Annie’s Adventure
By Kathy Yoder
Annie grew up watching “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.” She dreamed of
adventures in Africa, of seeing giraffes and meeting tribes who lived
prehistoric lives.
Annie’s life has been an adventure, but in a different way. Her most important
journey has been to Jesus and back again. Even though she believed, Annie
drifted from her faith. Just a little at first, but with each passing moment she
floated farther away until one day she woke up wondering, “Who am I? How’d I get
here?” Sometimes sin happens slowly, gradually. We drift along not knowing that
the shoreline has disappeared.
Annie knew Jesus loved her. Asking Him back into her life was easy. Truly living
as the daughter of the King, that’s the hard part. “I struggle with it every
day,” says Annie. “But I don’t do it alone. Trust me. That doesn’t work.”
Annie watches a TV documentary on war photographers. A woman about Annie’s age
is featured. She’s an attractive woman, but her appearance seems to change
before Annie’s eyes. She wears an eye patch, but it’s the hardness in her heart
that makes her features sharp. Sitting in her mother’s backyard, the war
photographer chain-smokes as she talks.
The mother, off to the side, is pretty, soft, elderly -- like the grandmother
you wish for your children. “There was a time,” Annie thinks, “when I would’ve
seen her as her daughter does – mundane and unsophisticated, but now I hope to
become her.”
The photographer doesn’t mention faith or God and doesn’t seem thankful for the
battles she’s survived. She just talks about herself and her adventures. Stuck
on fast forward, continually searching for the next near-death experience,
she’ll shoot and tell. Shoot and tell.
“I feel incredible sadness for her,” says Annie. “I’ve lived behind a telephoto
lens. It brings life closer to you visually, at the same time keeping it away.
“I’ve never shot a war or seen a person die, but I’ve known tragedy and I’ve
known spiritually dead people. I’ve lived life in the fast lane, where
experiences trip over each other racing to the finish line with no idea of the
prize at the end. When I was running so fast that I couldn’t keep up, I met
Jesus around a corner. It was a sharp corner, but it was softer than it
should’ve been.
“I was at a car accident where people I knew were strewn around like smashed-up
crash dummies. Some survived, some didn’t. And I realized that if I didn’t slow
down, I could end up just like them.
“I saw the aftermath of arson. A family’s house was destroyed, along with their
hopes and dreams for their little baby who died from smoke inhalation, a
precious little guy I’d held in my arms only two days earlier.
“Then one dark and rainy night I was walking on the sidewalk when a voice in my
head said, ‘Stop!’ I stopped just inches from a live wire. I was still floating
on my own, not realizing that God graciously provided my life jacket, but at
that moment I knew God was there. It was my burning bush moment.
“In one blinding second, I knew that I’d been living my life without God. I was
so infinitely sad. But good comes out of everything for those who love the Lord.
God used my sin as a way to make me more patient with others. I asked him to
take away my critical nature and the Lord of abundance did even more. He gave me
the ability to look past outward appearances and to see something special about
each person I met.”
Yes, the war photographer’s appearance changed before Annie’s eyes. She became
Annie. “I’m thankful God reeled me back in from my drifting days and brought me
home. I know that as long as I live, I live for Him,” says Annie.
“He truly is the way, the truth and the light! I’m so thankful for His grace! If
I die tomorrow, I know I’ll live forever, not in darkness, but bathed in the joy
of His incredible light!”
And the little girl who dreamed of becoming an adventurer is part of the
greatest adventure of all – walking with the King of Eternity!
