Lost

Valerie Cullers 20 Comments

Several years ago, my husband wanted to go out in the woods and use his compass to find a lake. We didn’t take a lot of provisions with us or a flashlight because we were just going to hike in and out during the daytime. We also did not tell anyone where we were going; so off we went. Instead of taking the road to the lake, we parked the car a few miles from the lake and my husband looked on his map and took a compass heading. We followed that heading through the woods until we reached the lake. It took a few hours to get in but all in all, it was a successful venture. 

We decided to follow the road back to the car and began to walk. What we didn’t know was that the road forked a little bit north of us, and that the road we were on was not the one we thought it was. After a while, we realized that the road was not taking us back to the car. We talked about what we should do since it was going to be dark in about an hour. We decided to backtrack to the place we left from at the lake. We would then follow the compass heading through the woods back to the car.

person holding compass

Photo by Valentin Antonucci on Pexels.com

By the time we got to the lake, it was getting dark. Remember, my husband did not have a flashlight with him. In order to get out, he had me walk fifteen or twenty feet ahead of him, he would take a compass heading and have me move until I was in line with it. He would then come and stand where I was and then I would walk another fifteen or twenty feet. We did that for the next few hours. I would walk ahead, he would take the heading. I would move until I was on that heading, he would walk up to where I was standing and we would do it all over again. Over and over we did those same repetitious steps. 

The moon rose higher and illuminated the woods. I felt better about it, but knew we were “lost” and so I kept repeating Bible verses to myself, holding onto whatever I could until we got out of the woods. My husband wasn’t worried at all because he trusted the compass and knew that if we followed it, eventually we would come out of the woods by the car.

Finally, the woods cleared and we saw the road. We came out of the woods within about fifteen yards of the car. To say I was greatly relieved is an understatement. But I did learn something that day; I can trust the compass, and even if I don’t know where I am. The compass will always point me in the right direction. 

That experience was a great life lesson for me, both practically and spiritually. We, as finite humans, will sometimes find ourselves in situations where we feel we are lost in the woods. We cannot see our way out of it and it feels dark. We need to remember that our sense of direction will lie to us, our emotions will lie to us, but our compass will never lie to us. If we will keep our eyes on the Lord (the compass) and check with the map (the Word) we will be able to walk in the right direction and eventually we will get out of the situation we are in. We must learn not to rely on what we think is happening around us and try to find our own way out of whatever situation we are in. The book of Proverbs has a few great verses that explains this principle:  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” Proverbs 3: 5-6.

For me…lesson learned…trust the Compass!

 

20 thoughts on “Lost”

  1. Wow! Having an experience like that really drives home the true meaning of trust. You put it so well! I I was imagining how you must have felt in the dark, in the woods, trusting your compass and your husband’s directions. Thank you for sharing that today. Wonderful!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. My husband still teaches it to the kids and fathers in his Scout troop. When our son was in the army, they had to learn to use it. I would say it is necessary if you truly want to have complete outdoor skills. My husband says that if you are in a dense forest canopy or down in a canyon, sometimes you cannot get a signal. If you did drop your GPS on a rock and break it, you now have an expensive piece of equipment that does not work! Any time you are out on your own, you should know how to get yourself back and not be totally dependent on an electronic instrument. To reiterate…anything can happen!

    Like

    Reply

  10. Trust the compass indeed.
    I smile but I mean this with a good heart. My husband is generally blessed with radar instincts. Once he took us into the townships of Richards Bay in the dead of the night. He insisted he knew his way around, he was bluffing. He did not want us to be scared, especially my mother who was with us. The dark was only relieved by a few brave souls burning wood in huge metal drums for warmth. That and sporadic flickering candles. It seemed as if we got deeper into the woods. My son, precious monster that he is, woke up and said that he needed the loo. My mother shushed him and absently whacked him a few times to be quiet and go to school. God brought us out of it. Mom’s prayer was a litany of prayer and I “Jesus”ed myself constantly.
    Now we laugh but it was a lesson well learned.
    Oh and now I always have my data, GPS and common sense.
    🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. Thanks for revealing your ideas. I might also like to express that video games have been ever before evolving. Today’s technology and inventions have served create realistic and enjoyable games. All these entertainment games were not that sensible when the real concept was first being tried out. Just like other designs of know-how, video games too have had to develop through many generations. This itself is testimony on the fast growth and development of video games.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment