The Story About Faith Fumes

I just finished a semester of college. But as this semester came to an end, my college life was also put on hiatus for 18 months as I go to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (a.k.a. the Mormons). A great decision (you'll see). But because I was taking such a long hiatus, all of my stuff had to come with me, too. So how did the college student with three suitcases, three bags, two plastic tubs, and a backpack, all full to bursting, make the journey across four states to get home? I called in my fantastic mother, of course.

She really must love me. She came across those four states in one day, helped me deep clean my dorm to pass cleaning checks, took my friend along for the ride home, and packed the car, only to turn right back around and drive home. And, between her being tired from everything and me not having driven in a long time, she let me drive. And it was so good to be behind the wheel again.

But because I hadn't driven for a while, there were some things I forgot to do. Like check the gas gauge the next morning to see if I needed to put gas in the car. That thought never even crossed my mind. A few hours later, I was driving along contently and looked down to see that the gas light was on, the little arrow pointing straight at the E. I was literally out of gas. I looked up and realized that lo and behold, I was driving straight through the middle of the desert. There would be no gas station for miles. My heart sunk. I told my mom and she double checked me and sighed. "Well," she said, "it looks like we'll be running on faith fumes." 

Faith fumes is just an expression my family and I use that describes how the car illogically makes it to the next gas station, something that my family knows all to well. How does this work, you may ask, and how can I use them? Well, let me give you a little formula that has worked for me and my family.

First, you need to pray sincerely. As the driver, I said a quick prayer in my heart, as I couldn't close my eyes, and I kept that humble prayer of "please, Father, help us get to the nearest gas station" in my heart continuously. My mom also prayed, by bowing her head, folding her arms, and closing her eyes, to demonstrate the respect that our God should be shown.

Second, have faith that your prayer will be answered. This is probably the most important part of the formula, and goes hand in hand with the first part. God, our Father in Heaven, does, in fact, hear your prayers and answer them. And if you don't feel like He does, then ask Him if He is listening and He will respond, if you are open to His answer.

Third, don't doubt. Be positive that you will make it. I had to force myself not to look at the gas gauge, because that would make me focus on the likelihood and logistics of making it to the nearest gas station (which was who knows how far away). But I didn't want the logic to get in the way of my faith that we would make it. Push away those doubtful thoughts, and you can make it, too.

Fourth, understand that your prayers may not be answered in the way you expect it. Over and over again, I kept thinking "Even if we don't make it to the pump at the next gas station, we will make it to a point where pushing the car to the pump will not be too difficult a task." That was not necessarily the answer I hoped I would receive, but I knew that I would make it somehow, even if I did have to push the car.

Fifth, when your prayer is answered, be grateful. Pray again and thank your Father for listening and helping you along. He did it because He loves you.

So the conclusion to my story? We made it to a gas station. All the way to the pump. How far did we go to get there? Probably about 30 miles since I had first realized the light was on. And I checked to see the estimation of miles we had left in our tank, and yes, it was at 0 miles for the gas that was in the car. There is no logical way that we could have made it to this gas station in the middle of the desert, where there was nothing else. Faith fumes carried us through. And those faith fumes came from my Father in Heaven who loves me dearly.

"Remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto

the children of men, from the creation of Adam even

down until the time that ye shall receive these things,

and ponder it in your hearts."

-Moroni 10:3

A Memory: The Bang

This is the version for electronic devices, though I prefer the actual board game.

My family is super into board games. When we have family nights, that's just what we do. It's quite wonderful. One of the games we discovered (courtesy of my dear uncle) is called Bang. Basically, you either play as a renegade, sheriff, deputy, or an outlaw, trying to win the card game by fulfilling your specific role. Well my family, being the way we are, decided that we should actually have a cowboy hat and shiny badge for the sheriff, listen to some good ol' western music, chew on toothpicks and play the game in a southern accent. Yup, we're just that cool.

It's a simple memory, picturing my family sitting around the table, all with toothpicks sticking out of their mouths, eyeing their cards and trying to figure out how to crush somebody else. But it's a memory that I treasure. Family will always be there, but they aren't always close to me physically. It can be hard, but it's nice to have these memories of spending time together to hold on to. Remember that your family is in your corner. They support you and fight for you, and that they do it in their own way. And don't forget to love on them...that's always a nice thing to do.

A Memory: The Dice

The human mind is an incredible thing. We are capable of, at any moment, recalling something that has happened to us, something that we have seen or heard, something that somebody told us. What a blessing it is to have this ability! So, because this is such an amazing gift, I want to share with you some memories that I have. They may sound kind of like a journal, but that's what a journal is, right? A way to preserve our memories.

So, here's the memory I've been thinking about today.

Statistics class, senior year. There were lots of people I knew from church in that class, and I had some good friends there, too. My teacher was kind of a jokester, unless you got on his bad side. He was very sarcastic and it was awesome to learn from him. Everyday was an adventure, with a new tale that somehow related to what we were learning about.

Being in statistics, probability came up, which is often associated with gambling. Now, I don't think gambling is a good thing, even if it's just playing with Cheerios instead of money. It's that appearance of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22) that makes me so hesitant and unwilling to play. It just doesn't seem right.

Because I don't gamble, I don't remember what the name of this particular game was, but it involved the rolling of dice. I sat in the front row, and on this particular day, my teacher needed a volunteer to roll the dice to demonstrate probability through this game. So naturally, he called on me. I was kind of panicked. I didn't feel comfortable rolling the dice, even if it was just for a practice problem. It just didn't seem right.

So there I sat, my teacher's hand extending the dice to me. I softly said, "Not today." He just kind of looked at me and said, "Oh come on, just one roll," and extended his hand to me a little closer. That kind of sent alarm bells ringing in my head.* "No thanks," I said. He again just looked at me. After what seemed like forever, he said "Alright, who wants to," and turned around to offer the dice to the rest of the class.

It's just a memory now, but it's a memory I treasure. Why? Because I stood up for myself and what I believed in. I'm sure I astonished some of my friends, but I didn't mind so much what they thought, because I felt like I had done the right thing. And that's what really matters.

*Not to compare my teacher to Satan (he was nowhere near so evil), but that's how Satan entices us. "Oh come on, just one roll won't hurt, one cigarette won't kill you. One time isn't such a bad thing. You never know unless you try, right? You'll be in total control, don't you worry." These are just things he uses to tempt us and lead us to do bad things.