I Once Was Lost

I Once Was Lost . . .

One hot summer day I was driving to a youth camp in Sevierville Tennessee to lead music. At the time I only had two children. The oldest daughter, Elisabeth, was 3 years old and the second, Josie, was only 1 year old, still in a stroller and content with going along for the ride. Being these were the days before the now popular navigation systems, I had confidently accepted written directions from another source. Knowing that I can get anywhere by following good directions, I packed up and headed to Tennessee with the girls in my apple-red Jeep Cherokee.

With my large, bolded directions taped to the steering wheel, I came into the mountains of Sevierville, happy that I was almost there. (So I thought.) I checked the directions, just to be sure, and continued to drive. The very patient 3year old would peep every few moments, “Are we lost Mommy?” “Oh no honey,” I assured her, “I have been following the directions. We should be there any moment now.”

Continuing with our journey I started to feel a bit uneasy about those assured directions. I looked at them again, thought back to every turn, and realized that I had followed them accordingly, so I kept driving... and driving... and driving. Deep into the mountains, turn after turn, and bend after bend, questioning the Jeep’s ability to crook with the road, I kept looking over the side of the mountain while praying that the Jeep would indeed miraculously become very limber.

Just when I thought we were not going to be able to find a place wide enough to turn around, I saw it! I saw the sign that would speak louder than the directions. Posted at the end of a dirt path, directly in front of me, it read, “Asheville, N.C.” Yep, someone had clearly missed writing down a turn. I pulled into the path, backed out, cut my wheels as sharp as they would turn and headed back down the winding mountain. I stopped at several little houses on the way out to ask for directions, but only to get the same response every time, “Well, ya go down the road a bit, and der's a turn out yonder just a ways. Mmmmm, yup, der' it is.” “OK, is the turn on the right or the left?” I’d ask, but to no avail. No one was certain. Finally, after going back to town and asking several more people, and praying a lot, we made it to the camp. After sharing our big story with a select few - with a lot of help from the wise 3 year old - we became busy with camp.

The next evening, I was reminded of the journey once more when the camp counselors came back from group-time to bring me my wise-beyond-her-years daughter who had buddied-up with a group for the afternoon. “Guess what?” a counselor asked. “Your daughter told us that she just got saved! She said that she was really lost but now she’s not!” “Oh my!” I thought. I had to tell them about our trip and how we had prayed to God to help us find our way to the camp. After the explanation everyone had a good laugh, (and thankfully on her 7th birthday she really did go forward for salvation... ironically at another youth camp). Nonetheless, 'Amazing Grace' has never been the same . “I once was lost but now I’m found.”

Before you go!

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