Posts Tagged ‘Being Found’

Br. Jamie Nelson, SSJE

Luke 15:1-10

Have you ever gotten lost in the woods?

Back in my college days, one of my classes went on a weeklong field trip to a national forest in central Idaho. Late one afternoon, the group of us were deep out on Forest Service land when we realized our classmate Tyler was missing. We waited a few minutes, but Tyler didn’t reappear.

Eventually we decided to search for him. We organized ourselves into a line, two arm’s length between each person, and divided our group in two to search a grid pattern down either side of the gravel road, backtracking the way we’d traveled. We called out Tyler’s name over and over as we carefully picked our way through and under and over and around the rough wooded terrain.

The search seemed to last forever, long enough that a twinge of despair had begun to creep into our hoarse voices as we called for him.

Then we heard a shout. The news spread from person to person: Tyler had been found and was ok.

We regrouped and Tyler told us what had happened. Without telling anyone, he had slipped away for a moment to take a bathroom break, certain that we’d still be in sight & he’d easily catch up with us when he returned. But he was mistaken.

When Tyler returned, we were no longer in sight. And somehow in that moment, he got his bearings turned around. He started going in the wrong direction. And thinking we must be just out of sight around a corner, he just kept going & going.

Eventually, he realized that he’d gone the wrong way and that he needed to turn back. Read More