A Man of Christ by Vaughn J. Featherstone

A Modern Man of Christ As I have thought about the man of Christ, I have also thought about many other things. You may recall a Dr. Kenneth McFarland. I guess he is one of the internationally renowned speakers of all time, a great super-patriot, and a wonderful individual. He told two incidents that I would like to share with you this morning. One occurred on a farm somewhere in the central part of Kansas. The people there had what they called Pole Pond. Pole Pond was a large pond, and it was fairly deep. They put a pole out to mark the drop-off so that the children in the community who couldn’t swim very well wouldn’t go out over their heads. As the children were swimming one day, one of the boys got a little too far out, went around the pole, and all of a sudden had stepped off of the drop-off point. He was in water over his head. A farmer walking nearby heard the rest of the boys yelling for help. He ran as quickly as he could and saw the boy drowning. Although unable to swim, he went out into the water and with his mighty arm threw the boy back into shallow water. He himself, in water over his head, drowned. During the next week, the boys and the youth in the community talked about nothing else except this brave man who had gladly given his life in an instant. I believe the man of Christ would do just exactly that. This same Dr. McFarland was once invited to speak at the graduation exercises in Coffeeville, Kansas. As he was preparing to give the talk, he was meeting with Dean Blakesmire. They talked about the arrangements for the next day, and Nancy Hollingsworth came in. She went over to the desk, ordered her regalia, and then said, “One seat in the parents’ section, please.” Dr. McFarland said he remembered well that she asked for only one seat. Soon she left, and Dean Blakesmire and Dr. McFarland talked for a few minutes more and went out in the hall where Nancy was waiting. She said, “Dr. McFarland, I’ve got a special favor to ask of you. Would you mind doing something for me?” “Well, if I possibly can. That’s what it’s all about is to help people. I’ll do it if I can.” She said, “Can I share a story with you?” “Yes.” She said, “Many years ago, just after I was born, my father, who worked on the railroad, somehow slipped under a train and was killed. And so my mother started raising the three children—Richard, my brother Tommy, and me. She did that all through the years. She’d go to work in an apparel shop and then she’d come home in the evening and stay with us. We just loved her. We didn’t have one other living relative except my mother’s brother, Uncle Ben, and he was a drunken ne’er-do-well. It seemed Mother didn’t care to have Uncle Ben come to our home, but we kids just loved him because whenever he’d come he’d always have time to play with us. He’d work just long enough to get a little money, and then he’d spend it on booze. But we loved him and we thought he was all right. During all those years mother tried to compensate for not having a father in our home. She would take us upstairs and tuck each one. of us in our beds, and then she’d sit and tell us stories. One night when I was about six, she tucked Richard in bed and kissed him, and then she tucked Tommy in bed and kissed him, and then she came over and sat on my bed and tucked me in. She told us some stories, and we laughed so hard that night I got a pain in my stomach. My mother had to rub it out with her hand. Then she kissed me and left. Well, during that night, Dr. McFarland, our mother passed away. The angels came and got her for some reason, and the next morning we three children got up and went into mother’s room. We found her dead. We didn’t know what to do, and so we ran down to Uncle Ben’s house and told Uncle Ben, ‘Our mother has passed away. We don’t know what to do. What are we going to do now?’ He said, ‘I don’t know, kids, but it’ll never be as good as you had. You’ll never have anyone who’ll love you like your mother loved you. But after the funeral arrangements, I’ll go to see the judge and see if he will let me take care of you.’ When the funeral ended, he went down to see the judge and got custody of us. During those years, Dr. McFarland, I can’t tell you what a job he has done. It’s been over twenty years now. He has never missed a day’s work, and he has never even been sick—not once in all of those twenty years. He has not had a drink in all of those twenty years. And we’ve never heard one complaint. You know, Dr. McFarland, they always ask all the parents of the graduating students to please stand. My Uncle Ben won’t even sit in the parents’ section. He doesn’t feel he’s worthy to do that. He thinks that’s a place where only our mother ought to sit, and he doesn’t feel he could take her place. Would you mind asking my Uncle Ben to stand with the parents tomorrow night at the graduation exercise?” He