On A Friday Afternoon Just One Year...

On a Friday afternoon just one year ago, President McKay called me to be a counselor in the Presiding Bishopric of the Church. The day prior, I was at home in Chicago quite secure in the feeling that we had moved for the last time. I was happy with my work and the opportunities that lay ahead. I was completing my twenty-first year with a wonderful organization. We had moved to Chicago from Denver eleven months earlier and had just completed our new home. ¶

It was about 9 pm that Thursday evening when I received a long distance telephone call from Salt Lake City. The caller asked if I planned to attend general conference the next morning. I told him no. He said, "Could you?" ¶

And I said, "I suppose I can if you would like," whereupon he said, "The President of the Church would like to see you at eight o'clock tomorrow morning in his office. Now get a good night's sleep because it is probably the last one you will ever have." ¶

As I sat in President McKay's private office the following day, and he looked into my eyes, I am sure my entire life lay before him as an open book. I expected him to thank me for coming and wish me a pleasant journey home, but he didn't. Rather, he asked me to serve as a counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, notwithstanding all of my human failings. ¶

I testify to you with all my heart that a prophet of God asked me to serve. As far as I know, that is the only qualification I have, but this is enough for me. ¶

These past twelve months have been filled with the most wonderful experiences of my life. I am so grateful to the young people of the Church for the inspiration they are to me. They give me courage to carry on in my responsibilities. It thrills me to learn of their faith and devotion to the Lord. I am confident they have the kind of courage our pioneer forefathers had. They have the kind of courage that Carlyle referred to when he said: "The courage we desire and prize is not the courage to die decently, but to live manfully." ¶

The same kind Whitehead had in mind when he said: "True courage is not the brutal force of vulgar heroes but the firm resolve of virtue and reason." ¶

Let me illustrate what I mean by telling you of three young people who have been an inspiration to me. The first one is a young man nineteen years of age. We will call him Bill. All through high school Bill was a black sheep, using his own words. He hung around the pool hall with the gang. Bill did what the gang wanted to do, even though sometimes he knew it wasn't the right thing. Bill followed the line of least resistance. You couldn't really say that Bill was an individual. He didn't do much thinking for himself. ¶

He let the gang do his thinking for him. ¶

Bill said to me, "Bishop Brown, I have just wasted nineteen years of my life. ¶

I have at last come to the realization that there is something in life worth more than being just one of the gang. ¶

I want to make something of myself. I want to be an individual." ¶

Something or somebody had touched Bill and given him the courage to think for himself, the courage to break away from the gang and the activities and habits that generally go along with a pool hall environment. Bill decided that he wanted to stand on his own two feet, to be a man. He now has the courage to live manfully. ¶

Nancy is a lovely young lady about fifteen years of age. When she was a little girl, she used to visit her aunt on the farm. One day while she was visiting her aunt, she overheard a neighbor lady comment on how poor Nancy's family was. This comment made a deep impression on her, and as she told us the story she said: ¶

"My brothers and sisters, I am not poor. I have never been poor. I have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. ¶

I know that it is true. How could I be poor?" ¶

It is young ladies like Nancy who convince me that the children of the next generation will have mothers with the same kind of courage that our pioneer mothers had. ¶

And now Gregg. Gregg is one of the most alert, intelligent, pleasant young men I have ever met. Just talking to him and learning of his ambitions and his goals was an inspiration. At the conclusion of our visit I said to him, "You must have wonderful parents." ¶

He flushed for a moment, and then lie said quietly, "When I was a little boy, my mother and father were divorced. I do not know my father. My mother remarried and compromised some of her principles. She is a bitter woman now." Courage? Courage to rise above one's environment, even though that environment might be one's own home? Gregg had it. ¶

I am so grateful to Bill, Nancy, and Gregg and the many other young men and young women of this Church who are an inspiration in my life. I have the utmost confidence in them, and because of them I have implicit faith in the future. ¶

Another of the great blessings that has come to me in the last twelve months has been the association of these wonderful men — the General Authorities of the Church. Just to be in the shadow and under the influence of President McKay is a blessing beyond description. To receive instruction and guidance from his counselors and from the Quorum of the Twelve is a blessing and a prized opportunity. To feel the warmth, friendship, and the brotherly love of each of the General Authorities is one of the most satisfying feelings and experiences that could come to a man. ¶

I am deeply grateful to Bishop Vandenberg for his confidence in me. We have discussed many times the wonderful experiences we had as fellow counselors in the Denver Stake presidency under the tutelage of President Edward E. Drury, Jr. ¶

I love Bishop Simpson and appreciate so much the wonderful feeling of unity that encompasses all that we do in our responsibilities. I am thankful to the Lord for the blessing that we have received in our home of five wonderful children, each of whom loves his Heavenly Father. ¶

I am grateful for my heritage, for my parents and their righteous lives, and for all of my forebears. I thank my Heavenly Father for all of these blessings. I know that he lives, and that he is directing the affairs of his Church today just as surely as he did in days of old. ¶

I leave you this testimony humbly and bear it with all my heart, asking our Heavenly Father to bless us all, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