Anchors

June 10, 2012

In February 1962 I went aboard the USS Hornet CVS 12 with orders to serve. I had been through Boot camp in San Diego, California, then specialty training at the Great Lakes Naval station in Illinois and was now ready to serve as a Machinist Mate. Protocol called for each seaman apprentice to serve for three months as kitchen police, aka KP duty, or deck hands assisting the deck crews. I drew the lot of being on deck and doing the things the regular service crews called on us to do. Ninety nine and ninety nine one hundreds of the activity we were called on to perform was paint chipping and painting. Rust is a constant problem, so we were assigned on a daily basis to selected portions of the hull. We would lower ourselves down to the designated place and chip away.

On one occasion I was assigned to chip and preserve one of the anchors. Looking at the anchors from shore, or even over the side, they do not look like they would weigh in at around 44,000 pounds and be the size of a car, but when you are lowered down on a boatswain’s chair dangling 40 feet above the Pacific Ocean the perspective that this is one humongus toy. With chain links roughly the size of large water melons and gear that easily moves these goodies to the ocean floor they stabilize and secure the ship in exactly the designated spot. The design, manufacture, installation, and implementation allowed the Hornet to anchor in the middle of the Hong Kong bay and many other places without incident because it was the correct tool for the designated job.

Last night we had a wind pass through Toquerville that put everyone on watch for flying garbage cans, trampolines and other goodies. Because it gets quite warm in Southern Utah I put up some shade over my garden to keep it from frying. It worked quite well until we had a lighter wind come through about a week ago and blow off one of the sheets of OSB (Plywood, for the old timers). I put it back up yesterday with a promise to Jean that I would “anchor” it with some ropes and wire so nothing would damage my crops. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, the anchors didn’t get positioned, and my covering went with the rest of the unanchored goodies in Toquerville. Jean shared her Relief Society lesson with me about one family forgetting that their trampoline had been moved and the anchors removed left off. The winds blew, the stuff flew, and about eleven last night their trampoline flew over two houses and landed in the ravine below. Her lesson was about our life anchors.

Many times in my life I have been caught with my anchors unused, unprepared, unrepaired, and unworthy of the job associated with keeping me steady in a world of difficult experiences. I refer, of course to my relationship with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. When I feast on the scriptures I find great joy in personal revelation and inspiration for my family and for myself. It doesn’t take long to prepare to understand the guidance of the Holy Ghost by purposefully praying and asking for the blessings of heaven on those with whom we associate. The most difficult segment is keeping our anchors repaired by asking for forgiveness through repentance and “Christ like” sorrow. Because we are human, because we stumble, because we frequently wander off the strait and narrow path, our “natural man” tells us that we have failed and are therefore, unworthy of the blessings of heaven. God will forgive us. Jesus Christ has atoned for our sins and we can be blessed by the direction of God through the Holy Ghost, ministering angels, and the marvelous friends, family, and teachings with which we adhere.

Never give up. Our job is simple. Endure to the end. Build your anchors so you and your family are able to use them daily, they are prepared for your regular use, they are repaired from things we might have done to deter them, and that each of us are worthy to accept the gift of Jesus Christ.

God bless you in your worthy desires

Duane Jacobs, Grandpa, popsa, uncle, cousin, brother, and friend