Organize Yourselves

My husband and I teach the 15-17 year olds in Sunday School. This week, we were discussing the Saints preparing themselves for their trek to Salt Lake (section 136 in D&C contains instructions for them as what they needed to do). One of the verses we talked about struck me:

2) Let all the people of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and those who journey with them, be organized into companies, with a covenant and promise to keep all the commandments and statutes of the Lord our God.

Along with reading this section, we were trying to figure out how we could apply it to our own journeys in life. I was struggling with how to relate to it, and my husband said, "Companies then are wards and stakes today." This made me think about the organization of this glorious church.

This brought me back to something my dad told me years ago. I was traveling to Russia to teach English, meeting my teaching group in Moscow, and making several layovers in various countries all by myself beforehand. I was a little nervous because my layovers were quite short, and I wasn't sure I would be able to make all the takeoffs. My dad told me, "If you miss any of your flights, and get stuck in one country, all you have to do is call me. I will locate the nearest bishop in that area, and you will be taken care of until you can get on the next flight."

How lucky are we, as members of the church, to know we will be taken care of no matter where we are in the entire world? I know if I was ever in trouble or in an emergency, there would be someone I could call in my local ward or stake to help me in a moment's notice. I've had those moments from time to time in my life, and I'm sure I'm not alone. It's one more testament, this church is true, and the way it was organized in the very beginning was truly inspired.