Dear Faith Family, 

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me,” (Psalm 23:4). 

It was one of those memorable hunts.  Chasing “thunder chickens” (aka wild turkeys) through the woods.  After a successful hunt, the woods came alive with new unfamiliar features.  You know, suddenly there was water.  There was a swamp.  Nothing looked familiar.  The reason that those features were unfamiliar is because I hadn’t seen them before! 

Easy.  No need to be judgmental and conclude that I was lost.  Lost is such a relative term.  I knew right where I was: earth, United States, South Carolina, swamp.  See how easy that was?  But, for the sake of this article, let’s just say I wasn’t sure of the precise coordinates of my location (there, that sounds better). 

Now what?  What to do when life finds you in a swamp?  When the circumstances suddenly look frighteningly unfamiliar?  When loss leaves you…well…lost? 

Pull out a map.  Ok, a GPS (but do you know what GPS stands for?).  And what’s the first thing you do with a map or a GPS?  Of course, you look for something familiar.  Oh, ok, there’s I-26.  There’s I-20.  There’s….  You get the picture.  Go back to the familiar.  The satellite image showed my location in the woods.  That, in and of itself, was not helpful.  I needed something familiar (I never found it, something familiar.  So, I’m writing this article somewhere in the woods in a swamp in South Carolina.  But I’m not lost!). 

So, what’s the familiar Global Positioning System in the valley of life?  Yes, the very Word of God.  Run to the familiar.  You can probably say the twenty-third Psalm even in the dark (go ahead, say it out loud).  Remind yourself of what you know to be true.  The heart of David’s (someone who knew the valley) Psalm is the very presence of the Shepherd, verse four.  He, the Shepherd, is here in the valley.  Wherever you are, you are not alone. 

Run to the familiar and work from the familiar to the unfamiliar.  From what you know to be true to what doesn’t currently make sense.  From eternal truth to this moment in time. 

If the Shepherd is here.  No, since the Shepherd is here, He will provide for you.  Everything that you need.  Everything!  Note that He didn’t promise everything that you want.  And for that we are thankful.  Since the Shepherd is here, He will protect you. 

Find your way back to what you know to be true.  Run to the familiar.  Embrace the truth that you know in the circumstances that you don’t know. 

Ahhhh, the familiar, 
Pastor Karl 

PS – I was able to find a familiar food plot (aka green pasture).  And once I was able to get the little blue triangle on my GPS pointed in the right direction, I made a beeline to that green pasture.