3 Year Old Scare

I was too little to remember, but my mother tells me a story from when I was camping at age three.  Having barely turned three I was still a little unsteady on my feet and not particularly safe.  Keep in mind that Crawfords usually go camping with a generator, so it should be no surprise that my brother, father, and a cousin were in the tent playing Atari.   My mother decided to take my sister and cousin for a walk.  I was in the tent watching the video game, but then I wandered out after my mother.  My dad saw me leave after my mom.  My mom saw me in the tent with my dad.  And thus I disappeared.

A hour or so later my mother looks in the tent and asks, "Where's Scott?"  The next ten seconds of "I thought he was with you" made everyone's heart drop.  We were camped next to a rushing river, and I had been missing for an hour.  Games and hikes were done, and the whole family began searching and calling.  The obvious question was "Where would a 3 year old boy go?"  The answer was a rushing river.  My mother says she ran down river expecting to see my red coat floating in the water.  My father has a hard time talking about the episode.

Since I am writing this story you probably have figured out I didn't die.  That wasn't a luxury my parents had that day, and to them this was the start of something terrible and sad.  This story is important to me because of what my parents did when they were maxed out emotionally in every way.  When Alma was at the point of being killed by Amlici he "being a man of God, being exercised with much faith, cried, saying: O Lord, have mercy" (Alma 2:30).  When Elijah was so worn out that he "requested for himself that he might die" he still prayed, "O Lord" (1 Kings 18:4).  Even the Savior, on the night of agony in the Garden of Gethsemane "he prayed more earnestly" (Luke 22:44).  Each one turned to the Lord and received the help they needed.

My family offered several prayers, from the sincere honesty of a child's prayer to a clear plea from a parent.  This story could have gone the other way, maybe the answer to prayer would have been helping a family to move forward after a horrible tragedy.  Maybe there could have been lessons on life after death, or on accepting trials.  In this case, the Lord had a different path for me, and as my mother stood calm and still trying to receive inspiration she heard crying.

Any 3 year old will naturally gravitate towards a gurgling brook.  Then why had I gone the exact opposite direction, away from where my mother had gone on her hike, and why had I tried to climb an impossibly steep hill?  I had gotten half way up where the incline was very steep, and for an hour had not been able to scale higher nor drop back down.  Scared and trapped I had been crying.  I assume I did not know my predicament had saved  my life.

I would not be surprised to find out when I die that I have been led to that spot by angelic guidance.  Both my parents felt that the chance of a happy ending was small, yet their joy and relief was immense.  My mother recalls this story with a serious look and then she tells me I must have something good to do in my life.  I think it is true for all of us, we are given our life by God and He will watch over us to fulfill His righteous plans.