really will be" (Jacob 4:13).
This was an amazing conference. All the arm-chair quarterbacking is unproductive and unnecessary. To slightly modify my statement from my previous post, if the time comes that a newly called apostle is a citizen from a country other than the United States, I will have no problem raising my arm to the square for that brother. I have no problem sustaining President Uchtdorf, why would it be otherwise if the person the Lord calls to the position is from a country other than Germany? For now, I am confident that the Lord has a specific reason for extending the call of apostle to Elders Rasband, Stevenson, and Renlund. I may not know the reasons the Lord chose them to this calling, but I look forward to learning how their unique perspective and talents will move the Old Ship Zion on its course. I turn again to Elder Pino for a concluding thought: "The Lord knows what He wants to accomplish with each one of us. He knows the kind of reform He wants to achieve in our lives, and we do not have the right to counsel Him. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts" (Ensign, May 2015, 119).
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