Welcome to Follow Him favorites.

John and I share a single story to go with each week's Come Follow Me lesson.

John, we are in the book of judges this week.

And you know the story of Gideon, where Gideon is obviously very scared to go out to battle.

Plus, the Lord is taking away his numbers.

Nope, that's too many soldiers. I want

less. You want less. You want us to fight with less. Well, he asks the Lord for this fleece,

like this animal skin, that the Lord will get it wet or keep it dry, just to give him some

reassurance that he's doing the right thing.

And the Lord does it for him. Well, I have a story for you that seems kind of like a fleece of

reassurance. This was 20 years ago, John, when Elder David A. Bednar stood up for his very first talk in general conference. Now, Elder Bednar was very young when he was called. He was just 52 years old when he was called. And I know there's some people out there going, oh, that's pretty old. No, that is, that is not old. No, it isn't. In fact, I think Elder Bednar had a senior in high school still when he was called to be an apostle.

Can you imagine?

You go to seminary and your dad's on the wall.

He stands up to give his very first full talk and he says, six months ago, this is April of 2005, and he's referring to six months ago when he was called to be an apostle. Six months ago,

President Hinckley called me into his office and told me I was going to be an apostle. You'll get

released when you die. And think about that. Think about how long Elder Bednar, let's say he

lives to be the age of President Nelson. That's almost a 50-year calling. You'll be released when you die,

and we don't even know if that's the case. Can you imagine getting that calling, John? And then,

oh, by the way, you're speaking to the entire church on Sunday. He stands up, he says, to bear his

testimony. He doesn't have a full talk prepared. He's going to bear his testimony.

President Uptorf, who had been called that exact same time, had just borne his testimony,

and now it was Elder Bednar's turn. But before he would get up, there was going to be arrest him.

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