The Search
Mysterious Ways|December/January 2017

“Something is following us.”

Rex Nishimura, La Canada, California
The Search

Jared, my 13-year-old son, was clearly spooked. We switched off our flashlights and sat in silence, the black forest around us eerily still.

I’d hiked this area many times over the past 30 years, but never so long after dark. What were we doing here? What was our plan? It did almost feel as if some other presence was with us. Before every trip I recite the same Bible verse: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Somehow it felt as though we’d been brought right where we needed to be.

We hadn’t expected to be here this Memorial Day weekend, scrambling in the dark across the rocky terrain that surrounds Courtright Reservoir in the Sierra National Forest. But there were a lot of things about this trip we hadn’t planned on. Originally my wife, Chuie, Jared and I were going to meet some friends at Lake Isabella, almost five hours south, but our friends got sick and couldn’t make it. We heard the fish weren’t biting anyway. So we lit out north. The mountain road to Courtright had been cleared of snow the day before.

We didn’t need much gear. But for some reason I brought the topographical maps I’d downloaded and my GPS. My signaling whistle. Also our ham radios. Jared had thought of that. We’d only gotten our licenses six months earlier, and he wanted to try them out. The fishing was middling at best. Thunderstorms kept us off the lake most of the day. My wife and I wondered whether we should just cut our trip short.

Around 9:30 that evening, I was cleaning dishes at our campsite when a man suddenly came up. He startled me. He was looking for his fiancée, Lynn, and their dog. They’d been missing for about five hours. “Our camp is across the lake,” he said.

“I’ve searched everywhere.”

“I haven’t seen her,” I said, “but I’ll keep an eye out.”

Denne historien er fra December/January 2017-utgaven av Mysterious Ways.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra December/January 2017-utgaven av Mysterious Ways.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA MYSTERIOUS WAYSSe alt
Ivy Dishes
Mysterious Ways

Ivy Dishes

“My mom found a house for us to look at,” said my fiancé, Jon. “It’s in Richfield, not far from where I grew up.”

time-read
4 mins  |
February/March 2021
The Duet
Mysterious Ways

The Duet

“Can you perform a hymn for us next week?” my pastor asked me after Sunday service.

time-read
2 mins  |
February/March 2021
The Girl in the Dream
Mysterious Ways

The Girl in the Dream

Was this a church? The high, vaulted ceilings made it seem like one—almost but not exactly.

time-read
5 mins  |
February/March 2021
News From Around Our Wonderful World
Mysterious Ways

News From Around Our Wonderful World

Liverpool, England Joanne Carr is hailing her son, Dougie McInerney, as her guardian angel.

time-read
2 mins  |
February/March 2021
A Light in the Blizzard
Mysterious Ways

A Light in the Blizzard

I stepped on the gas and shifted into drive, then reverse, then back into drive again.

time-read
4 mins  |
February/March 2021
Straight From the Fish's Mouth
Mysterious Ways

Straight From the Fish's Mouth

Florence, Italy. I’d been there before on one of those scruffy five-dollar-a-day youth-hostel jaunts through Europe, but now, just graduated from college, I was wondering what to do with my life.

time-read
5 mins  |
February/March 2021
Divine Callings
Mysterious Ways

Divine Callings

Have you ever felt called to a purpose?

time-read
8 mins  |
February/March 2021
Dad's Voice
Mysterious Ways

Dad's Voice

As I reached to turn off the lamp on my bedside table, my eyes fell on the card my brother Isaac had given each of us siblings on what would have been Dad’s sixty-eighth birthday.

time-read
3 mins  |
February/March 2021
Ben's Answer
Mysterious Ways

Ben's Answer

It was midafternoon, and I was already curled up on the couch in the living room with no plans to move.

time-read
3 mins  |
February/March 2021
A Doll's Hat
Mysterious Ways

A Doll's Hat

My fears around the surgery built all day.... God, please let me be as strong as my young patients are.

time-read
3 mins  |
February/March 2021