Tuesday, October 31, 2006

and now for something completely different

i'm on my way to salt lake to work because... because that's what i do; i go to salt lake to work.
just coming over the crest of the point of the mountain, my sister calls me.
'brother, president hinckley is coming to the devotional today! are you coming?'

at that moment, the main focus of my thoughts had been along the lines of wondering if 101.9 was going to play my request of 'gray matter' by oingo boingo before i got to kirk's.
i told becky i'd be there. hearing the prophet is worth putting off work for a few hours.
i called kirk and said i'd get there later.
the mariott center was 30 minutes away.
i had 20.

talking on your cell phone while driving down the freeway is something i do quite often, and texting is more often than i would like to admit [although the T9 function certainly helps things out]. but i had a 'conversation' with a friend, trying to find out where the seats were available.
my guardian angel must have been watching over me, because not only did i text safely, i made it to the mariott center without hitting a single red light for the entire way.
things like that don't 'just happen'.

i found becky, dressed in her purple kimono, sitting near the top, behind the podium. but at least we got seats.

president hinckley said that because it was halloween, it was cause for something a little different, and which point laughter spread through the arena; we laughed, too, though not really knowing why. i later found out that he revealed he was wearing a pumpkin-speckled tie.
it was also different because, instead of a standard 'talk', he shared ten or so short stories or moments from his life. on the surface, several of the stories didn't really seem to mean much. and that i found fascinating, as i wondered what he saw in his experiences that i did not. why did he find that story worth telling to thousands of college students?
it left me with something think about, and i think there was great wisdom in that.

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