Lost

I looked out my kitchen window and stared into the woods.
Most of the leaves have fallen.
A late fall, soon-to-be winter landscape was before me.
There was something quiet about the view.

I looked at the swing set that my husband made and remembered the children climbing there.
I saw movement and thought perhaps it was a perfectly camouflaged deer.
I looked at the edge of the woods, that distinct line between the grass and the trees.
I smiled at the memory.

Two Face is in the woods, I said to myself.
Saying that to someone would be quite confusing.
The listener would think I meant a person.
However, this is not a person at all.

This is Two Face, a character from Batman.
Two Face is in our woods.
I remember the day.
I even remember the search that proved unsuccessful.

They were the years my boys played with action figures.
They were the years of Power Rangers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
They were the years of Star Wars and Batman.
Between my two sons, we had many action figures, which went through many hours of play.

It was an afternoon when a boy from our neighborhood knocked on the door.
Their play began with the action figures inside our house.
At some point, their play went outside.
Outside play was usually done with outside things.

However, this day, the boys took the action figures outside.
I saw them from the kitchen window.
Elaborate play was taking place.
The boys, with the action figures, were climbing on the swing set.

I saw Superman figure fly off the playhouse wall.
I saw a Ninja Turtle slide down the slide.
I saw a Power Ranger hang precariously from the top of the swing.
I saw Two Face get tossed in the air.

I watched as the boys went over to the edge of the woods.
I saw them take a large stick and poke around.
I saw them go back and forth as if they were retracing their steps.
I saw my son look back at the house.

I went outside onto the deck.
Everything ok? I asked in a pleasant tone.
We lost Two Face, my son said.
I tossed him in the air and he landed over here, the other boy informed me.

I remember Two Face.
One side of his face was one color; the other side was another color.
Depending on which side was face up, I knew we would have a hard time finding him.
Poking around with large sticks disturbed the brush but did not help us find the figure.

The boy told my son that he was sorry for losing the action figure.
My son was gracious, but I know he was disappointed.
Those things happen, I said as the boy left to go home.
I thought that we would find the figure eventually.

We never did.

I thought of that as I looked out into the woods from my kitchen window.
What else was left out there to be found?
Basketballs  and volleyballs have gone into the woods.
I remember one such ball was not found until all the leaves had fallen.

That’s the way it is with things.
They get lost.
Despite our care and watchfulness, things get lost.
Some people are not bothered by that; others cannot rest until the lost thing is found.

Women with pierced ears lose the back of their earrings.
People often misplace their car keys.
We lose the elusive picture in the family album.
We misplace the recipe we need when company comes.

Often when you least expect it, the lost thing turns up.
It turns up in a place where you know you already looked.
Sometimes the lost thing is never found as in the case of the action figure.
When something stays lost for quite a while there is a feeling of incompleteness.

If I could have figured out the trajectory of the action figure, I might have been able to find it.
Maybe even calculating the variables, like the strength of the breeze at the time.
Perhaps figuring out the speed of the throw might have helped.
When it was all said and done, the figure is lost now for many years, somewhere in the woods.

Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for them. For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. (Psalm 107:4-9)

God’s people wandered through the wilderness for forty years.
There was no way out of that wilderness until God brought them out.
It is no different with us.
We are all in a wilderness place from time to time; we are lost and cannot find our way.

That type of wilderness is not something we can get out of on our own.
We cannot pull up our bootstraps and emerge with our own fortitude.
We are lost until He finds us.
And find us, He will.

We can try to figure out all the ways we can be found.
In our own strength, it is futile.
The best way to emerge from our lost-ness is to stand still.
We must stand still until He finds us and leads us out.

Poking the woods with a stick did not help us find the action figure.
The figure is still lost.
It is probably discolored and semi-buried in the dirt by now.
It is only an action figure.

It is much more important when we consider a lost person.
No amount of self help will change our lost condition.
No amount of calculations or data will change our condition from lost to found.
Only the Lord Jesus, the Way, can guide us out of the wilderness.

On our own, we get more lost and confused.
On our own, we go deeper into the thick woods.
On our own, we tend to walk in circles of our own making.
Only the Lord Jesus knows the Way.

The Way is a Person.
Through Jesus and with Jesus we emerge from the wilderness.
He holds us fast.
We are safe.