Embarking on their first cruise, a family looked forward to a three-day adventure on calm seas. All did not go as planned. On their first night, a hurricane brewed some distance away, causing the ship to roll and pitch in swells 20-to-30-feet high. Making themselves as comfortable as possible, the family endured the night. In the morning, they saw that their cruise ship was in a harbor, one not on their itinerary. Anchored nearby were other ships that, like theirs, had changed course to find a safe harbor.

The husband and father in that family spoke of the experience in a talk he titled "Trials, Tribulations and Temples." An underlying theme of his message was that life is, or will be, filled with trials and tribulations; the temple can be our safe harbor.

No other people have had as many "safe harbors" as do we today. Temples are yet to dot the earth but more are in operation than during any other era and, surely, more will be constructed and dedicated.

Many members no longer face the challenge of not having a temple within relatively easy commuting distances. Some who do not attend the temple often might ask themselves if their challenge to temple worship stems from apathy rather than geography.

At a sacrament meeting in a ward in the Salt Lake Valley, a stake president issued an appeal for members to go the temple. A visitor from South America spoke of this with a sealer in the Jordan River Temple. The visitor observed that in Utah most members own cars and many live within a few minutes of not just one temple but several. In her country, she said, many people do not own automobiles and members live hundreds of miles from the nearest temple, yet they go as often as they can. "Why does the stake president need to invite members here (in Utah) to go to the temple?" she asked.

The question might be asked in many locales. There are 102 temples in operation in 32 countries. Must members be invited to the Stockholm Sweden Temple, or the London or Preston England temples, to the Atlanta Georgia or Portland Oregon temples? Do stake presidents need to make special appeals for members to go to the St. Louis Missouri, San Diego California or Palmyra New York temples? Must leaders invite members to enter the doors of the Apia Samoa, Seoul Korea, Manila Philippines or Tokyo Japan temples?

Temples are more than edifices of stone and steel, glass and wood, architecture and artisanship. Each is a house of the Lord. Shouldn't every worthy member of the Church desire to enter His house as often as possible?

Temples are places where sacred ordinances are performed. They offer more. Just as a safe harbor protects ships from storms, temples serve as refuges from life's tempests.

When we seek solutions to problems in our lives or within our families, we should see the temple as a place where we will find answers. At the April 1988 general conference, President Ezra Taft Benson said: "Do we return to the temple often to receive the personal blessings that come from regular temple worship? Prayers are answered, revelation occurs, and instruction by the Spirit takes place in the holy temples of the Lord."

In an address at the October 1995 general conference, President Gordon B. Hinckley said of temples: "These unique and wonderful buildings, and the ordinances administered therein, represent the ultimate in our worship. These ordinances become the most profound expressions of our theology. I urge our people everywhere, with all of the persuasiveness of which I am capable, to live worthy to hold a temple recommend, to secure one and regard it as a precious asset, and to make a greater effort to go to the house of the Lord and partake of the spirit and the blessings to be had therein. I am satisfied that every man or woman who goes to the temple in a spirit of sincerity and faith leaves the house of the Lord a better man or woman. There is need for constant improvement in all of our lives. There is need occasionally to leave the noise and the tumult of the world and step within the walls of a sacred house of God, there to feel His spirit in an environment of holiness and peace."

What better invitation is there for temple attendance and worship?