For the BYU-Idaho devotional this week, students stood together and sang verses of the beloved hymn, "Come Thou Fount" breaking up the middle of the devotional address. The speaker was Shawn Jensen, a professor of design and construction management at BYU-Idaho expressed. In an interview with BYU-Idaho Radio, he expressed his fondness for the hymn especially in connection with his chosen topic: Jesus Christ, Our Great Deliverer.
"In my life I've had a lot of these interesting experiences that have caused me to reflect on life and spiritual correlations," Jensen said. "Sometimes we gain the most valuable experience from our faults and that is why it's so important to focus on the Savior Jesus Christ."
On the devotional discussion board previous to his address, Jensen included a link to a recording of the hymn, inviting the thoughts and inspirations of students as they listened to it.
In his devotional address, Jensen illustrated the need for the power of deliverance with what he calls his "Scary Scuba Story." He shared how due to his inexperience with scuba diving early on, he found himself one day 40 feet deep on the floor of Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Utah, unable to rise to the surface. In that dire situation, he pled for the Lord's help, and then remember several rocks that he had put in his vest to help him sink and was able to safely return to the surface by removing these rocks.
Jensen goes on to relate these rocks to certain spiritual rocks that we tend to carry with us and which way us down. In particular, he refers to two tocks that can be particularly troublesome: the spiritual rocks of fear and pride. Jensen explained that he felt strongly that these two spiritual rocks make it difficult to accept the saving grace the Lord desires to give each of us.
In closing, Jensen shared his testimony. "The Great Deliverer can and will free us from any worldly rock that we may have picked up along our journey of life, if we but turn our hearts to Him," Jensen said. "I know it because I have experienced it!"
Follow this link to hear an interview with Shawn Jensen about his devotional address:
You can listen to the full devotional address below.