A jet airline pilot by background, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf used a flight analogy in his priesthood session address to illustrate the importance of setting a proper course in one's life.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

President Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency, said that in 1979, a large passenger jet crashed, killing all 257 people on board, because someone had modified the flight coordinates by a mere two degrees. This placed the aircraft 28 miles to the east of where the pilots assumed they were, and put it directly in the path of Mount Erebus, an active volcano in Antarctica.

"It was a terrible tragedy brought on by a minor error — a matter of only a few degrees," he remarked. "Through years of serving the Lord and in countless interviews, I have learned that the difference between happiness and misery in individuals, in marriages and families often comes down to an error of only a few degrees."

He recounted the story in 1 Samuel of King Saul, who, when pressured by outside influences did not have the courage to stay on course.

"The difference of a few degrees, as with the Antarctica flight, or Saul's failure to hold fast to the counsel of the prophet just a little longer, may seem minor," he reflected. "But even small errors, over time, can make a dramatic difference in our lives."

In teaching young pilots, President Utchtdorf said, he would teach this principle by pointing out that if they were to take off from an airport at the equator, intending to circumnavigate the globe, but their course was off by just one degree, they would be off by almost 500 miles when they returned to the same longitude.

"No one wants his life to end in tragedy," he said. "But all too often, like the pilots and passengers of the sightseeing flight, we set out on what we hope will be an exciting journey, only to realize, too late, that an error of a few degrees has set us on a course for spiritual disaster."

Applying these examples to life, President Uchtdorf warned, "Small errors and minor drifts away from the gospel of Jesus Christ can bring sorrowful consequences into our lives. It is, therefore, of critical importance that we become self-disciplined enough to make early and decisive corrections to get back on the right track and not wait or hope that errors will somehow correct themselves.

"The longer we delay corrective action, the larger the needed changes become, and the longer it takes to get back on the correct course, even to the point where a disaster might be looming."

New technologies, he said, enable the gospel message to be spread throughout the world. "But be cautious. These same technologies can allow evil influences to cross the threshold of your homes."

Acknowledging that there may be those who have neglected to make appropriate course corrections and now believe they are too far from the Lord's way to ever make it back, President Uchtdorf said, "To them we proclaim the good news that is the gospel of redemption and salvation. No matter how terribly off course you are, no matter how far you have strayed, the way back is certain and clear."