Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Lost Part II

When I was younger I had the privilege of being one of 90 young people chosen to participate in the Arctic Indoctrination Course with the Army Cadets. This is a Canadian program sponsored by the Canadian Armed Forces. At fifteen years of age I was hiking trails amid peaks thousands of feet in elevation on Baffin Island. Crossing the Arctic Circle was one of the highlights as it seemed to put a "period" on the end of the statement that said I was trying to do something. I was on top of the world...literally!

But before I ever did that, a friend of mine named Wayne did something stunning. At his budding age of fifteen, he was the youngest American to traverse Greenland on foot from East Coast to West Coast. He may still be the youngest American to do so. His story is stunning. I'll attempt to do it justice.

As Wayne was the photographer for the excursion, his responsibilities lie with cameras, film and the maintenance thereof. They broke camp one day and skied off to their next way point somewhere in the middle of Greenland. A couple of hours into the day Wayne was horrified as he realized he forgot his camera bag at the previous camp site. What good is the photographer if he has no camera? So, with that thought, Wayne sets out BACK to the previous campsite on a beautiful sunny Greenland day.

Greenland has a landscape of white with little or no horizon for reference points. Wayne's reliance on his compass was important as that would keep him on track. Fortunately he had the ski tracks from where he traveled to follow back. Enter snow storm. Wayne finds his camera and heads back only to be caught in a blinding snow storm. He's fifteen. There's no landmarks. There's no ski tracks. He can't see. He's lost.

Spiritually speaking, we've probably all been where Wayne is. We can't see the old landmarks to keep us on the "straight and narrow". There are things in life that are assailing us and causing conditions that hinder our walking forward. In essence we may feel lost. I want to encourage you to do what Wayne had to do. Learn to rely on your compass...it's right! Our compass is the word of God. It is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. It shows us the way to go. Even when we can't see very far in front of us, it's there. It's true. It's right. Trust it.

So, you may wonder what ever happened to Wayne. Well, he basically trusted his compass while not being able to see anything in front of him as he skied. In his words he said, "I didn't know I was back at the camp site until I saw it three feet in front of me." Yes, you just may not be able to see where you're going until you actually get there.

Trust the compass.

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