{"id":3075,"date":"2008-09-30T16:32:41","date_gmt":"2008-09-30T22:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speeches.byu.edu\/?p=1933"},"modified":"2021-12-14T09:25:34","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T16:25:34","slug":"just-case-someone-asks-will-ready","status":"publish","type":"speech","link":"https:\/\/speeches.byu.edu\/talks\/robert-r-steuer\/just-case-someone-asks-will-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"Just in Case Someone Asks, I Will Be Ready"},"content":{"rendered":"
Good morning, brothers and sisters. My wife and I are greatly honored to be with you enthusiastic students at this wonderful university. I have titled my message \u201cJust in Case Someone Asks, I Will Be Ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a teenager I found a simple thought that had guided Abraham Lincoln\u2019s life. President Lincoln was asked how he was able to become the president of the United States. His self-effacing answer was, \u201cI kept preparing myself just in case.\u201d1<\/sup> This down-to-earth phrase inspired me, and I began looking for ways that could prepare me to be ready for the future.<\/p>\n For example, as a young missionary in Brazil, I decided to learn to speak and read Portuguese 100 percent. Returning home from my mission, I didn\u2019t think I would be using Portuguese again. But two years later I took the medical school entrance exam, and, lo and behold, my Portuguese was extremely helpful because Portuguese is a strongly influenced Latin-based language\u2014as are many medical terms. Twenty years later I returned to S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil, with my family as a mission president, and 35 years after that original decision, my wife and I returned to serve in the Area Presidency in the north of Brazil. Even today the joy of speaking another language without having to interpret word for word in my mind is a mystery and a blessing.<\/p>\n Another example: I, like many other Church members listening to Elder Neal A. Maxwell\u2019s talks, noted that he would regularly cite from John Bartlett\u2019s Familiar Quotations.<\/i> So I started to read Bartlett\u2019s Familiar Quotations<\/i> to be prepared just in case someone asked me<\/i> to give a talk in church.<\/p>\n Thomas Edison said, \u201cOpportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.\u201d2<\/sup> Likewise, Benjamin Disraeli said, \u201cThe great secret of success in life is for a man to be ready when his opportunity comes.\u201d3<\/sup> President Henry B. Eyring has often recalled important counsel his father gave him. That counsel was, \u201cHal, .\u00a0.\u00a0. you ought to find something that you love so much that when you don\u2019t have to think about anything, that\u2019s what you think about.\u201d4<\/sup> For me that means we will be prepared for inspiration on a specific topic if we have been seriously contemplating it. Some, on the other hand, may conclude that it is too hard to always be preparing or to do such focused thinking. But doing hard things builds confidence and strengthens character. We learn much from those who lean hard against us.<\/p>\n To prepare just in case someone asks becomes even more important as the world becomes more complex. One approach in preparing ourselves is to simplify and find the \u201ckernel\u201d truths and thoughts. A \u201ckernel operator\u201d in mathematics transforms the original unwieldy and perhaps confusing problem into an easier solution. In computer technology the kernel is the central component of most operating systems. It is the core or nucleus that makes things work. In medicine this same key concept is incorporated in the word pathognomonic.<\/i> A pathognomonic sign is a particular sign whose presence means that beyond any doubt a particular disease is present. For example, if so-called Koplik\u2019s spots are present in the mouth, a doctor\u2019s diagnosis of measles is certain. This is also similar to the well-known mathematical statement of proof: If and only if<\/i> the necessary and sufficient condition A is met; then<\/i> condition B is true.<\/p>\n To prepare and simplify our lives is like finding those kernel operators, determining the necessary and sufficient conditions or discovering the pathognomonic signs so we can have confidence in our actions and do the right things for the right reasons. We know the scriptures are very clear about certain laws, bounds, and conditions as well: \u201cAnd unto every kingdom is given a law; and unto every law there are certain bounds also and conditions.\u201d5<\/sup> Also, \u201cThere is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated.\u201d6<\/sup><\/p>\n Embracing key scriptures and doctrines can help us simplify and prepare for life\u2019s important decisions. The words God uses in the scriptures and the words of the living prophets will help us find our way, especially today.<\/p>\n One such kernel scripture comes from the words of the prophet Micah and gives great strength and clarity of direction. In Micah 6:6\u20138<\/a> we read:<\/p>\n Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?<\/i><\/p>\n Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?<\/i><\/p>\n He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy\u00a0God?<\/i><\/p>\n The Lord tells us what is good and what pleases Him.7<\/sup> Certainly a core message here teaches us \u201cto do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.\u201d Note that the Lord gives us only three things to remember; this kernel, therefore, simplifies our direction and gives great clarity to our actions.<\/p>\n First,<\/b> we notice that the Lord requires<\/i> us to do justly. The Old Testament Hebrew word for just<\/i> means to do right,8<\/sup> to do righteousness, or to \u201chave a . . . just weight\u201d9<\/sup> or balance10<\/sup> when measuring something.11<\/sup> In today\u2019s vernacular, to do justly may also mean to be fair in our treatment of one another. In Portuguese, for example, the words just<\/i> and fair<\/i> are the same word: justo.<\/i> Doing \u201cthat which [is] right in the sight of the Lord\u201d12<\/sup> helps us become a just\u00a0person.<\/p>\n A just man\u2019s character, how he thinks and how he desires to learn all that he can, is described in Proverbs, chapter 9: \u201cGive instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in\u00a0learning.\u201d13<\/sup><\/p>\n We recall Elder David A. Bednar\u2019s recent comment: \u201cLearning to love learning is central to the gospel of Jesus Christ.\u201d14<\/sup><\/a> Hence, the things we put into our soul mold our unique character and individual identity. For all of our efforts in learning the truth and doing \u201cthat which [is] right in the sight of the Lord,\u201d the Lord promises this wonderful blessing:<\/p>\n