Command

Command is a fairly strong word. By definition it reads:

1. To direct with specific authority or prerogative; order.
2. To require authoritatively; demand.
3. To have or exercise authority or control over, be master of; have at one’s bidding or disposal.

This past weekend I attended the Saturday night Priesthood session of General Conference, as all good Mormom boys ages 12 and older are to do. I tend to rather enjoy the Priesthood session as I find that those who speak usually don’t sugar-coat things so much for the guys, the way they do when there are women and children present. It’s a time for great directness, leaving little room for wavering or doubt, in regards to the way one should be living his life.

At any rate, on Saturday night, President Monson shared a couple of fairly humorous stories, one of which I’ll be sharing here today, but both of which I immediately went home and shared with my family.

President Monson related the following story that happened to a friend of his, Bro. Borrup (sp?), as he was a fighter pilot during WWII. Bro. Borrup was assigned to a high risk mission to take out an oil refinery somewhere in the South Pacific. This mission was to be the longest flight as yet attempted by the military, and Bro. Borrup knew right away that he would be assigned to this detail. As it turns out he was assigned, and they did take fire to the point where all on board had to jump from the plane. Bro. Borrup landed in the water, attempted in vain to inflate his life raft, passed out, came to enough to attempt again to inflate his raft, and this time being successful, had just enough energy to climb into the raft before passing out again. He awoke and found that he had 2 comrades with him. They tethered their rafts together and floated for 3 days in enemy territory without food or water. How they were not seen by the numerous enemy ships and planes was the first miracle noted by Bro. Borrup. His 2 companions asked Bro. Borrup if he prayed. He noted that indeed he does pray, and that indeed he’d been praying almost continuously since he’d awoken.

One day they saw a U.S. submarine approaching. They thought for sure they’d been rescued. But to their dismay the submarine continued on right past them. A little while later the submarine approached again, and this time it again went right past them. At that time, Bro. Borrup relates that he heard a voice in his head tell him, “You have the Priesthood. Command that submarine to return and pick you up.” So that’s what he did. And immediately the sumbmarine returned and picked up the 3 fighter pilots. The captain of the submarine relayed that he had no idea the 3 pilots were lost at sea, and indeed had not been on any sort of rescue mission to pick them up. He all of a sudden simply knew that they were there and needed rescuing.

I returned home after the session to the wonderful smell of stew and biscuits that Angie had made for dinner. I relayed this story to Angie and the boys as we ate. They too thought it was comical to simply command a submarine to rescue you. Okay, Angie and Austin thought it was funny, Luke just laughs whenever anyone else is laughing.

A little while later, as we were preparing for bed, Angie had the boys in our room putting them into their pajamas, while I was brushing my teeth. This is the conversation I overheard:

Austin: “Mom, can I tell you a question?” (He likes to tell questions, not ask them).

Angie: “Sure.”

Austin: “Mom, I command you to go get me a biscuit.”

I spent the next few minutes cleaning the toothpaste off the bathroom mirror while Austin received an important lesson about how he did not yet have the Priesthood, and that even if he did he couldn’t go around commanding people, least of all his mother, to do things for him that he wanted done, that the Priesthood is only to be used for blessing other people’s lives, and that we would soon be having a Family Home Evening lesson to help us all understand more about the Priesthood and its proper uses.