Just before arising this morning I had a strange dream.  I got up thinking about it, and promptly forgot it.  Two hours later I was sitting on the couch, having prayed and studied, and wondered what I could write about.  I’d just read something about the Priesthood, but no topic came to mind.  I closed my eyes to doze, and suddenly there was my dream again.

In my dream I was a bystander or an observer at an airport.  A big airliner buzzed the runway like it was going to land, but it was going way too fast to safely touch down.  At the end of the runway the plane lifted back into the air, and circled back around.  The next time it came in low.  It was still going way too fast to safely land, but the pilot put the plane’s wheels down right at the end of the runway so as to have a maximum distance in which to get stopped.  The plane was obviously in trouble, and was unable to slow down.  It came careening down the runway.  A fire engine raced along right behind it to be there when the plane would crack up and burst into flames.  The plane reached the end of the runway, veered to the right as it plowed into a field, and was obscured from my view by other planes and trucks that were between me and the crash site.

That was the sum total of my dream.  I didn’t see the crash, but it was inevitable.  I wondered at the time how the landing gear could possibly hold up under the strain.  Very likely it buckled when the plane entered the uneven ground of the field.  The pilot had radioed ahead, so the fire engine was there.  Did they save any of the people?

During my study time I read this:  “And now come, saith the Lord, by the Spirit, unto the elders of his church, and let us reason together, that ye may understand;

“Let us reason even as a man reasoneth one with another face to face.

“Now, when a man reasoneth he is understood of man, because he reasoneth as a man; even so will I, the Lord, reason with you that you may understand.

“Wherefore, I the Lord ask you this question—unto what were ye ordained?

“To preach my gospel by the Spirit, even the Comforter which was sent forth to teach the truth.”  (D&C 50:10-14).

When I shut my eyes to doze, the dream returned to me, and then I understood.  The airliner was the world, careening out of control to its fiery end.  Chasing after it, represented by the fire engine, was the Priesthood, whose intent is to save as many as possible.  The crash is inevitable, but some may still be saved.

There are some among us who hold the Priesthood, but who do little with it.  Unto what were they ordained, the Lord asked, and then answered His own question—To preach the gospel.  We’re in an emergency situation, and we’d better be up and doing.