In 2012, We visited Germany to renew our visas. which coincided with our ten-year anniversary. As I have mentioned before, processing documentation was always fun, so, we found ourselves with some extra time to do some sightseeing. Berlin is so rich in history, there was plenty to see. One day, we stopped to visit Checkpoint Charlie. When Berlin was divided after WWII, Checkpoint Charlie was the point where the communists and “Free Berlin “converged. I am not your history buff, but being in the middle of all that history while touring, I learned so much!
We stopped to get lunch at a little sandwich shoppe in a quaint cobblestone courtyard near the Checkpoint. Afterward, Andrew was getting a splitting headache, so we set off in search of a pharmacy. I checked to see all the kids were in tow, and we located a pharmacy about a block away, he went in with Benjamin, and I wandered into a flea market outside. This was close to the entrance of the underground Metro, one of the many ways to get from one side of Berlin to the other. Andrew took our oldest, Benjamin, and I had Adele and Julian, with me, and Anthony rode in the stroller. I got distracted looking at something in the market, and when I turned around, Julian had given me the slip. I scanned the marketplace quickly and not seeing him, I first supposed he had gone into the pharmacy with Andrew. I called Adele, to myself, and walked into the pharmacy.
Andrew did not have him, and my heart started to beat just a bit faster. He was four years old and being lost in a foreign country, he would not be able to tell anyone what his name was, who his parents were, or where he had been. Andrew came out of the pharmacy and we both began to search. He was nowhere! My blood went cold when I spotted the entrance to the Metro!
“Oh, Lord God! He didn’t get on the Metro!” I prayed.
I told Benjamin and Adele to stay with the stroller, and took off, taking the steps three at a time, screaming for Julian. Some people around could recognize I was distressed, and in broken English, asked what was wrong. I described Julian, and more bystanders took up the search for him. It seemed like forever, but it was probably only ten minutes or so, before someone came to me and said they thought they might have found him. They led me back down the road where we had just taken a half-hour earlier.
He was at the café where we had lunch! He had returned to what he knew!
Sometimes, a child’s simple wisdom can be so profound. Go back to what you know. A child isn’t plagued by all the worry and hardships, pain that we are. We can find ourselves so far from where we want to be, and we are not sure how we got there. Did your mother ever tell you to retrace your steps when you are looking for something? Peel back the layers of decisions you have made until you are back to a place you are familiar with.
For you were like sheep going astray but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. 1 Peter 2:25
Sometimes in life, we can get off track. On our own journey, we can get pulled away from what we know. Is it our priorities that lead us astray? Was it a need for a sense of belonging? Greed, loneliness, pride? These are all breadcrumbs that Satan puts in our path to lead us away from home. We find ourselves lost, and do not know how to get back. Peel back those bad decisions one by one, give them over to God, and let Him guide you back.
