THE EXTENSION CORD

For over thirty years I worked two jobs to provide the temporal things my family needed.  In addition to teaching, which was my main occupation, I was a contractor who did stucco and cement plastering as a second job.  Because of my school teaching I worked after school most nights and virtually every Saturday.  The autumn Saturdays were my favorite.  Not only were the crisp fall days my preferred time of the year weather-wise, but fall was also football season.  BYU was my favorite college football team and during those days their games were played on Saturday afternoon.  Very few, if any, of their games were televised, leaving radio as my only option.  I used a small, old, beat up portable radio to listen to those Saturday afternoon games.  I kept a hundred foot extension cord in my truck to power it.  For all the years I had been doing this, a hundred feet of cord had easily been sufficient to reach where I was working.  But on one particular Saturday, I was leaving home to plaster a foundation in a new subdivision which was quite a distance from home and with which I was unfamiliar.  I had all the necessary tools and materials for the job but as I was backing out of the driveway I had the strongest impression to get another hundred foot extension cord.  I remember thinking to myself that I wouldn’t need another cord.  I never needed an extra cord.  But the feeling was so persistent I stopped the truck and got another one.  When I arrived at the jobsite, I noticed almost immediately that there was no temporary power located at the house I would be plastering.  It was the very first house built in the subdivision and for some reason, the temporary power was located across the street and up a ways, clearly more than a hundred feet.  It was the only source of power available to me.  If I hadn’t been impressed to bring the extra cord, I wouldn’t have been able to listen to the game that day.  As I’ve pondered that, I realize that through the Holy Ghost, a loving Heavenly Father was telling me to take the extra cord, not because it had anything to do with my eternal salvation, but simply because He knew I enjoyed listening to the games and that I would need the extra cord to do it.  I know that He is not distant, remote, or even absent.  He knows me.  He knows everything about me.  He knows everything about each of His children.  He is concerned about me, wants me to be happy and provides me with the things and opportunities I need to develop and become all I can be.  Did I need to listen to that game that Saturday?  No.  But recognizing His involvement in my life in such a detailed way regarding such an insignificant thing, conveyed to me in a most tender yet powerful way just how much He loves and cares about me.  If such a miniscule issue as this draws His attention, how could I possibly think He doesn’t care about any aspect of my life?