In the last few days, Jerry and I
watched a docuseries about the country music singer, Luke Bryan, entitled “Dirt
Road Diaries.” I don’t normally listen to country radio, but my son and a good
friend do and for that reason I try to keep up a bit. And I’m always ready for
a biography.
As many know, the Byran family has suffered almost unimaginable loss. A young brother, a sister, and a
brother-in-law all within a short few years. As the story unfolds, you see how
they struggled to find their bearings after each death, but because his
siblings had been so encouraging in his career, Luke felt they would have
wanted him to keep going.
In the end, he says when talking
of the losses, and I’m paraphrasing here, that without faith, their family
would have been "lost."
We’ve often said around here that
anyone who tries to navigate devastating heartache without the Lord would be lost. Jerry
has used the South Georgia phrase, “lost as a ball in high weeds.”
That phrase reminds me of an animal story that I told here about ten years ago. I’ll recap. A feral mama kitty took up here. She had kittens out in the studio and one morning I discovered one missing—the black and white tuxedo, Wilbur. The other kittens were grey. This litter probably had two different fathers and I wondered if one of them came back to destroy the kitten that wasn’t theirs which often happens.
Anyway, we searched and searched
and nothing. Then I had the idea to let Lucy out. The big brown Aussiedor had shown
amazing tenderness toward the kittens. “Find Wilbur, “I told her. So, she set out
nose to the ground sniffing every blade of grass in the back yard to no avail.
Then I let her outside the fence into the front yard. After some time, she
zeroed in on a patch of ivy, nosed it, and then just stood there looking at me.
I went over and pulled back the leaves, and there was the tiny Wilbur only a
week or so old under the leaves, still alive. I took him back to his Mama and
then moved the whole lot of them indoors which they adjusted to in a surprisingly
quick way.
Wilbur was lost and against all
odds, Lucy found him. We conjecture the father must have been spooked in his
efforts to destroy the kitten. For ten years, these animals have had an
astounding connection. Wherever Lucy is, Wilbur will not be far away as you can
see in this recent picture. It’s like he knows she saved him.
If you’re reading this, know you are not lost to God, and He can find you in any high weeds or under any ivy leaves. Thomas Merton wrote, "I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for You are ever with me. And You will never leave me to face my perils alone." A few of Andrew Murray's words on the subject were, "There is no one so far lost that Jesus cannot find him and cannot save him." He comes to us to both save us for eternity and to help us through the heartaches of this life. You don’t have to go it alone. Call out to Him.
In a recent devotional I read in The Upper Room Magazine, a writer testified how when he was a child, a grandparent taught him to pray what he called a “big little prayer” which was “Help me, Lord.” Three simple words, which have been so powerful in his life. Pray that.
Luke said
he wanted this docuseries to go forward because he believed it would help
others who have suffered loss.
I think it
will, for anyone who is willing to call on the Lord.
“Give thanks
to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done .
. . Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always” (Psalm 105: 1, 4).
A story set on the lovely Saint Simons Island HERE.
