Losing Someone You Love

Posted in: What's the Buzz

January February 2026

Losing someone you love that you’ve never personally met is an interesting phenomenon. I have loved John Denver since I was 9 years of age. When he passed away I was devastated. Until I realized that since I only knew him through his music and his albums (that’s what they were back on those days) did not disappear upon his death, and since I only spent time with him by listening to his music, he wasn’t really dead! Quite the opposite, actually, as he is sort of immortal as his music will live on past my own life.

I thought about this upon hearing of Jeffrey R. Holland’s death. I have never breathed the same air as Elder Holland, but I love him and feel like I know him by the encounters I have had via his writings, interviews, and of course his talks.

I don’t recall many of the talks I’ve heard over the past 40+ years of General Conference. But I will never forget experiencing Elder Holland’s “Safety for the Soul” talk during the October 2009 Sunday afternoon session. He declared “I want it absolutely clear when I stand before the judgement bar of God that I declared to the world … that the Book of Mormon is true.”

I joined the Church and remain a member because of the Book of Mormon. With all of the Church’s flaws and sketchy history and interesting people, that book is undisputed. It is a Rock, the Keystone, the Gospel. Whatever adjective has been used to describe its authenticity, I buy it. I have approached my entire Gospel education – both before and after joining the Church – with skepticism. So, I study. I have literally taken apart that book, with the help of true scholars like Elder Holland, and conclude that even if tomorrow the entire Church was destroyed, the Book of Mormon is absolutely the Word of God. It is the Gospel and I am converted to the Gospel. I know that book is true and God knows that I know it, therefore I cannot deny it.

Ultimately, of course, it’s the message of the book and not the necessarily the nuts and bolts of it, that resonates. Especially in the world’s current state of commotion. In this talk, Elder Holland states that “Love. Healing. Help. Hope. The power of Christ to counter all troubles in all times… That is the safe harbor God wants for us in personal or public days of despair. That is the message with which the Book of Mormon begins, and that is the message with which it ends, calling all to ‘come unto Christ, and be perfected in Him.”

Words and talks like this do not disappear upon Elder Holland’s death. And since I only spend time with him by reading his words and listening/viewing his talks, he isn’t really dead! He is sort of immortal as his influence will live on past my own life. So, while it’s sad to think that he’s gone, he’s not really gone. And that resonates as well.

Thank you for reading….

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