Getting lost

Finding your bearings when life has you dazed and confused.

I had just gotten married and I was on my honey moon. We are both active outdoor lovers and live relatively close to the smokey mountains so it only made sense that we would take a small backpacking trip as part of our honey moon.  I had spent a month preping and planning this trip and now that our boots where on the trail I could not be any more excited.

 While gathering the gear for our trip I came across a large collapsible water container. I scoffed at the mere thought of some fool hauling 5 gallons of water up to their campsite, I thought to my self "do people not know that camelbacks exsist". Our camping ground was relatively near a creek wich allowed us to retrieve water if we needed it, so I told my self that getting water would be as easy as filling my camelbak every now and again, little did I know that my 2 liter camelbak would not be anywhere near suficient of a container for a functional campsite. I found my self going down to the creek, wich was a litte farther than I thought, more times than I wanted. I remember thinking to my self "this is why they make 5 gallon collapsible water containers idiot", I felt silly having to go down to the creek every time a small amount of water was used.

It was the first night of our trip and it had gotten dark a lot faster than I had expected,  by the time the fire was made and dinner had begun to cook it was already as dark as a pirate's soul. As I expected,  we ran out of water and I was now on the mission to go down to the creek and retrieve more. I straped on my head lamp, running out of batteries may I add, grabbed my camelbak and some small pots and headed down hill to the creek.

I dont know if you have ever been in the back woods at night, but they seem to almost inhale any light that may exist, it is a deep, beautiful and intimidating darkness.  A type of darkness that makes everything look the same and really close together. I finally reached the creek, filled my container, turned around and looked up. "Where the heck am I? Where did my trail go?" Where the first and loudest thoughts that came to my head. I looked around desperately,  I could not even see the welcoming glow of my fire, everything looked the same and as hard as I tried to find a trail I saw nothing but unbroken woods. Like a giant wall reminding me of my rookie mistakes the woods stood tall and proud, not allowing me to return to my bride, I was lost,  and panic began to creep in.

"NO!! FIGHT IT!" I told myself,  "panic will only get you killed,  take a second, close your eyes and breathe,  stay still, let your eyes adapt to the darkness, you will find your way back"

I began to pray, I allowed my heart to settle, panic disapated. Once I was calm, I asked "Holy Ghost, where do I go?" I began to take steps, I could now see the trail and I began to follow it up hill, next thing I see in between two massive trees is the faint glow of a fire and the outline of my beautiful bride, I made it back.

Some times In life we can feel like we are desperately lost, we took decisions. Decisions that we thought would take us where we want to go, only to look around and realize that we have no clue where we are or how we got here. We remember a close relationship with God like a warm fire and we wonder how come we cant even see it right now, how could I have wondered so far away from it? And just like in my story, we begin to panic.

Frustration and anger attack us , we try to find our way back but we have no idea what the way even looks like, we begin to feel like this is it,  we tell our selves that we will now be forever In this spot, fear posses our thoughts and then we dont even dare to take a step because we are afraid we will get lost even further.

This however does not need to be the case, Our God is good, and as a good God he has given us tools to avoid getting lost and to find our way home if we ever have the need. Just like in adventures these tools have different uses and when combined they yield and even greater accuracy.

A compass.

The word of God is much like this tool, the Bible always points to Jesus, it is never off.  Any time you want to go somewhere look at it. Does your action point to the same direction as Jesus or away?  And if you are ever lost dont be ashamed to pull it out of your pocket and look at it, often times we get lost because we started walking and we never once looked at our compass to see if we where going in the right direction.

A fixed point.

Once you find the direction you want to go, you are going to want to find a fixed point that is in your desired direction. A mountain, a tree line, a Godly person. When we are lost in our lives it is important to find a person or people that are where we want to be. Attach your self to these people, share your struggles and issues,  and when you wonder if you are still going in the same direction, they will be able to tell you that you are doing great.

Think of home.

Often times the way back home is a lot further that a near by creek, when this is the case discourgment can settle in very easily.  We could be going in the right direction, and even have a fixed point that ensurres that we are still going the right way, but if we give up half way trough, we might as well have not started at all. This is why military men carry small pictures of their families at all times, during tough times,  it is these pictures that remind them of what is wating for them at the finish line. What is wating for you? A restored marriage? Freedom from an addiction? A ministry? Find your win and keep it in mind, this will ensure that you make it home.

Life can get crazy at times, but I want to encorage you to not allow panic to settle in, know that God is good and that He will guide you, have confidence in his Grace, take a breath, look at your compass and get stepping in the right direction. Who knows? maybe there is a hot wife and a fire wating for you at the finish line.