I’m not a big outdoors person. In fact my last real hike was one I took with my University of Washington botany class to the 6,000 foot level of Mt. Rainier in Washington State. That was well over thirty-five years ago. I have almost no chance of getting lost in the forest or wilderness because I don’t go there. However I do know that if I ever go again and get lost I should, “Stop and hug a tree!” In other words stay still and let myself be found. To keep going after one is lost is to invite more danger.
Right now a lot of us feel lost. Our anxieties have many of us literally walking around in a daze. What can we do about this? We need to stop! Acknowledge that we are lost and don’t know what to do. Yes, find that tree and hug it. I’m not talking about any tree.
Stop and hug a tree that offers hope. It is for many an ignominious tree. Not exactly the tree that person might choose.That word ignominious means disgraceful, or mortifying, but it is a tree of safety.
You may ask Patricia , what is the name of this disgraceful tree. It is call the tree known as the cross of Calvary. It’s the tree where Christ died. Stop trying to find your way in the wilderness of this life by yourself.
It has been made very plain to us, to me, that this world, in all its’s confusion is just moving to more confusion. Stop and hug that tree. Accept the fact that God can find you there.
There is another interesting survival technique. People are taught that if they hear a search plane to go to an open area and lie down to make oneself bigger. The experts say it is easier to be seen if one is laying down on the earth than standing straight up. Laying down is a sign of submission too.
After you hug the tree and hear help from the air lay down. Get down and submit your heart to the Finder, the God of heaven. Rescuers teach children, in particular, is that when the rescuer calls out, to answer whoever calls. This is so important in submitting to God. Once God moves on your heart, answer God by calling out in surrender to God, "Here I am." Knowing that God is near is what calms my anxiety and I know this thought can calm yours too.
Don’t feel frustrated. For peace of mind and heart take these simple steps.
1. Stop
2. Hug the cross of Christ. Embrace the fact that Jesus died for you.
3. Answer here I am. Accept that Jesus offers you a precious gift of forgiveness.
4. God, The Rescuer, will make sure you are found and put on the right pathway.
A little background on the phrase, "Stop and Hug a Tree"*
"Jimmy Beveridge, the 9-year-old Spring Valley boy who became lost in February, 1981, while on a trip to Palomar Mountain State Park with his parents and two brothers. Two hundred volunteers eventually became involved in the effort to find the boy, the largest search ever conducted in the history of San Diego County."
“Hugging a tree” is an idea that Ab Taylor, a retired tracker for the U.S. Border Patrol, developed in the wake of the search for Jimmy Beveridge.
* This particular article was printed in the Los Angeles Times.
By GORDON SMITH
FEB. 14, 1985 12 AM
