The Big Dark Woods

I was five years old and I was ticked.  My older sister had pushed me too far this time, and I decided it was time to get away from her and head out on my own.  So I packed my car and left.  Ok, I put my favorite hot wheels into my pocket and went out the door.  Same difference.

I marched across our big backyard, looked both ways at the road that came behind our place, marched across it and across the big field and down the hill into the big, dark woods.  Usually the big, dark woods were not a place I would go to play by myself.  But this day was different.  I was angry and I didn’t care.  So I marched my little five-year old self right into them.  Down the big hill I went and came abruptly to the big creek.  It was a bit big for me to cross, but no matter. I would turn and walk along it.  Anywhere just to be free from her. 

I hadn’t noticed that it was getting close to dark, because I was mad.  Have you noticed that when you’re mad you tend to miss important things like that?    So there I was, ticked off and marching upstream along the creek with the sun going down.  I pushed on through the briars and the thickets, thinking five year-old angry thoughts.

“Who needs her anyway?” I muttered.  “Well, I’m five years old and I can take care of myself!  I’m never going back! Never. Never. Never!  I’ll live out in the woods like Swift Arrow.  Only I won’t live with the Indians.  Just out in the woods.  I’ll learn to swing from tree to tree and everything.”  On and on I went for some time.

When I finally noticed the lengthening shadows and the deepening darkness, I reasoned that I could live in the woods a bit closer to home. I would still be in the woods, but closer to home, you know,  just in case. So I turned around and headed back down the creek bank the way I had previously come.  Only now, I wasn’t quite as mad, and I was starting to get a little bit scared.

In the part of the country where we lived at the time, there were coyotes that roamed quite freely.  Usually, after dark.  In my five year-old anger, I had also forgotten about them.  Now somewhere behind me, farther upstream, I got a chilling reminder.

“AHHOOOOOOOOOOW,” came a coyote howl.  The little hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.  I was a little less angry and a little more scared.  I picked up the pace as I pushed back through the briars and thickets I had come through earlier in my anger.

“AHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWW!” came a response a little closer to where I was.  I picked up the pace again.  Not real angry anymore, but a whole lot scared.  As I pushed on, my ears and my imagination began to hear everything that was and wasn’t out there.  I heard (or thought I heard) heavy, coyote breathing.  I could imagine the saliva dripping off of the long coyote fangs, just like the cartoon wolves looking at a flock of sheep, as the coyotes could see me with their night vision skills.

“AAAAHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW!” a loud one came real close by.  Forget the anger…I was now in a full-scale panic.  My eyes bugged out, my heart raced and I began clawing my way through the thickets, bouncing off of trees and yelling my little five year-old lungs out.  

“HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLP!!!” I screamed as loud as I could.  I bounced off the sixth tree before I heard a voice that was sweet music to my ears.

“Donnie! Dooooonnieeeeeeee! Where are you?”  It was DAD!  He was looking for me! “Donnie!”

 “Over here!” I yelled as loud as could. 

“Keep talking, son!” dad yelled back.

“Overhereoverhereoverhereoverhereoverhere.” I yelled, and soon I was scooped up into my Dad’s strong arms, and before long found myself being carried out of the big, dark woods, across the meadow, across the road, across the big, backyard and into the safety of home.

Here's the point! There is in the heart of God a place I know as home.

It doesn’t matter how angry I get at my sister.  It doesn’t matter how far into the big, dark woods I go.  It doesn’t matter if the coyotes are coming.  No matter how dark and scary my picture looks, if I listen, I can hear the voice of my Father calling.   He’s looking for me!  He’ll stride right into the middle of my dark and scary woods, even though my anger and my running is what caused the problem, and He’ll pick me up and carry me back to the safety of home.  There is in the heart of God a place I know as home. 

And if I read scripture correctly, there is a place in the heart of God for you too! 

John 6:37 says:  “I will never turn away anyone who comes to Me.”

Matthew 6:6, “Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.”

And here’s one of the best: “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the ends of the earth.”    Matthew 28:20

This world has become a dark and scary place to live.  As the shadows of earth’s history lengthen and the darkness deepens, we know that our enemy is on the prowl.  The Bible doesn’t compare him to a coyote, but to a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. (see 1 Peter 5:8)  He’s closing in because he knows his time is short.

You, like me, may be angry at a brother or a sister in the church.  You may be running away from home.  Running across the street into the big, dark woods.  You may suddenly find yourself being tracked by a ferocious predator, and your hope is rapidly vanishing into a world that seems dark. 

But stop.  Stop running and listen.  The Father is calling your name.  He’s looking for you!  He's asking you the same question He asked Adam and Eve.  “Where are you?”  And if you answer, He’ll come and scoop you up into His big, strong arms and carry you back to the safety of HOME.

There is in the Father’s heart, a place that you can know as home.  He’s calling.  Are you answering?

Me at the age of 5 standing by my dad.------>>>