Lost & Found

This is a true story.  (Ok, there might be some slight exaggeration on the narrator’s part, but it is done in the interest of the readers.)

Meet Stone Mountain.

Beautiful, right?

Here's another picture of it, with the carving being shown. Can you name the people?

(Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Robert (Stonewall) Jackson) 
Now for the story.  Stone Mountain is a really neat place about 20 or so minutes from Decatur.  The mountain itself could be described as a large granite hill with most of the surface being bare rock (something to do with volcanoes and magma and the rest of it being underground.)  That carving above is over 3 ACRES (bigger than a football field, right?) and is actually larger than Mount Rushmore.  I read the entire pamphlet so if you really want to know more about it without visiting, let me know.

So my friend Erin and I are walking buddies on campus and decided to up the walk and hike Stone Mountain yesterday.  We both willingly woke up early on our ONE day to sleep in to go and walk some mileage.  All for the sake of our health.  And minds.  And souls.  (If you don't walk occasionally, you really should.  I'm a fan.) I digress...So without getting too terribly lost, we make it to the mountain and found parking. After a couple of false starts and really long bathroom lines, we realize we have parked pretty far from the actual mountain.  We decide, that's ok!  We are here to get our work out!  

(cue the music that seems foreshadowing...)

The hike up the mountain was a little more hiking than I think we both anticipated.  Imagine going up a stair case, but there are no stairs.  Just giant rocks and lots of gravel.  There may have been once or twice where members of this climbing party might have made derogatory statements against the beloved Stone Mountain.  Ok, in all honesty, this member of the climbing party.  (Especially that one part where you're given rails to hang on for dear life...) It was quite a crowded trail; numerous like-minded people enjoying God's creation and all that He makes, even when it is giant stones.  We made it to the top (and gratefully ahead of the Brownie Girl Scout troop, not that it is a race, but come on...)and took some time to take it all in. 

It really was a beautiful sight to take it all in at the top.  You can see downtown Atlanta, Buckhead, and somewhere out there Decatur.  I wasn't a 100% sure of where or what I was looking at most of the time but knew it was all green and beautiful.  

The sun was out and there was a lovely breeze.  Some people were even picnicking at the top of the mountain.  (MAD PROPS to all the moms & dads who carried small children up the mountain.)  And there were cute little kids who kept yelling about the "surface of the moon"; looking at this ground, I could see where the moon picture comes in.  We toured the little exhibit at the top, got some water, and then got ready to head back down.  

I of course needed to take a silly picture before heading down.

The way down seemed a bit easier than the way up, sans the gravel and never-ending threat of potentially falling forward forever.  I like the advice I heard from some fellow hikers, "tuck and roll".  Who knows how serious they really were...

We finally made it to the bottom and we were feeling good that we could nourish ourselves before some football game involving orange and a tiger print got started (anyone ever heard of Clemson?  Don't worry, my burnt orange team had already been destroyed by something called a sooner earlier in the day.) We were walking the mile back to the car in the farthest parking lot known to man when Erin put her hand in her pocket and didn't feel her keys.

(cue again suspenseful music)

(enter this...)

No, we did not get arrested.  But WE did get to ride in the back of a police car sans handcuffs!  This awesome police officer offered us a ride to the car and to help open it up so we could at least get our cell phones.  He even let us take a picture in his car, but we promised we would keep it to ourselves and not share it with the world wide web.  I must say this young officer was such a delight to work with in this circumstances.  He made sure we had people to help us out once we got to the next step.  

The Next Step: FIND THE KEYS

I will not lie; my first instinct was to start climbing back up the mountain to look for keys.  The police officer and Erin both thought some other steps were more important (and they were right).  We were able to get Erin's spare key from campus and there was a willing ANGEL of a friend who could bring it out to us.  We DID decide to at least hike down the mountain.  

Did you know you can take a TRAM up the mountain?!?  This explained how there were so many more people up at the top.  You can even buy one way tickets!  While Erin was purchasing tickets (apparently Stone Mountain is uber popular and has tons of people coming out each weekend, especially during this fall time and it was also Rice Festival day...), I met our hunger need and got a huge pretzel.  (I think I am including this because we both were thinking our right arms looked tasty.  The pretzel was amazing, even without peanut butter.)  We finally boarded our tram and had a wonderful and quick ride to the top.

