Day 22: Trip Check

Sorry for not posting. I swear, this week has been crazy. Between my visit home (which lasted way longer than it was originally planned for and I am totally ok with that :)) and getting back here to do laundry and buy groceries for my poor husband who was living without, and reading the final book in the Hunger Games series, Mockingjay, I feel like I am finally in normal mode. If you know me at all, once a book has me within it's grasp, I don't come up for food, water, air or sleep unless it's totally necessary. :) Ok, slight exaggeration. But only slight. But the house is clean, the laundry is done and the fridge is once more stocked, so I feel good.

As I made my way home on Wednesday, I found myself entering the Portland area at about 4:15. Bad timing. Rush hour starts right about that time. And rush hour in Portland stinks. It's pretty much bumper to bumper traffic for two solid hours. Not fun. So, as I entered Gresham, I called my mom and asked her if she could go online to tripcheck.org and see how the traffic was for me. What resulted was kind of an interesting experience. She was literally able to follow me from the I-84 to the I-205 to the I-5, all by camera. She told me what to expect as I came to certain roads, and where the traffic would be the heaviest, where it was lighter, if there were any accidents up ahead (which there were not, thank goodness.) She followed my trip for a good 15-20 miles and told me everything I needed to know. She kept commenting, "this is so crazy! I can't believe I can follow you like this!" She even saw live feed and could see me passing by certain cameras. It was pretty cool.

I thought about how it would be if our lives could be like that. If we could have someone that could go a few weeks or months or even years ahead of us and report what was coming and warn us how to avoid the traffic jams that may result. And then I realized, we do have that. It's called a Prophet of God. And his name is Thomas S. Monson. We have had so many prophets come and forewarn us of the dangers that surely lie ahead and how we can be prepared to face those dangers. When the First Presidency came out with the Proclamation to the World on Families, the family wasn't being attacked that heavily. Now, we are constantly being bombarded on every side concerning our families. When they first started warning about food storage and not going into debt, it wasn't as big of an issue with most people. Now, how many times do we see commercials for debt relieving agencies and credit card debt relief? There were laws that were trying to get passed about not having a garden or only being able to have a certain amount of food storage. We are seeing the wisdom NOW of the counsel we were given THEN. What foresight, what inspiration those wonderful men had/have to tell us how to prepare and arm ourselves against the certain dangers that may befall us. I am so grateful for a living Prophet who leads and guides us and gives us counsel. I am grateful for my own personal "tripcheck" that warns me when there are unforeseen dangers ahead. We thank Thee oh God, for a Prophet, to guide us in these latter-days.

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