Perdre comme an tit Chock “Lost like a little Black Bird”
On January 2nd, 2004 I decided to go have a look see for a moose on Council Road around a place called Skookum.
My intent was to run out there look around and be home that evening, but not to alarm my wife, I told her that if I got a moose I might be back the next day. I rode out of town on my snow machine enjoying the beauty which God had surrounded me with. I drove past Point Nome, entered the Safety Sound area, got to the old town of Soloman and headed up the now closed road to Council. There was no recent sign of snow machine traffic as I headed out. I saw one big black wolf behind the Reindeer building at about mile 38…out of Nome. I was headed to mile 50+ out of Nome. The temperature was great heading out of Nome mid teens to low 20’s, inland is always about 10 degrees colder. Then altitude also decreases the temperatures.
When I arrived in the Skookum area which is the summit on the road to Council, the snow and fog was caught in the peak and I couldn’t see to ride around it, I turned around and tried to find another way. I drove to where the old road used to go down into Skookum Creek and decided to go into the valley there.
Have you ever thought that you were exactly where you wanted to be and that everything was going just the way you planned?
Are you lost when you know where you are even though others no not where you are?
Psalm 28:3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.
Psalm 35:20 For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.
Lost???
Does God care about lost things???
Exodus 22:9 For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbour.
Jeremiah 50:6 My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.
How did I get lost???
As I went down into Skookum River valley, I remembered how lovely it was last fall when I had first viewed it…there were plenty of small ponds in the creek bed that hold underwater vegetation, the kind that moose like to eat. I dropped down about 1000 to 1500 feet nearly vertical then turned and ran up the side of the valley until it intersected with the creeks. To get out would require me to cross the creek so I started to scout out an area to do so…as soon as I got off the valley side my machine sank into the snow, my sled only slowed me and made it more difficult for me to go…I spent the next 6 hours getting my machine unstuck about 6 or 7 times, then exhausted at 8:30 and recognizing that I wasn’t even near getting unstuck I decided to get ready to spend the night…I knew exactly where I was about ¾ to 1 mile off of Council Road in Skookum Valley…I had told my wife and a number of friends the day before where I would be so I was pretty confident that if I could not work my way out of this then at least someone would come for me…
Have you ever been there???
I remember as a young boy growing up in Pierre Part, Belle River and the Atchafalaya Spillway being lost a couple of times…knowing exactly where I was…but…
Once I ran out of gas in Grand Lake…
Walking a new coulee trying to find if it came out anywhere I knew…
Many different road trips to places I had never been to…
You see what I have learned is that we are all lost and in need of some good direction…
Matthew 18:11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
Luke 15:4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
Luke 15:9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.
Luke 15:24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
Friday night and Saturday morning I did not sleep. I was too busy trying to keep my toes from freezing…the temperature was between 15-25 below zero and to touch metal caused your skin to receive immediate contact frostbite. I just flipped my sled and put a thermal pad over me hoping to keep some body heat in...every hour or so I would flip the sled off of me and warm my hands with the propane bottle and re-warm my toes all the while violently shivering. This was when I first decided maybe I was lost in Alaska’s vast wilderness…What about you???
You see God’s word tells us in Romans 3:9-18 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; [10] As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: [11] There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. [12] They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one…[18] There is no fear of God before their eyes…[23] For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Have you ever been there…are you ready if you get into such a predicament???
You see however bad the situation might seem, I knew that I was in the very best of company as were my family…I was in the very presence of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit and I know of their promises…
Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Rev. 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
God showed me that night that many people around us look like they know where they are but this isn’t so…some are surrounded by friends and family and are way more lost than I was in the great land. God’s heart is…
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Amazing even when I was separated from HIM HE loved me and HE loves
You too.
So what are we expected to do?
Well there I was, tired, hypothermic and I was running options I had prayerfully through my mind. Closest cabin 12 to 20 miles either direction…would it have fire making material??? Would it have something to dry my gear out??? Would it have a fireplace and something to melt water??? Would someone come for me…
I did manage to get my snowgo out of the creek just before my belt went out, this gave me a better visual chance of being seen by anyone on Skookum or overhead in a plane…all I had to do was live long enough for someone to find me…
This reminded me of a similar situation…Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, last Friday in February 1988, I acknowledged that I was lost, indeed a sinner deserving of death and hell but by God’s grace allowed to…
Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
I’ve told my fellowship and brothers and sisters in Christ that it is good to have a real challenging mountaintop experience here and there to truly draw near to Christ…when we must call upon the name of the Lord in earnest.
Being lost can be a terrible thing…and if we realize we are lost and call upon Jesus Christ as our Lord in even the worst situation it will be a glorious thing.
John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Gloria and I had some pretty deep discussions relative to things which we had not really spoken of…what if I died…how would she continue to serve God…what about the boys…what about Native Youth Camp…these were things that God had laid on our hearts and minds and came to me while I was sleeping in a very cold snow cave and Gloria at our Church in Nome…
What have I learned in the experience??? First and foremost trust in the Lord…
Psalm 4:5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.
Psalm 5:11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
Psalm 16:1 Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.
Psalm 17:7 Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.
Psalm 18:2 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
Psalm 18:30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
Psalm 20:7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
Psalm 25:2 O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.
Psalm 25:20 O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee.
Are you lost today, are things unraveling around you, do you find yourself waiting for someone or something to come into your life, do you seek something to bring meaning and “HOPE” into your life?
There is only one place you can find this hope and trust…
Trust in Jesus today…HE is waiting never to leave you
If you have never before trusted in HIM, HE is calling you today…daily…HE wants to give you peace in your every situation…
