I once was lost...

This week I was reminded of an incident that took place my junior year at college. It was January, and I was home for the month instead of going to the January-term session. Twice that month I did have to go to Jackson (an hour from where we lived) for a Singers’ (our choir) rehearsal.

One Monday night I went to Jackson for a rehearsal. The rehearsal ended, and I headed back to Munford (where my parents lived). I got home late, and opted not to pull my mom’s car into the garage. Instead, I just left it parked in the driveway. I immediately headed upstairs to my room, accidently forgetting to turn off the light downstairs (do you see where this story is headed?).

Somewhere between 3:00 and 4:00 that morning, my mom got up and noticed that the hall light was on. She then went to the garage and saw that her car was not parked there. She woke up my step-dad, who reassured her that I had probably just stayed in Jackson for the night. They called a friend of the family, Mrs. Pat, to see if I had gone to her house. She then suggested that they call my roommates.

First they called David, a current roommate. He didn’t think things were too urgent, and went back to bed. They then called Dax, another current roommate. He told my mom that he would get in his car and head towards Munford (the town where we lived). He would look in ditches for her car. Finally she called J.J., a former roommate who was also in Singers. He did the only thing he knew to do in a crisis such as this – Pray. And pray he did, for the next three hours.

An hour or so later, Dax arrived at my parent’s house, not having seen my mom’s car in a ditch (also not having noticed her car in the driveway). He came in the house to see if there had been any news. Around the same time my step-dad went outside to get the newspaper. It was at this moment that he saw the car. He came in to tell my mom that the car was parked outside. She went upstairs to find me sleeping quite soundly in my bed. Of course she then proceeded to wake me up, saying, “Robert, wake up. Dax is here. We’ve been looking for you all night.” My response: “What?”

I went downstairs to hear this unbelievable story. I apologized to my parents for not leaving the car in the garage and forgetting to turn off the light. I thanked Dax for driving to Munford. I called J.J. to tell him to stop praying. I called David to tell him ok. (He knew I would be), and then told him to go back to bed.

I learned through this ordeal that I had some pretty good friends – people who cared that I was alive. That’s a good thing. A funny thing at times, but a good thing!