Have you ever been lost? Wandering around worried and nervous about how you’re going to get out of the mess you just got yourself into? I can really relate to this feeling, I had one such feeling long ago. This story goes back to the many times Quinn and I went hiking in the mountains behind his house. When you’re a kid you don’t think ‘Hey what can I do today that will keep me out of trouble?’ If you were that kid, we probably weren’t childhood friends.
I remember that a lot of the older kids in Arimo liked to hike up to a place called Big Rock and part of the challenge was actually being able to find it. There wasn’t any special trail that led directly to Big Rock so before heading into the thick trees you had to estimate your own coordinates. Sometimes if you were off by your estimate then you could end up on the next hill. Knowing all of this, Quinn and I still decided that it was our turn to venture up and find Arimo’s famous Big Rock.
There are a lot of obstacles to make it up the mountain especially for an 8 year old. First off, your legs are never as long as you think they are so it takes about a million more steps to get up a mountain than the average teenager that made the trek. Second, finding your way around the Evan’s house was a task in itself because they would surely call your parents if they saw you that far away from home and the adventure would be finished before it really even began. Third, the many barbed wire fences.
After we had made it passed the Evan’s house and across the canal we were in the clear from at least any civilization that would destroy our hopes of finding our destination. We stood at the bottom of what seemed like the biggest mission we would ever take on. While we walked, there seemed to be a lot of distractions for an 8 year old. It seemed like our imaginations would get the best of us and every rock we came across had its own story. I remember we named some of them and others looked as though there could be caves and wonderment lying behind them in the mountain. Perched on some of the rocks were little rainbow belly lizards that we would try to catch. After plenty of walking we decided to take a break and do some recalculating.
Nothing ever had really looked familiar, even the rocks we had named and played on didn’t look familiar to us after circling them for a while. That feeling of lost hit us about right then, you know that feeling right? When you feel lost it’s like a dark cloud encircles you. Your feeling of hope begins to fade and panic sets in. You realize you’ve gotten yourself into a mess that you’re not sure you can even get out of. It’s one of the worst feelings you can find yourself experiencing.
My dad has taught me a lot of survival skills in my lifetime, but even all the wilderness skills didn’t stand up to one of the skills he taught me, the power of prayer. Kneeling down with my friend Quinn we pled for help to know which way we should head to get us out of our lost state. I remember we walked a little while longer and we saw a house just ahead of us. We knocked on the Jolley’s door and they gave Quinn and I a ride home.
Over the years Quinn and I continued to hike the hills and explore but we learned where we should go and where we shouldn’t just by experience and trial. I’ve had a lot of experiences where I’ve felt lost, thank goodness for my dad’s lesson of prayer. I’ve been able to recognize since I was a young kid that there is always someone that will help me out of the dark cloud and set me straight. If you’re ever wandering around worried and nervous about how you’re going to get out of the mess you’ve just gotten yourself into, knees are meant to fall on.
