On page one of the book of 1 Nephi--the first book in the Book of Mormon--we learn that Lehi, in about 600 B.C., was directed by God to take his family and flee into the wilderness. But Lehi didn't get very far before the Lord commanded him to send his son back. Why? To retrieve the scriptures, the brass plates, which were so important that Lehi's sons risked their lives and lost all their worldly possessions to recover them! Ultimately, it was the Lord's help and Nephi's faith that miraculously delivered the plates into his hands. When Nephi and his brothers returned, Lehi, their father, rejoiced. He began to search the holy scriptures "from the beginning," and "found that they were desirable; yea, even of great worth insomuch that Lehi and his posterity could preserve the commandments of the Lord unto their children." Indeed, the brass plates were a record of Lehi's fathers, including their language, genealogy, and, more importantly, the gospel taught by God's holy prophets. As Lehi searched the plates, he learned what all of us learn by studying the scriptures: who we are; what we can become; prophecies for us and for our posterity; the commandments, laws, ordinances, and covenants we must live by to obtain eternal life; and how we must live in order to endure to the end and return to our Heavenly Father with honor. So essential are these truths that Heavenly Father gave both Lehi and Nephi visions vividly representing the word of God as a rod of iron. Both father and son learned that holding to this strong, unbending, utterly reliable guide is the only way to stay on that strait and narrow path that leads to our Savior.