The Light on a Hill

An experience getting lost on a dark night during my childhood taught me some important lessons that I still value today.

My “backyard” growing up as a child in Australia was as ideal as one could imagine. There were thousands of acres of hills and valleys and pristine, clear rivers with large waterholes that we used to swim in. On these acres were Hereford cattle that used to produce the most beautiful, little calves. I feel privileged to have grown up on this Hereford cattle ranch that belonged to my parents. It gave me so many happy childhood memories.

Going for a run

As a very young child, I used to take advantage of the environment without even knowing what I was doing. Each day, after hours of sitting in school, I would go for a long run. Some days I would run for miles.

On these runs after school I would come across the most glorious-colored parrots, little baby rabbits of different colors, brilliant patches of wildflowers and the little Hereford calves, skipping along and playing with each other in the sweet-smelling, green grass.

One evening I had set off a little later than usual and came across an almost mesmerizing scene. It was a mob of kangaroos. That in itself was not unusual in this part of the world. But this particular group had a number of little ones with them. As I watched, I realized they were playing games. The really small ones were playing a game similar to tag with each other. The larger ones were standing as if on tiptoe on their hind legs and boxing with each other. They rarely hit each other, but their little paws would go around and round in circles. So I watched all of this with fascination, and then the group suddenly moved off into trees and so it was time for me to move on, homeward bound.

Lost in the dark

But, alas, in all the time I had taken in watching their little world, I had forgotten the time; and it was soon pitch-dark with no stars or moon to help me out. I was around 6 years of age at the time; and in the dark, I had no idea which direction was home. What was I to do? I didn’t panic, but sat on a large rock and asked God to show me the way to get home. I didn’t come from a particularly religious family, but we knew there was a God. A few moments after praying, I heard a very faint barking of dogs way off in the distance. Sounds like this can often carry long distances in the night air. I was certain they would not be our cattle dogs, as they were always tied up or in their runs before dark and were taught not to bark because they were close to the house.

But I headed off in that direction. After a long period of time, the barks became louder, and so I kept moving toward the sounds. With the darkness, I could only see a few feet in front of me; and with a child’s imagination, some of the objects I was seeing were quite scary. Continuing on, I came up over the rise of a hill and saw the most amazing scene—just one bright light off in the distance. My mother had lit a lamp (we did not have electricity) and put it in a window in the direction she thought I might come from. It still seemed to take forever to get home in the darkness, but now I had “a lamp for my feet” (Psalm 119:105).

After arriving home finally, there were many pats for the dogs who seemed very pleased to see me and a big thank-you to my Mom! My mother said the dogs started barking just after dark, and she could not seem to stop them. My Dad had not arrived home from work yet.

Two lessons

In thinking of this incident many times in my life, I have felt so grateful that I knew where to go for help when there was no human being around to help me. It is so sad to me that many children today do not know about prayer or even whom to pray to. We must never forget that God is to be our help and our guide in the many situations we find ourselves in throughout our lives.

This incident also has taught me to be most grateful for God’s people around the world who are shining lights to God’s way of life in a very dark world (Matthew 5:14-16).

Lynn Marshall and her husband, Graemme, serve in Canada. Mr. Marshall serves as COGWA Canada office manager and pastor of the Toronto congregation.