Hold On Thy Way

Many years ago in general conference President Nelson told a story of a rafting trip he took with his family on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. On the second day when they reached Horn Creek rapids he recounted, “I was terrified. Floating on a rubber raft, our precious family was about to plunge over a waterfall! Instinctively I put one arm around my wife and the other around our youngest daughter. To protect them, I tried to hold them close to me. But as we reached the precipice, the bended raft became a giant sling and shot me into the air. I landed into the roiling rapids of the river. I had a hard time coming up. Each time I tried to find air, I hit the underside of the raft. My family couldn’t see me, but I could hear them shouting, ‘Daddy! Where’s Daddy?’” Eventually he found his way around the underside of the raft and his family pulled him out of the water. And so after that experience, when they reached an even more treacherous point on the water, Lava Falls, he pulled the raft to the shore and held a family council on how they would make it through. He said to his family, “No matter what happens, the rubber raft will remain on top of the water. If we cling with all our might to ropes secured to the raft, we can make it. Even if the raft should capsize, we will be all right if we hang tightly to the ropes.” This time, as he hung on to the raft instead of only to his family, they all made it through safely. He commented on the lesson he learned in these words, “Brothers and sisters, I nearly lost my life learning a lesson that I now give to you. As we go through life, even through very rough waters, a father’s instinctive impulse to cling tightly to his wife or to his children may not be the best way to accomplish his objective. Instead, if he will lovingly cling to the Savior and the iron rod of the gospel, his family will want to cling to him and to the Savior.”

                This story from President Nelson reminds me of a similar talk that President Ballard gave several years ago. He related how a friend had also gone rafting on the Colorado River with his son, and their guide gave them the rules this way: “Rule number one: stay in the boat! Rule number two: always wear a life jacket! Rule number three: always hold on with both hands!” The guide then “said again, with even more emphasis, ‘Above all, remember rule number one: stay in the boat!’” President Ballard related this to our spiritual journey and encouraged us to stay in the boat that is the Lord’s Church, quoting these words of Brigham Young: “We are on the old ship Zion. … [God] is at the helm and will stay there. … All is right, sing Hallelujah, for the Lord is here. He dictates, guides and directs. If the people will have implicit confidence in their God, never forsake their covenants nor their God, He will guide us right.” Our best opportunity to help our family and those around us, as we all travel through life, is to first hold fast to the Lord so that we are firmly yoked to Him. Then we can also hold on to our family and help them also to stay in the boat as we make our path in life through the difficulties and challenges that we face. We must firmly set our own personal foundation on the Lord Jesus Christ if we are to be steady enough to lift and hold and save those around us. Otherwise, like President Nelson at the rapids at Horn Creek, we may find ourselves unable to help anyone because we did not hang on ourselves. We must “lay hold upon the word of God”—the words of the scriptures and the Son of God who is the Word—which will “lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand of God in the kingdom of heaven” (Helaman 3:29-30).

                I remember one scout trip where we also went rafting, I believe near Flaming Gorge. We did not face any significant rapids that I remember, but towards the end of the trip I decided to jump out of the boat and float to the end for fun. That turned out to be quite a mistake. First, I got out into the water significantly further away from the end than I originally thought, becoming very cold. I let myself drift in such a way that I missed the place we were supposed to get off. That of course caused me to panic, and in the struggle to get back over to the shore I hit some underground wire somehow and poked a significant hole in my left leg (the scar from which I can still point out). Gratefully there was a place shortly after that to get over and I was able to get out of the water and was able to get the help I needed. It was a lesson to me as well: stay in the boat! And so I hope that I can do that throughout my life, holding fast to the Savior who is indeed “at the helm” of our boat if we will hold fast to our covenants with Him. His promise to us is that even if we are, figuratively or literally, “in perils by land or by sea” He will be with us as we hold on to the boat: “Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever” (Doctrine and Covenants 122:5, 9).