  Gerardo, our guide, really enjoyed his job and made that tram ride just about as fun as riding in the back of the police car.  We also saw the carving in the side of the mountain which I honestly had no idea existed until we were riding past it!

Oh Lordy - the climb.

When we reached the top, we found a park ranger and let him now about the missing keys.  He immediately picked up his microphone and made an announcement which just about everyone on the top and anywhere close to the mountain heard.  We then started retracing our steps and looking for the keys.  Erin and I had thought it would be so easy to spot these black keys in the gravel and pale colored stones.

Oh Lordy.

It was like a needle in the haystack come to find out.  Within the first 20 minutes of looking, both of us sent out texts/phone calls to our friends to say some prayers that we would find these keys.  

I will now share with you some of the thoughts I had while searching the mountain:

1 - Why are keys black?  I think they should be neon and obnoxious - even glow in the dark!

2 - I love God's creation.  I do not love all the nooks and crannies that are formed in God's creation when I am trying to look for keys.

3 - There truly are some angels among us and at work in this world!  So many kind people who offered to help or at least make us laugh during the tense time.

4 - I truly was praying that God would have the keys sparkle or shimmer or something for me so I could see them.  

5 - I also was praying in gratitude that it was just Erin's car key - not her room, or wallet.  BIG blessing.

6 - All rocks look the same.  Unless they have been marked with something.

7 - Those Brownie Girl Scouts probably have better tracking skills than I do.

8 - I am worthless in the woods.  Worthless in the sense of figuring out where we are, etc.  Thank goodness for multitudes of people who help guide and lead the way.  And thanks to the people who FIRST paved the path so we could follow. (Do you sense a sermon out of this one..?)

 So, we made it to the bottom of the mountain.  With no keys.  Help was on the way in the form of our willing Angel of a friend with the spare. About halfway down the mountain, we started just asking everyone on their way up to keep their eyes open for keys.  The responses were awesome ("are they key's to a Porsche?") and one group of boys seemed to take it on as their mission!  At the end of the trail you can go into a little memorial center, so we went in just to check for an update on the keys.  While there was no keys, there was the sweetest lady ever who had so much sympathy for us and was genuinely concerned on our ability to get home.  I left that building feeling a little less burdened and very happy because I had a climbing certificate!  

On our walk back to the parking lot, we found our friend who had come to rescue us.  It turns out as she was explaining at the front how she was on her way to rescue "her friends who lost their keys on the mountain" the person working the gate happened to hold something up and say, "These wouldn't happen to be hers, would they?"  The people around us probably thought we were crazy we were jumping up and giddy with joy when we saw those little black keys.  Even thinking about it now, a smile crosses my face and my heart is happy.

Erin and I dragged our sore bodies to the car where once we opened it and plopped down, realized we had been on our short walk for about 5 hours.  In looking at the map, we also walked/hiked 5-6 miles.  It felt good though.  On the way home we stopped and feasted at Applebee's.  It was so great.

Lessons Learned:

1. God is good.

2. People are good and truly, there are angels among us.

3. Nature (in appropriate doses) is good.

4.  Being with people (and being a person who remains) who are cool, calm, and collective during times of crisis is VERY good.  (Normally my reaction to anything bad involving my car is to cry. Not this time!)

5. Riding in the back seat of a cop car is cool only when it's for fun. There is absolutely no space for one's legs and I can't imagine being handcuffed.  And people stare at you.

6. You should always take time to put a penny on the rail road tracks.  (But be safe!)

7. Erin and I will tackle Stone Mountain again!

Gracious and loving God, you provide for your people.  Thank you for adventurous days and friends to share in our experiences.  Thank you for the kindness of strangers and for all who serve in our public services. Everything you made in creation IS good and beautiful; help us to keep our minds and eyes open to it all.  Thank you for able bodies that can climb and for the nourishment that sustains us.  Remind us in times of strife and struggle, big or small, you keep us in your care and provide.  What was lost is always found with You.  Amen.