<TITLE>20. Par 131-138</TITLE>L-131 I thought, "Oh, I'll make it." I started on. And I found out I kept hearing Something. Then I got nervous. And I thought, "Now, if I do that, I'm going to go to pieces." That's usually what a lost man does; he goes to pieces in the woods. Then he'll take his gun, shoot himself; or fall over a ditch and break his leg, and there he lays; he'll die there. So I thought, "What am I going to do?" So I started walking on.
And I kept hearing Something saying, "I'm a very present Help in a time of trouble." I just kept walking on.
I thought, "Now, I know I'm getting a little bit off now; I'm hearing a voice talk to me." I kept going on. And it, "whew, whew, whew," whistling, you know, I thought, "Now, I'm not lost. You know where you're at, boy. What's the matter with you? You can't get lost. You're--you're too good a hunter; you can't get lost." Self-bragging, you know, making myself bluff myself through.
You can't bluff it. Way down here there's a little wheel turning, saying, "Boy, you're lost and you know you are. See, you're lost."

L-135 I kept moving on. "Oh, I'm not lost. I'll be all right. I'll find my way out." Things begin to look funny, winds close. Snow begin to flying, the little hominy snow, we call it, spitting down. And I thought of wife and baby. I'm not... I thought, "Oh, my."
Directly I heard That again, said, "I'm a very present Help in a time of trouble." And I was a minister of the Gospel then, preaching right here at the Tabernacle.
So I thought, "Well, what can I do?" I stopped, looked everywhere, and was fog already down now. I... That was it. Nothing could be done then. I thought, "Oh, what can I do?" I thought, "Sir, I'm not fit to live; I've had too much self-confidence. I thought I was a hunter, but I'm not."

L-138 And, brother, I've always trusted Him. Shooting, I've got records up there. And a fisherman, I'm a poor one, but I've always trusted Him. Shots, I'm a poor shot, but He's let me make world records on it. See? Shoot deer, seven, eight hundred yards. Got a gun up there killed thirty-five head of game without missing a shot with it. Just read that anywhere, if you can. See? Not me, it's Him; I've trusted Him.
There I was, I thought, "What can I do? What can I do?"
I kept... That getting closer, closer, "I'm a very present Help in a time of trouble, a very present Help."
I thought, "Is that God talking to me?" I took off my hat. I had my patrol hat, red handkerchief wrapped around it. I laid it down. Took off my coat; it was moist. And I laid my coat down, set my gun up against the side of a tree. I said, "Heavenly Father, now I'm getting beyond myself; I'm hearing a voice speaking to me. Is that You?" I said, "Lord, I'm going to admit to You that I ain't no hunter; I ain't. I--I can't find my way around. You have to help me. I'm not fit to live, and doing the things that I've done, coming in here and thinking I knowed too much about it to ever get lost. I need You, Lord. My wife is a good woman. My baby, my little boy, his mother's gone on, and she's trying to be mother to him, and I've just married her. And here she is, a kid, there in the woods; they'll both die tonight. That wind, it'll turn down about ten below zero, and they--they won't know how to live. They'll die tonight. Don't let them die, God. Take me to them, so that I can see that they don't die. I'm lost. I'm lost, God. I--I can't find my way around. Won't You please help me? And forgive me for my own self-centered way. I can't do nothing without You; You're my Guide. You help me, Lord."


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