"The choice not to take prophetic counsel changes the very ground upon which we stand. It becomes more dangerous. The failure to take prophetic counsel lessens our power to take inspired counsel in the future. The best time to have decided to help Noah build the ark was the first time he asked. Each time he asked after that, each failure to respond would have lessened sensitivity to the Spirit. And so each time his request would have seemed more foolish, until the rain came. And then it was too late.
"Every time in my life when I have chosen to delay following inspired counsel or decided that I was an exception, I came to know that I had put myself in harm’s way. Every time that I have listened to the counsel of prophets, felt it confirmed in prayer, and then followed it, I have found that I moved toward safety."
(Henry B. Eyring, “Finding Safety in Counsel,” Ensign, May 1997, 25)
"Because the Lord is kind, He calls servants to warn people of danger. That call to warn is made harder and more important by the fact that the warnings of most worth are about dangers that people don’t yet think are real."
(Henry B. Eyring, “A Voice of Warning,” Ensign, Nov. 1998, 32)
“The fast” probably refers to the Jewish holy day called the Day of Atonement, which marked the beginning of the season during which it was generally regarded as unsafe to travel on the Mediterranean Sea because of violent storms. The Day of Atonement usually took place in late September or early October.
A fathom is the distance from the longest finger of one hand to the longest finger of the other hand when the arms were outstretched. A fathom equaled about four cubits.