WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:04.080 STEPHEN ROBINSON: When I was coming home from school one day, 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:06.260 I was sitting in the chair and reading the newspaper, 00:00:06.260 --> 00:00:07.400 and my daughter, Sarah, 00:00:07.400 --> 00:00:09.040 then seven years old, 00:00:09.040 --> 00:00:11.660 came in and said, "Dad, can I have a bike? 00:00:11.660 --> 00:00:14.540 I'm the only kid on the block who doesn't have a bike." 00:00:14.540 --> 00:00:18.680 I didn't have enough money to buy her a bike, so I stalled her. 00:00:18.680 --> 00:00:21.285 I said, "Sure, Sarah." She said, "How? 00:00:21.285 --> 00:00:26.560 When?" I said, "You save all your pennies, 00:00:26.560 --> 00:00:31.520 and pretty soon you'll have enough for a bike." She went away. 00:00:31.520 --> 00:00:35.980 A couple of weeks later, as I was sitting in the same chair, 00:00:35.980 --> 00:00:38.540 I was aware of Sarah doing 00:00:38.540 --> 00:00:41.540 something for her mother and getting paid. She went in the other room. 00:00:41.540 --> 00:00:43.485 I heard clink, clink. 00:00:43.485 --> 00:00:45.580 I said, "Sarah, what are you doing?" 00:00:45.580 --> 00:00:47.380 She came out, she had a little jar, 00:00:47.380 --> 00:00:50.080 all cleaned up, with a slit cut in the lid, 00:00:50.080 --> 00:00:52.340 and a bunch of pennies in the bottom. 00:00:52.340 --> 00:00:57.140 She looked at me and she said, "You promised me that if I saved all my pennies, 00:00:57.140 --> 00:00:59.700 pretty soon, I'd have enough for a bike and, 00:00:59.700 --> 00:01:03.150 Daddy, I've saved every single one." 00:01:03.150 --> 00:01:06.380 My heart melted. Because I love her, 00:01:06.380 --> 00:01:08.410 I said, "Well, let's go downtown and look at bikes." 00:01:08.410 --> 00:01:10.620 We did. We went down. 00:01:10.620 --> 00:01:12.980 We went to every store in Williamsport, 00:01:12.980 --> 00:01:15.120 Pennsylvania, and finally, 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:17.935 we found it, the perfect bicycle. 00:01:17.935 --> 00:01:19.520 She got up on that bike, 00:01:19.520 --> 00:01:22.240 and she was just thrilled, and she saw 00:01:22.240 --> 00:01:24.960 then the price tag, and she reached down and she turned it over and 00:01:24.960 --> 00:01:28.705 she saw how much it cost, and her face fell. 00:01:28.705 --> 00:01:30.825 She started to cry, and she said, 00:01:30.825 --> 00:01:33.915 "Dad, I'll never have enough for a bicycle." 00:01:33.915 --> 00:01:37.140 "How much do you have?" She said, "61 cents." 00:01:37.140 --> 00:01:42.645 [LAUGHTER] "I tell you what? 00:01:42.645 --> 00:01:45.045 You give me everything you've got— 00:01:45.045 --> 00:01:50.325 the whole 61 cents and a hug and kiss, and that bike is yours." 00:01:50.325 --> 00:01:52.430 She gave me a hug and a kiss. 00:01:52.430 --> 00:01:54.090 She gave me 61 cents, 00:01:54.090 --> 00:01:57.665 and then I had to drive home very slowly because she wouldn't get off the bike. 00:01:57.665 --> 00:02:02.990 [LAUGHTER] She rode home, and as I drove along slowly beside her, 00:02:02.990 --> 00:02:07.605 it occurred to me that that was a parable for the Atonement of Christ. 00:02:07.605 --> 00:02:10.795 We all want something desperately. 00:02:10.795 --> 00:02:15.170 It isn't a bicycle, we want the celestial kingdom. 00:02:15.170 --> 00:02:20.170 We want to be with our Father in Heaven, and no matter how hard we try, 00:02:20.170 --> 00:02:22.860 we come up short. It's that point. 00:02:22.860 --> 00:02:31.390 The sweetness of the gospel covenant comes to our taste, 00:02:31.480 --> 00:02:34.200 and the Savior proposes. 00:02:34.200 --> 00:02:40.260 I'll tell you what. You're not perfect. How much do you have? 00:02:40.520 --> 00:02:43.725 Give me all there is, 00:02:43.725 --> 00:02:46.295 and I'll pay the rest. 00:02:46.295 --> 00:02:51.975 Enter into a personal relationship with me, 00:02:51.975 --> 00:02:55.820 and I will do what remains undone. 00:02:55.820 --> 00:02:59.960 Many of us are trying to save 00:02:59.960 --> 00:03:05.910 ourselves and holding the Atonement of Christ at arm's distance and saying, 00:03:05.910 --> 00:03:11.380 "When I've done it, when I've perfected myself, when I've made myself more worthy, 00:03:11.380 --> 00:03:14.610 then I'll be worthy of the Atonement. 00:03:14.610 --> 00:03:19.120 Then I will allow Him in." And we cannot do it. 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:21.700 We must do all that we can. 00:03:21.700 --> 00:03:26.640 But having done all, then we must trust in 00:03:26.640 --> 00:03:35.070 His redeeming blood and in His ability to do for us what we cannot yet accomplish.