Have you ever feared Getting Lost? The few experiences I have with this sinking sensation are better described as Temporary Separation, but the feeling that arises deep in your stomach when you realize that your planned arrival at a destination has gone awry, is the same. When I was a young girl, around the age of ten, we were visiting relatives in Atlanta when all of us piled into the van to drop my uncle off at the airport. If you are familiar with the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport, you have insight into why it is labeled one of the world’s busiest airports. Although this occurred in the 1980s, without the security precautions of today, it was still full of harried travelers aiming for a destination; however, at that time, you could accompany your relative to the actual gate, waving goodbye as the plane departed.

After saying farewell to Virgil, our entire crew traversed the concourse heading back to the parked van when on our right appears the SkyTrain. Being the closest thing to an amusement park ride we were going to find on this trip, Melissa and I asked permission to ride. With instructions to get off at the next stop, we hopped aboard, waving as the sliding doors closed. However, a feeling of concern washed over me as I saw the next stop go speeding by the windows of the train. It skipped the next stop! So, when arriving at the train’s next stop, we planned to turn back to our left and join up with our family a little further down the concourse than planned. Only we encountered a solid brick wall—Getting Lost was not on the travel itinerary. Thankfully, we quickly found a “man with a badge” at the top of the escalator who was able to help us reunite with our family.

It is common for children to Get Lost, separated from the ones who love them, and perhaps this trip became a Defining Moment for me because it was quickly resolved and not because it happened around the time of the Atlanta child murders. After a trip to Pizza Hut to collect our Care Bear glasses (which may still be in mom’s kitchen cabinet), all was made right in our world. Melissa and I didn’t really fear Getting Lost because we had confidence that our family would search for us until we were reunited. This memory from our time in Atlanta resurfaced this week as I was reading Tim Hansel’s Through the Wilderness of Loneliness.

Hansel shares Robert’s story from his experiences with wilderness camp to help readers consider the parables shared in Luke 15. “Survival experts disagree on many things, but there is one thing that they are all in concert about: When you’re lost, the most important thing to do is to stop. Sit down. Be still. When you are lost, just don’t wander. On one of our Adventure in Fathering courses, Robert, age six, wandered off to the edge of the forest. He quickly realized that he didn’t know where he was. He had been told a number of times by his instructors that if he got lost he should just sit down. After not too long a time, his grateful father found him sitting on a log, waiting. Robert looked up at his dad and said, ‘Oh, Dad, I wasn’t worried, because I knew if I was lost you would come looking for me.’”

Like Melissa and I, Robert wasn’t worried, because we are loved and adored, someone was going to come find us. While it seems simple to trust that our earthly loved ones are not going to let us stay missing, why does it seem so challenging to place our faith in a Heavenly Father who will never allow us to Get Lost. In Psalm 139 (NLT) we are reassured that He knows “when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do.” So, the God that sees, El Roi, is with us even when we feel lonely and lost.

Hansel encourages us to allow Scripture to remind us again and again the truths that it provides. “When we get lost on the inside, most of us start to panic. We wander from relationship to relationship, from activity to activity, from distraction to distraction in an attempt to find our way. Perhaps what we need to do is just sit down…God will find us if we wait. Like the little boy who was lost in the woods, we can say, ‘Abba, I wasn’t afraid, because I knew You would be looking for me.”

Has there been a moment in your life when you found yourself Getting Lost? Would you consider sharing in the comments below how God provided for you in that season?

Reference:

Hansel, T. (1991). Through the wilderness of loneliness. David C. Cook Publishing Co. (ILL) (August 2022)