A damp February afternoon found the Virginia Search & Rescue team looking for forty-year-old Trenton from Tennessee. Trenton had been missing from his home on several other occasions, but usually he was with someone. This time he was alone and had been missing for almost two weeks.
As daylight drew to a close, law enforcement officers wished to suspend the search for the night. But a few members of the search party felt compelled to keep searching, so everyone pressed on.
Close to nightfall, two of CAM’s Search & Rescue team members and a member of another search party were looking through an area thick with brushwood. Suddenly they saw Trenton lying under a tree. Not knowing whether he was alive, the men called out, “Sir, can you hear us?”
Trenton removed the hood of his jacket from his face and muttered something the men could not understand. “We are here to help you,” they said. “We want to help you get out of the woods.”
“Thank you so much. I cannot believe the effort that was put into finding him. We are so grateful.”—Trenton’s mother
Shaking from the cold, Trenton crawled out from under the tree. He asked, “Can you take me to my parents? I’m trying to get ahold of my parents.” The team members promised Trenton he would be able to see his parents, and helped him walk out of the woods to a waiting ambulance. As they walked, the team members shared with Trenton how God had been watching over him.
The medical staff on the ambulance said Trenton would be okay, but probably would not have survived the night as a cold front was coming through the area. Trenton was already on the verge of hypothermia when the team found him and likely would have passed away in this condition. Because of God’s direction, he now has another chance to come to know Him.
The tired, cold team members went home with light hearts, knowing that someone lived to see another day. Please pray that Trenton will see God in his rescue.
