November 8, 2025, 1:00 PM MST
Editor’s note: “The Spoken Word” is shared by Derrick Porter every Sunday during the weekly Tabernacle Choir broadcast from Temple Square. Delivered on Sunday, November 9, 2025. This week is the 5,017th episode of the broadcast.
It is estimated that over 117 billion people live on Earth. And with more than 8 billion people living today, there’s no question that the world is big. (See “How Many People Have Ever-Lived on Earth?” Population Reference Bureau, November 15, 2022, www.prb.org/articles/how-many-people-have-ever-lived-on-earth.)
But we often hear the phrase “the world is small”, especially when unexpected connections occur in incredible ways. The world may call these moments coincidences. Some people probably think so. But often God, in His divine foresight, helps us meet the people we need, or who need us at important moments and reasons.
The late Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles once wrote, “Remember the new star that was born in Bethlehem. It was in a precise orbit long before it became that bright. We are similarly placed in human orbit to shine our light” (“In the Arms of God’s Love,” Liahona, Nov. 2002, p. 17).
One of the ways God works His work is through people: people helping people. Often prayers for salvation are answered through another person, someone placed by God in human orbit to love, uplift, and serve.
Once, during a layover between flights, I met an airline employee named Lucy. As we talked, I learned that she was from Kenya and had experienced a difficult life. She was raising two children by herself. One of them, a 4-year-old son, recently passed away after a serious illness. But when Lucy told me her story, I couldn’t help but notice that she lit up. Her voice was soft and her smile was contagious. She was immeasurably bright.
“Why are you so happy?” I asked. “Because I believe my little boy is watching over me from heaven. He’s rooting for me.”
I was deeply moved by Lucy’s confidence that she would see her son again. I had just lost my sister to an unexpected death. And here I was, far from home, in an airport, comforted and renewed by the faith of a stranger.
As she bid farewell, Lucy added: “I wasn’t scheduled to work tonight, but I said to my friend, ‘You’ve been here all day. I’ll take care of the last part of your shift.’
We both smiled. This was no coincidence. Heaven arranged our meeting.
Strengthened by her faith, I boarded the plane and thanked God for the sacred trajectory of our lives that connects us with others in important moments.
Tuning…
“Music & the Spoken Word” broadcasts are available on KSL-TV, KSL News Radio 1160AM/102.7FM, KSL.com, BYUtv, BYUradio, Dish and DirecTV, SiriusXM (Ch. 143), tabernaclechoir.org, youtube.com/TheTabernacleChoir, and Amazon Alexa (skills must be enabled). The program will be broadcast live on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. Mountain Time on these stations. Find airing information by state and city at musicandthespokenword.com/viewers-listeners/airing-schedule.
