Lost in the Woods

Today Was A Strange Day. (Technically, yesterday now. I needed some time to process..)

 

I spent the majority of it out in the woods, the backwoods, either in car or on foot searching for a good friend of my sister’s whose car was found off the road in a field. He was in Johnson County and he was lost in the woods. That, by the way, is an easy thing to do.

It’s a strange thing to search for somebody in the backwoods. And in Johnson County, Arkansas there’s some houses you don’t want to go up to a knock on the door for fear of getting shot. Still you wade through the rain, mud and the fears and you try to find someone who is lost.
It felt, at times, very hopeless. I ascribed it to looking for a tiny needle in a very wet, muddy haystack.

At one point, like most searchers, I felt lost myself. Unfamiliar with my surroundings. Unsure which direction to take. I wasn’t lost in the sense I didn’t know where I was, I just didn’t have a clue which direction I should be searching.

Wasn’t it Lewis Carroll that brought us the old adage,

“If you don’t know where you’re going it doesn’t matter which road you take.”

And it didn’t.

MY LESS THAN DRAMATIC BACKSTORY

I grew up in the woods. I loved it. I spent all the time I could outside. It was a way to be free before I had a car and could drive.

But today was not familiar or friendly woods. It was heavy rain and mud and lack of indication of where to go weighed heavily on me. I hated that our friend was lost out in this, possibly hurt, probably confused. I prayed as I searched.

When you’re relying on someone else’s “last known information” and multiply that by over 24 hours of time possibly walking in any 360 degree direction, you realize you’re needing to cover about 350 square miles of land. And you’re just one dude.  (Thankfully, many, many volunteers came out to help.)

Sometimes I could see into the forest for about twenty feet before the brush grew so thick I couldn’t see any further. Sometimes I could see about a hundred feet into the woods but even then, there were so many places that a person could be laying down, hurt, sleeping or knocked unconscious and overlooked so easily.

As I was in the woods, Scripture kept running through my head.

“The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.”

Then it was the verse on the church billboard where the rescue management team was set up near the Coal Hill exit.

“Seek you first His Kingdom and His Righteousness…”

Then came these verses..

“Seek and you shall find.
Knock and the door will be opened.
Ask and it shall be given to you.“

Seek.
Seek.
Seek.

“That’s the word for the day.” I reckoned.

But here’s the thing. The time when fear creeps in…

“Remember,” says the whisperer… “All the times you’ve sought and found nothing.”

“Remember,” says the accuser… “All the times you knocked and the door didn’t open.”

“Remember,” says the enemy of God… “All the times you asked and He still said NO.”

As we grow with God we find there are some answers we don’t get answered.

Not here, at least.

And that is a part of growing with God too.

I look around at life lately and this is what I see:

A Russellville woman I went to school with murdered in a Conway hotel.
Our friend, disoriented, lost in the woods for 2 days. Another friend in jail again on drug related charges.
Disagreements/misunderstandings between friends running amuck.
Unseasonably sad weather this winter.
Pain in our bodies.
False prophets celebrated. Hurt and offense running rampant through the world.
Hopeless candidates making worthless, election-year promises.
Social media blitzs and tyrannical moguls. Religiosity and remembrances.

I’m too tired to try and figure out what it all means. I mused to my wife that there must be a war raging in the heavenlies right now with all the things that are happening in the physical world.

Or maybe it’s just El Nino playing tricks on us all again. But I will tell you this. There are some things in all our lives that we all must come to grips with before we leave this world. And after today I feel like seeking an answer is not only imperative but it’s mandatory.
For all who read this.

And to quote Tolkien, “Not all who wander are lost.”

And to quote myself, “Not all who are lost, wander.”

Are there days God goes into the forest searching for us only to come home empty handed? Does it feel like defeat? When He comes back from fishing for men, empty handed?

No. Because God never stops searching. And God never quits fishing. He doesn’t know defeat. Because He never gives up on us. 

Seek.
Friends, that’s my only word for tonight.
Seek. And you shall find. You may not always like what you find. But the Truth always taste better than a lie.

This much, I believe.

Humbly yours,

robb 3.9.16

OH AND BY THE WAY…

The truth is for all my time spent searching I was not the one who found the prize. I had to leave early to pick up my kids from school in another town. I wasn’t there when he was found. But thankfully he was found.  🙂

Special Thanks to the amazing and hardworking team of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department led by Sheriff Jones.
Without their efforts and the efforts of volunteers as well as the scent hounds that came all the way from Conway, our friend might not have been found today. He might not have been found at all.
God’s Mercy was on him and we appreciate it and them.

A message from Sheriff Larry Jones:

Some of the agencies that assisted us are as follows:
Johnson Co. Auxiliary, Johnson Co. OEM, Franklin Co. OEM,
Johnson Co. SAR, Galla Rock Fire Dept. (Yell Co.) SAR, Coal Hill PD, Dardanelle PD, Franklin Co. SO, 3 different K-9 units from across the state, Johnson County K-9 units, Red Cross, Pope Co. Chaplain Larry Pyle, Johnson Co. Chaplain Tom Dicus and Johnson Co. Aux. Chaplain Travis Cooper. 

A special THANK YOU to pastor Steve Jacobs and Centerpoint Church for allowing us to use your parking lot. 

Thank you to each and every one of you for your assistance and caring, we are truly indebted to you. 

The family of Mr. Lee also wishes to extend their thanks to all of you for reuniting them with their loved one.

Sheriff Larry Jones and Staff