Saving Spencer?

In February of 1997 I took Spencer with me on a business trip to Florida and Georgia. We were able to watch a spring training baseball game in Lakeland Florida and a Magic basketball game in Orlando.

Then we headed to southern Georgia where I had an appointment with the buyer for "J.H. Harvey" food stores on thursday morning. We got into town early in the afternoon the day before the appointment so I took Spencer over to the local golf course. He didn't play, but he enjoyed riding in the golf cart. But he soon got bored with that and started pleading to get out of the cart and explore the hills and lakes. I told him that wasn't a good idea because there were all kinds of hazards, the least of which where poisonous coral and water moccasin snakes as well as alligators. But as I pulled up to the 6th tee which was between two large hills I finally couldn't take it any longer and said he could get out of the cart if he stayed close and most important don't run. As I started to walk to the tee he jumped out of the cart and immediatley started running over the hill toward what I didn't know. Then I heard a big splash and figured he had fallen into some lake on the other side of the hill and was being eaten alive by some swamp animal. So I took off running and when I got to the top of the hill I was relieved to see Spencer dry, but something was wrong...he stood frozen with his arms outstretched, his face pale and his eyes as big as I've ever seen them. Then I looked in the direction he was staring and I saw what was causing his terror...swimming away was a very large alligator. Spencer had come over the hill running and surprised the gator causing him to dive in the lake. Luckily he was surprised and not hungry.

Now in between the alligator story and the next the next story I saved him several times but I was mainly saving him from his Mother. When we were at basketball games and she saw girls getting too familiar with him she would take off to the other side of the building to get those girls away from her son.  Luckily he always was a safe distance from us so I could signal...so he could hide before his Mother got there to pull the girls hair out.

When we got Spencer's itinerary for his flight home from his mission in Italy I noticed the connection for his flight into Salt Lake City and out to Idaho Falls was too close and I was sure he would miss it. And if he missed it... I would be the first casulty of his Mother's frustration if she had to wait one extra day to see her son. So I arranged a business trip so I would have the same connecting flight from Salt Lake City to Idaho Falls. It turned out a good thing that I did, because as I feared his flight into Salt Lake City was a few minutes late and they were boarding the Idaho Falls flight and weren't going to wait. I pleaded with them and pointed out they were scheduled to be at the gate in 10 minutes and if they left without him and I arrived in Idaho Falls alone my wife would be a widow. But they didn't care and told me to board the plane because they were ready to depart. I told them I wasn't getting on the plane without my son. Now the ball was in their court because if they left me behind they would first have to get my luggage off the plane because if I didn't go the law said my luggage couldn't go either for safety reasons. So rather that unpack all the luggage trying to find mine they decided waiting for him would be quicker. And luckily he showed up in 5 minutes and we were on our way. And we both arrived in Idaho Falls to the open arms of the Mother.

In the spring of 2010 I woke up on a Saturday morning at 2:30 a.m. with a feeling that one of my sons was in danger. Logically it had to be Greg who was in Portugal where it was 9:30 a.m. Just then Joyce woke up and now I was sure Greg was in some kind of trouble in Portugal so I dropped to my knees and asked Heavenly Father to bless and protect Greg from what ever danger he was in. Then when I emailed him the next day I asked if he was okay and what danger was he in at 9:30 a.m. saturday morning. He wrote back that 9:30 he and his companion were having study class and they were in no danger. I was relieved but concerned because I felt sure that he was in danger. Later that day Spencer called and I told him about the feeling I had and the prayer to Heavenly Father to protect Greg. Spencer then asked what time I got this feeling and I told him 2:30 mountain time. He then said, "that would be 4:30 a.m.Buffalo time right?" I said "yes,"and then he said at 4:30 a.m. that morning their dog Brady woke he and Brianna up to find their bedroom filling with smoke from a fire in their apartment complex, he was the son in peril." Then he added, "RIGHT PRAYER DAD, JUST WRONG SON!"

It's a good thing someone knew who was in trouble.