Welcome to the classic speeches podcast presented by BYU Speeches, bringing you treasured talks from 70 years of BYU Devotionals.

Be sure to check out our other podcasts by searching BYU speeches wherever you get your podcasts, or by visitingspeches.BYU.edu slash podcasts.

This devotional address entitled, Constructing Spiritual Stability, was given on September

16th of 2014 by Dale G. Renland, then a member of the first quorum of the 70 of the Church

of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I'll begin by relating an obscure historical event and then draw some lessons that can be

learned from what was really a maritime misfortune. In the early 17th century, Sweden was a world power.

Sweden's king, Gustav II, Adolf, commissioned a warship that would be christened the Vasa.

The ship represented a substantial outlay of resources, particularly the oak from which the vessel was being built.

Oak was so valuable that cutting down an oak tree without authorization was a capital offense.

Gustavadov closely oversaw the construction process, attempting to ensure that the Vasa would

fully realize his expectations. After construction had begun, Gustavado

ordered the Vasa to be made longer. Because the width supports had already been built from the precious oak,

the king directed the builders to increase the ship's length without increasing its width. Although the shipwrights knew that doing

so would compromise Vasa's seaworthiness, they were hesitant to tell the king something

they knew he didn't want to hear. They complied. Gustavadov also insisted that this ship

would not simply have the customary single deck of guns,

but that it would have three decks for its cannons, with the heaviest cannons on the upper deck.

Again, against their better judgment, the shipwrights complied.

Over the course of several years, shipwrights, carpenters, rope makers,

and others worked diligently to build the Vasa. Over 1,000 oak trees were used to complete the ship.

It had 64 cannons and mass taller than 150 feet. To give the ship the opulence befitting a king's flagship, several hundred gilded and painted

...