True Power

At our company, we had been working on ideas for a quarter-million-Watt (250kW) wireless vehicle charger for nearly two years. That is the average power consumption for approximately 200 homes, and we would be putting all of that energy wirelessly through a 7” air gap.

Typical Fields Surrounding Wireless Power Transfer Between Two Coils

We were now in the final stages of bringing the system up with all but the last of our power stages verified and that stage’s completion only minutes away. I managed the team and had personally written much of the control software and engineered many of the circuit boards for the project. Our entire team had a lot of effort invested in this project, but there was one problem. I had to leave. It was time for me to fill a promise I had made to a friend.

From my journal:

Some were feeling sorry that I would be out as it looked like they would now be able to power up our entire system for 250 kW (quarter million Watts) for the first time. My company president also said, “You of all people should be here. Will it be okay without you? Don’t you want to be here?” I told him, “I am confident our team will be fine. Of course, I want to be here, but don’t slow down on my account! If I come in tomorrow morning and you tell me you were able to transfer the power, I’ll just smile!”

Then, I left for the temple without letting people know where I was going. They only knew I had taken a half day off to help a friend. My friend was my temple co-worker who needed me to cover his shift.

That night in the temple, one of my assignments was to simply be where I could guide and assist temple patrons. While standing in a hallway doing this simple task, I caught myself not looking very happy. I love being in the temple, but was truthfully a bit disappointed to be missing our long-anticipated work milestone. I let this disappointment go from my mind as I quietly greeted and guided the sweet brothers and sisters who had come there. It was while I was doing this that the Lord did something very special for me. He opened my eyes for a moment and gave me a glimpse of who these, His noble sons and daughters, truly were. It was so beautiful that I have no words with which I can describe it. And with this, I felt an overwhelming outpouring of love for the Lord’s children and for my Father in Heaven. The real transfer of power was happening here in the temple, and the quarter million watts paled in significance.

Can there be any greater work than that of assisting the Lord in bringing to pass “the immortality and eternal life of man.” (Moses 1:39).  Only His work prepares our hearts to receive the endowment of our Savior’s priesthood power that purifies and redeems us through saving ordinances that both seal us up against the power of the Adversary and has the binding power and authority of Heaven to seal us to our loved ones forever.

1 Nephi 14:14 “…I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory.”

My prayer is that we will develop hearts to perceive the power and great glory that the Lord provides, but that the world cannot see nor understand.