“There are certain things in life where you know it’s a mistake but you don’t really know it’s a mistake because the only way to really know it is a mistake is to make that mistake and look back and say, “Yup, that was a mistake”. So really, the bigger mistake would be to not make the mistake because then you’ll go to your grave not really knowing for sure if something you did was a mistake or not.” — Ted Mosby.
Are there any who, without mistake, have made? I believe that last question was erroneously written, it was a mistake. It wasn’t my first and it won’t be my last either. There have been many mistakes that have changed the world. The most obvious was Christopher Columbus, Chris mistakenly sailed to a new continent thinking he had found a new and faster way to the far east, where fast and easy trade routes would make his Queen (and he) richer and more powerful. As Mosby said, “…the bigger mistake would be to not make the mistake because then you’ll go your whole life, not really knowing if something is a mistake or not.” Of course, if Columbus had not made the mistake, another explorer would have made the mistake shortly thereafter. Any member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would believe it was not a mistake, they would say that Columbus was led here by the Almighty as was Jared and his brother Mahonri Moriancumr, and as was Lehi and his family. Why? Because this is the ‘Land of Promise’, It was then and it is now and probably always will be. As Columbus proclaimed that, “In only your Highness remained faithful and constant. Who doubts that this illumination was from the Holy Spirit?’ I attest that He (the Spirit), with marvelous rays of light, consoled me through the holy and sacred Scriptures . . . encouraging me to proceed, and, continually, without ceasing for a moment, they inflamed me with a sense of great urgency.” Columbus must have felt like Jared and later Lehi, that he was being compelled and inspired to sail West in an uncharted sea. Psalm 107:23-24 promised that, “They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.” The question is: Was Columbus, like Jared and like Lehi, was he also led here to this land, this promised land by God – or was it a fluke, a mistake? Columbus in his presentation to the Queen said the following; “All those who heard about my enterprise rejected it with laughter, scoffing at me. Neither the sciences which I mentioned above, nor the authoritative citations from them, were of any avail.” However, Columbus felt that he had received most of his inspiration from the writings of Isaiah. After his voyage and discovery of this great land, Columbus on October 12, 1492, speaking of his voyage said “In recognition of the divine aid in the voyage, I named the land ‘San Salvador’, which means Holy Savior, and then I prayed, “O Lord, Almighty and everlasting God, by Thy Holy Word Thou hast created the heaven, and the earth, and the sea; blessed and glorified be Thy Name, and praised be Thy Majesty, which hath designed to use us, Thy humble servants, that Thy holy Names may be proclaimed in this second part of the earth.” I personally, believe that Columbus was commissioned by Jesus Christ to set out across the unknown and dangerous Atlantic sea to find the promised land. A land, that has become a light onto the world, the land where freedom will prevail forever.