Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Lost and Found

It had been a long Friday of flower identification. We were on a biology camping trip last weekend and had a great time studying God's nature, but now we were itching to go for a hike. It was Sabbath, the perfect time to go on a relaxing hike in nature. As our professor loaded everyone into the bus, I started wondering how fast paced this hike would be. I counted 13 guys and only two other girls (including my friend Kelsey). Well, no matter, we would just try and keep up with the guys. We took off when we got to Mt. LeConte, and had a great time hiking up to the top. As we were hiking up, I noticed that it was far past my lunch time. I could tell because I start slowing down and not noticing my surroundings, I just wanted to get to the top and enjoy my tomato sandwich. Finally, after about five miles, we got to a lodge at the top where we enjoyed our well earned lunch. We had a nice look around, then after okaying it with our professor, Kelsey and I started to head down to the trail head. Since I was properly nurished, I had a much more enjoyable time heading down than up. In fact, there were a lot of things I must have missed on the way up because of my hunger. Then we got to a fork in the road. Kelsey confidently said that it was the left fork, but I wasn't so sure. Knowing that I am extremely bad with directions, especially when I wasn't paying attention on the way up, I decided to follow Kelsey's lead. About a mile down the path Kelsey wasn't so sure anymore. "Maybe we should do the other path" she suggested. Figuring that we were well behind everyone else now we hurried back to the other path and started hurriedly down that path. Hmmmm, I didn't really recognize this either. Wow, I must have been really out of it when I was coming up. After about two miles we stopped. No, this wasn't the trail either. I wasn't too jazzed about camping at a deserted trail head, especially since there was a lot of vandalism from where we came up. Two girls lost in the middle of the woods wasn't the best idea.
We stopped to have a prayer, then began the long weary path back up the hill. It was a lot harder going up than down to say the least, especially when you had already been hiking for ten miles. I started to feel a little faint, but I had to continue hiking. I didn't want to get stuck on the trail at night! We figured that by this time the guys would be searching for us, and they might be about to call the ranger's station, so we went back to the lodge (the one that we had lunch by at the top), and had them call the ranger's station to let them know we are alright. They showed us the right trail, and we made our weary decent. This time, determined not to get stuck too late out on the trail I tried to hike as fast as I could muster.
Then we realized that it was close to sundown. Even though we had been praying a lot, we wanted to have a little sundown prayer and song. We were going to go around a little bend in the path before stopping for a break, when we heard voices. Four forms were in front of us. Low and behold! It was our rescue party! My cousin Austin and my two semi-brothers (Barry and John) and another friend Matt all came around the corner with headlamps in hand to find us. So Kelsey and I didn't have to walk alone in a dark scary path after all!
We all had a thankful sun-down prayer and made it back to the bus without difficulty (although I think that Austin was hoping that one of us would be too weak to hike so he could carry us). Our professors were so happy to see us back safely (and frankly I was too).
God was so good. Even though we had a very eventful Sabbath, He was watching the whole time, and got us safely to our destination. I'm glad to be back.

9 comments:

Kelsey said...

I'm glad you didn't faint, and for the record, it was the left trail, we were just at the wrong junction ;)No use having the right directions if you're going the wrong way.

Per said...

Sounds like you had a great time! Glad you're safely back! "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them." Ps 34:7

Jan Robert (Robby) Heiberg said...

Praise the Lord you were found! God is good!

Farf/Morfar said...

Ingen er så tryg i fare
som Guds lille børneskare.

This is the Danish version of a Swedish hymn that states, Nobody is as safe in danger as God's flock of little children.
We learned to sing it before we could read or write, and we often did so before going to bed.
The American version is #101 in the Church Hymnal.

The hymn was written by Lina Sandell (Berg), and we have two interesting stories to tell:

The SDA Church in Denmark has a new hymnal (Petra has one), and when it was in preparation the committee went on a trip to Sweden. They happened to pass through Lina Sandell's home village, and they went into the empty church and sang a capella the hymn mentioned above.
A very moving experience, they said.

Lina's hymns were known all over Sweden, and they were promoted by a folk singer and guitarist Oscar Ahnfelt. This didn't go well with some conservative Lutherans, and they petitioned King Karl XV to forbid Ahnfelt to sing Lina's hymns.
However,the king wanted to hear him before making a decision.
So, Ahnfelt went to the palace with a new hymn written by Lina for the occasion, and when he had finished the king said with tears in his eyes, You may sing in my kingdom anywhere and at any time.

We are happy that Tee was safe in danger.

Pharm/Farf

Jan Robert (Robby) Heiberg said...

We have that song in Norway too! It's a very nice song. Thanks for sharing the history of the song - that's really neat.

Chopsticks on Oboe said...

That's great Farf and Pharm! I had never heard that story before! Does the new hymnal have Bestefar's hymns in it too?

Christen said...

It's amazing what a difference a written discourse makes compared to the oral version. . .sorry, linguistics again. ;) But hey, I'm glad you're safe. I don't know what I'd do without my roommate!

Farf/Morfar said...

Yes, the new hymnal has 15 of his hymns - and that's more than he had in the previous hymnal (of which he was the editor).

Looking forward to seeing you next week!

Farf

Phoebe said...

Such a great story! Glad you made it safely! God is good, all the time!