Holy Ghost Prompting Saved Our Family from Explosion

Hot Air Balloons: Much Like the Gospel

I don't mean that the gospel is a bunch of hot air. What I mean is that hot air balloons are very peculiar travel vehicles. They move in whatever direction the wind is blowing. The pilot can, however, change direction by ascending or descending until a breeze is found blowing in the desired direction. By using the various air currents judiciously the pilot can reach the proper landing area.

The gospel is similar in many ways to the flight of a hot air balloon. Without knowledge of the principles of the gospel we are free to drift in whatever direction we may be blown. The gospel tells us where the spiritual "air currents" are so that we may catch them and make our lives more meaningful than they might otherwise be.

The Holy Ghost knows what is best for us as well as what is best for those around us. Let me give you an example from my own life.

The Holy Ghost Prompts My Mother to Leave the Café

When I was a young boy of about nine years old, my mother, father, and I decided to take a short trip to Mesa Verde National Monument in Colorado. We arrived in Monticello, Utah at about 6:15 in the afternoon. We were all hungry and decided to stop at the Lariat Café to eat. As we pulled up to the café my mother started to act strange. We asked what was wrong. She looked at the café and stated that we should not stop there but rather drive on to Colorado. Well, I was hungry and stated my opinion that we should get something to eat right then. My mother was a strong-willed woman, and simply said that she had the impression that we shouldn't eat there. Her response was, "We are leaving and that is all there is to it." My dad, who was also hungry, realized that this was a fight that he couldn't win, and we drove on.

Café Explosion Kills 16 and Injures 50 People

It takes about an hour and a half to get from Monticello, Utah to Cortez, Colorado. As we got within about thirty miles of Cortez, we began to see emergency vehicles, ambulances, fire trucks and several police cars. All were headed towards Monticello in the opposite direction. We wondered what had happened. Upon obtaining a motel room in Cortez we turned on the television to see what was going on. It turned out that the very café that we had nearly patronized experienced an enormous explosion. The walls of the eating establishment were blown out in all directions. The roof of the building was lifted several feet in the air and then came straight down on top of the people in the café. There were sixteen casualties and about fifty injuries.

Some of the people were blown right through the wall of the building. If we had gone inside to eat we would have been inside the restaurant when the explosion occurred. The Holy Ghost told my mother that we were in the wrong "current" and needed to move to another. Because she somehow understood that she needed to follow a prompting from the Holy Ghost, I am alive today rather than being killed or seriously injured.

What Are the Spiritual "Currents"?

We all know what the spiritual currents are: prayer, fasting, scripture study, church attendance, temple work, tithing, service, following the Holy Ghost, etc. If we neglect one or more of these we are in danger of drifting away from our heavenly home. D&C 82:10 states: "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." We simply must not live our lives in the wrong current. I am thankful that my mother was in tune with the spirit so that we could be in the right current on that fateful day. I truly do not ever want to find out what "ye have no promise" means.