Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast - He wasn't weird, he was right • followHIM Favorites • Jan 15 - 21 • Come Follow Me

Episode Date: January 11, 2024

Join us for a modern-day Tree of Life experience.Thanks to the followHIM team:Shannon Sorensen: Cofounder, Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignAnnabelle Sorensen: Creative Project ManagerWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

Hello, my friends. Welcome to Follow Him Favorites. This year we are telling a single story. Last year we answered a single question from this week's lesson. This year we're going to tell a single story from this week's lesson. John, we are in 1st Nephi 6 through 10, the center of the lesson being the tree of life. Lehigh's dream. What story comes to mind? Oh, so many, hey, but the one that stands out to me, Sister Elaine Dalton, in April conference of 2008, she gave this talk called at all times and all things in and all places.

And she talked about a young man named Jess who was a student body president at a large university. And he went back to Chicago to some sort of a student body president convention council and thing like that And they had to get to know you game at the beginning and we've done those at the FY and FSY And this get to know you game there in an open area with grass They have four trees with a sign in front of each one strongly agree somewhat agree somewhat disagree strongly disagree and they start throwing out

Issues facing today's youth and everybody's running to the tree and you get to know, oh, I like that too. Is your running to each tree? I was kind of surprised they would do this, but they threw out pre-marital sexual relations are okay. Go. And here's Jess. Remember the church? He runs to strongly disagree and he gets there and he turns around and guess. He's the only one there he gets there and he turns around and guess. He's the only one there. I'm guessing he's exactly what she said. He was the only one there.

And she said that other kids were laughing and pointing like, are you serious? Or did you hear the question? He must not have heard the question, right? He's like, no, no, I'm serious. This is how I feel. And she said there was stunned silence, which I love because that's a part of the question, right? It's like, no, no, I'm serious. This is how I feel. And she said, there was stunned silence, which I love because that's a chance for the conscience to say something.

There was stunned silence, then they went on, but I'm laughing going, okay, so here's a kid standing alone by a tree, while other people are laughing and pointing. Does this remind you of anything? Okay. And so he goes through that and Sister Dalton, she makes it really profound. She said he felt alone and he felt weird.

But Sister Dalton said he wasn't weird. He was right. And he wasn't alone. She said, during the rest of the week, several of the student leaders came to him privately and said, I wish I known that years earlier. I love this story. The phrase Lehigh uses the tree by which I stood just by the tree. Even some people that are laughing and mocking might inside be going, ooh, I wonder if he's right about this. That's the story that comes to my mind.

Absolutely. Perfect. I picture Nephi there at the tree just eating. Right? We've always making tree of light jam tree of life. By that's all he cares about. That's all he cares about. People are mocking him and he's like, do you want some fruit? No, no. Okay. I'm just going to stay here. You're crazy. This is the most, this is the best thing I've ever tasted. You should come. You should get over here. You should get over here. I love that story, John.

Come join us for our full podcast. It's called Follow Him. You can get it wherever you get your podcast. Come back next week. We'll do another Follow Him Favorite Story. you