Three generations of Reynolds met for a family reunion at a lodge in New Hampshire. The grandparents traveled by car about a thousand miles from South Carolina to get there. The entire family was having a great time hiking, swimming, playing around and just enjoying each other’s company.
The grandfather, seventy-two years old, hardy and robust, got up early one morning before the grandchildren. He told his wife, “I’m going out for a hike around the lake to find a pretty spot for a family photo.”
“John,” his wife replied, “try to be back at 9:00, and I’ll have stacks of pancakes ready for you and the kids.”
However, her husband would never return to the lodge.
The grandpa hiked a trail that led through the thick woods. In the early morning, on the edge of a narrow ravine, he slipped on wet leaves that sent him tumbling down the slope where his head struck the trunk of a tree, knocking him unconscious. Alone and sprawled out on the forest floor, he remained motionless. The following night he regained consciousness, but his memory was gone. He couldn’t remember his name or his past. Only the faintest sliver of memory came to him that his home was somewhere in the South.
Not knowing exactly where he was going, at daybreak he set off walking to the south.
Do you know that the entire human race has suffered a great fall? This fall has deprived them of their knowledge of their real identity and the whereabouts of their true home. The fall took place early in the family tree, but the results have passed on to all the following generations. For many, only the faintest sliver of memory remains to them that there is a goodness far greater than themselves. The faintest sliver of memory makes them feel incomplete — like they are missing something extremely important.
Everybody seems on a mission to find that lost goodness. The big problem is that they are looking for it in the wrong places instead of finding it in the God who loves them. The alcoholic looks for it in liquor; the greedy, in the possession of riches; the lustful, in sensual pleasures; the proud, in being better than others. A big hint that they are looking for their joy in the wrong places is the emptiness — the lack of peace and rest that remains in their hearts when they obtain what they are striving for. “There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked” (Isaiah 48:2222There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked. (Isaiah 48:22)). The peace they seek will never be found except in God.
The grandpa set off walking towards the south along a country highway. He didn’t know where he was going, only that he needed to head south — always south. He stuck out his thumb to hitch a ride. A farmer picked him up and offered him the job of helping load hay into his barn. He worked for this man for a couple of days. The farmer paid him a few dollars, gave him some extra clothes and food in a bag, and then drove him in his old pickup truck to the Virginia border where he let him out and wished him luck on his homeward journey.
The grandpa continued hitchhiking always to the south. At night he would sleep in quiet spots off the road. In North Carolina, he stopped at a restaurant for a bite to eat. As he sat at the food counter, he overheard the waitress conversing with a customer. He heard her say, “Emily.” The name struck a chord in his mind. He remembered that, yes, he had a daughter somewhere with that name.
Later he got a ride with a truck driver. He got into a conversation with the truck driver about shotguns. When the truck driver mentioned he had a .410 gauge shotgun at home, the number struck another chord. It came to him that his daughter had a street address of 410. Slowly, these hints and clues were coming back to him out of his past. They weren’t much to go on, but he felt that somehow these bits of information would help him find his way home.
A long time ago, the Apostle Paul spoke to citizens of Athens, Greece, and told them “that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us” (Acts 17:2727That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: (Acts 17:27)). The grandpa was seeking and feeling his way towards home by gathering bits and pieces of knowledge to help guide him. When souls seek and feel after God, He will faithfully lead them on.
In his wanderings, the grandpa was getting closer to home. Haggard, worn and hungry, he crossed into South Carolina. A state trooper saw him plodding along with a heavy walk at the side of the road. When the compassionate trooper stopped and heard the grandpa’s pitiful story, he took the man to the station. Patiently the trooper continued talking to him. He got out of the man that he had been traveling for maybe three or four weeks and had come from the north, perhaps New York or someplace like that.
The trooper called up the “Missing Persons” data from those states on his computer, and after a lengthy search, he found the man’s photo. Except for the weight loss, unkempt hair and fatigue in the eyes, it was a perfect match. The trooper called the man’s wife who lived in a small town about two hundred miles further south. The lady started weeping when the trooper described the man sitting next to him. She had been worried sick about him and hadn’t the slightest idea of what had happened to him. The woman picked up her daughter on the way and finally arrived at the police station. When the husband saw the car pull up, he told the trooper, “That’s it! That’s my car! Oh my ... yes, I recognize her ... that’s her ... that’s my wife!” The wife and daughter tried to fight back the tears at the reunion so as not to cause an upset, but the tears came anyway. They gently explained to the grandpa who he really was and how they loved him and missed him. Then they took him home — the place where he really belonged — the place that he had been seeking after and feeling for. Doctors later said that the grandpa had suffered a concussion and were certain that, with rest and time, his memory would return.
The trooper had compassion on the old man and helped identify him in order to find his true home. Do you know that God has sent His Son to this earth in the greatest act of love and compassion the world has ever known? He did it so that sinners might find out who they really are and find a home in God’s love.
The trooper searched a databank on the computer to find the man’s identity. But God knows all men in a perfect way. “The Lord [looks] from heaven; He [beholds] all the sons of men” (Psalm 33:1313The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. (Psalm 33:13)). How will you respond to His love and goodness?