I remember once when I was a teenager, my daddy and I where deer hunting in the area of Oglethorpe County called Goosepond. My daddy had gone in one direction towards his stand and I went another way toward mine.

            As I was going to my stand I jumped a deer. When the deer ran, I followed it. The deer never ran far, and although I never had a clear shot at it, every few yards I would catch a glimpse of it. All evening I followed that deer, with it staying just close enough to keep me interested in the hunt.

            Now, here’s the problem; while I was concentrating on following the deer I was not paying attention to where I was going. All of a sudden I realize that I had been following that deer for several hours and now it is getting dark. But where am I? Which way do I go to get back to my daddy?   I was lost! I was separated from my daddy and did not know how to get back to him.

            Ok, you see the problem, and you probably know where I am going with this. You see the world has ways of separating us from our Heavenly Father.  There are things that capture our attention and they beguile us into following after them. They may not be bad things; they are just things that take our focus of God. We start following after these things and all of a sudden we realize that we have not heard from God in a while. Now it’s dark and we don’t know how to get back to our Father. And it is dangerous to wander around in the dark.

            OK, back to the deer hunt. I was lost and I really wanted my daddy. What did I do? Well I called out for him. He was a long ways off, but he heard me and he answered me. We continued to call back and forth until I found my way back to him. To this day I can still remember the sound of my daddy’s voice as he called out to me in the dark.

            What do you do when the world draws you away from The Heavenly Father? What do you do when it is dark and you don’t know how to get back to Him? Well you call out to Him. You can be sure that He will hear and He will answer your call.  In Psalms 141:1 we read; “LORD, I cry out to You; Make haste to me! Give ear to my voice when I cry out to You.” 

            Look, if you find yourself separated from God and it is dark just keep calling out to Him and He will keep answering you. You will never forget the sound of His voice as it leads you home.

Douglas Huff

From Down Where the Pavement Ends