said, “Well, Nancy, I’d love to do that.” The next night at graduation, it was a beautiful, cool evening. They had the exercises out in the stadium. Dr. McFarland said, “Everyone was there well ahead of time. The graduating students came in and took their places. Behind the students was the parents’ section, and then behind that was the relatives and friends’ section.” He looked down and saw Nancy Hollingsworth on the front row. They went through the commencement exercise, had the opening hymn, the invocation, and then several talks. Finally they got around to Dr. McFarland. He stood up, and, as was customary, he had all the parents stand up. Then they sat down, and he honored them. Then he looked down on the front row and saw Nancy Hollingsworth. Her chin was just about on the floor. She thought that he’d forgotten Uncle Ben. But Dr. McFarland said, “Now, I’d like to have all those Uncle Bens who have graduates in this class, please stand.” It was very quiet. Everyone looked around, and there was just a murmur that went throughout the entire congregation of people. Nothing happened, so he said, “I’m not going to go on with my talk until the Uncle Ben who has a graduate in this class stands.” Way back behind the students, the graduates, the parents, way back in the friends and relatives’ section, a very tall, lean man slowly made his way to his feet. As he stood up, it looked as if everything in him were pulling him down, but he was being forced to stand. An ovation started across one part of the stadium and roared through to the other end. It lasted for several minutes as he stood there with his head bowed, somewhat embarrassed at this great thing that was taking place in his life. Finally it finished, and he sat down. Then Dr. McFarland went on with the talk. After the main talk at the commencement exercise, each graduate received his or her diploma. “Pomp and Circumstance” was played as the graduates filed out. Then Dr. McFarland said, “Quite a number of people came up on the stand to shake hands with me. All of a sudden, Nancy Hollingsworth was there. I took hold of her hand, and she said, ‘Would you please come with me? I want you to meet my Uncle Ben.’” He excused himself from the others and went down off of the stand. Halfway down the aisle, here was Uncle Ben coming up. Nancy introduced him to Uncle Ben, and he shook hands with him and said, “Now, Uncle Ben, I want to have you tell me what it was like. Just answer a couple of questions. First, what was it like when all these people were applauding you for what you had done through all those years?” He said, “Oh, I thought I was dreaming. I thought I was asleep. I thought, ‘If I’m asleep and dreaming and it’s Nancy’s commencement exercise night, then I’ve missed it.’” Then Dr. McFarland said, “Well, now the second question: How were you ever able to talk the judge into letting you take the children? As I understand it, you didn’t have much of a reputation.” He said, “Well, after the funeral, we went down to see the judge, and I said to him, ‘Judge, if you’ll let me take these children, I promise you I’ll never have another drink as long as I live. Then I’ll get down on my knees every single day of my life and I’ll ask God to give me the gumption to keep that promise. Will you please let me take them?’ The judge took his glasses off, looked out the window for a long moment, and then he put them back on. He said, ‘Ben, I’ll go with that. We’ll put you on probation for about six weeks. If you can keep that promise, then we’ll make the children yours permanently.’ We went home after that. We got inside of the house and talked for a minute. Then the three children and I knelt down together. We prayed to the God of heaven to give me the gumption to live the way that I had promised the judge I would. And the five of us—God and the three children and me—have been going along ever since.” I believe the man of Christ would be that kind of individual. When it was required that his life would change and conform to correct principles, he would do it. There are many other things we could talk about. I believe the man of Christ would have an unparalleled commitment to serve his fellowmen. I think he would have total faith. I believe he would have a pure heart and soul. I believe he would have a reverence for the Savior if he were truly a man of Christ. I’d like to share with you my testimony about one particular man of Christ, President Spencer W. Kimball. I know of no one on the face of the earth who comes nearer to measuring to the total stature of the man of Christ than Spencer W. Kimball. I have an absolute witness and assurance that President Spencer W. Kimball is a prophet of God, and I know that he is only a whisper away from the Savior, Jesus Christ, whose church this is. May we each, whether young man or young woman, become a “man of Christ,” in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.