Elder Ballard Goes

I have heard snarky comments about callings being more about relation than revelation.

But I feel less and less like condemning that. Perhaps that is a bit of a window into the future.

Zen, I’ve felt that way too lots of times. But I’ve come to realize that some families are just foreordained to be leaders.
My Dad liked to shake someone’s hand and say that he had shaken the hand of someone who had shaken the hand of the Prophet Joseph Smith. He had shaken hands with President Heber J. Grant who had shaken hands with Brigham Young who had shaken hands with Joseph. And that’s my lame claim to fame.
President Ballard will be missed just like all the other greats who have graduated. What’s amazing to me is that I remember when he was called as an apostle. I’m getting old!

As the announcement stated, Ballard was the longest serving General Authority, and I put myself to remembering why he seemed more familiar to me than the 70s generally did. There were fewer 70s then, so we would hear from an individual more than once in General Conference, but it seemed like it was more than that. BYU Speeches confirms that during my semesters at BYU he spoke three times. Those Marriott Center Tuesday devotionals and Fast Sunday firesides were the second thing that drew me to attending BYU: That was something that I wouldn’t get in that quantity elsewhere. (The first thing was learning that many BYU students worked at the Missionary Training Center. It struck me as quite a holy thing to serve the missionaries.)