The fourth verse of one of our popular hymns says that "We are watchers of a beacon whose light must never die."  ("For the Strength of the Hills," Hymns, pg. 95).

I like that.  It gives me pause for thought.  A beacon is a signal fire, or a bright light such as in a lighthouse or at an airport that provides guidance for a ship or an airplane.  That signal fire, or that lighthouse, requires a watcher, or a caretaker, who insures that the light keeps burning.  The light is especially necessary during the darkest and stormiest nights.  Without a beacon, ships run aground, and airplanes may not be able to find the runway on which they can safely land.

When my father-in-law got married during the Great Depression he was manning a lookout on a mountaintop, keeping watch for fires.  At the first sign of smoke, he called the sighting in, and crews were dispatched to prevent a forest fire from erupting.  He was another watcher whose job was to prevent tragedy.

The Book of Mormon is a beacon.  Its purpose is to guide lost and troubled people to the peace and safety that is to be found in the restored Church of Jesus Christ.  The Book of Mormon and the Church lead people to covenants and ordinances that prevent the groundings and crashes and forest fires that ruin lives.

We are the watchers of the beacon that is the Book of Mormon.  Our job is to point people toward that light.  It is not our job to convert them to the Church.  That is the job of the Book of Mormon itself and of the Holy Ghost.  As watchers of the beacon we are only expected to show people where the light and safety is.

My friend, Don Baxter, manned a lookout in his youth.  Manning a lookout can be a lonely job.  To prepare for those days of solitude he gathered together a supply of books.  The collection included a Book of Mormon.

As he watched for fires, he read the books.  He read every book until there was just one left.  It was the Book of Mormon.  Somewhat reluctantly he picked it up and started to read.  It changed the course of the rest of his life.  He homed in on the bright beam that the book provided, made covenants, married in the temple, raised eight children in the gospel, served as a bishop, and has a numerous posterity that is faithful in the Church.

He was raised in the Church.  His father was the bishop.  It was his parents and teachers that were the watchers that pointed him toward the beacon.  He then became another watcher of the beacon who kept the light shining brightly for his own children, one of whom became his bishop.

Imagine a ship on a stormy night navigating waters where rocks and reefs present a danger to ships that are slightly off course.  How grateful are you as the captain or navigator who spots the beacon of light through the dark and the fog and is saved from disaster?

The Book of Mormon tells us that "all mankind (are) in a lost and fallen state, and ever (will) be save they should rely on (their) Redeemer."  (1 Nephi 9:6).

"For it is expedient that an atonement should be made ... or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; ... (for) all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement ..."  (Alma 34:9).

Every soul is lost and is in danger of running aground and of capsizing and sinking or crashing or being engulfed in the raging infernos that are around us.  If not for the watchers, and the beacons that they tend, all mankind would be headed for disaster.

"We are watchers of a beacon whose light must never die."  The beacon that is the Book of Mormon shines ever brighter and brighter as the darkness of this world deepens.

I am a member of this Church because of the beacon that is the Book of Mormon.  It has made my life one of peace, hope, joy, and light.  I'm no longer stumbling around in the dark.  I'm using the Book of Mormon to shine a light on the dark path that others are treading.