The police and volunteer searchers were stumped. They had searched the outskirts of the wooded area, but there was no sign of the barefoot three-year-old boy.
It was a pleasant August day in Morden, where neighbors took turns in assisting each other with the harvest. That day in 1935, Dad was with a threshing crew two miles down the road. Mom was cleaning wild chokecherries for canning, and little Valdy wanted some. Knowing he would swallow the cherry pits, she did not give him any.
Life was hard and lean in those years. There was no money to hire farm help, so it fell on Mom to do the farm chores during threshing time.
She glanced at the kitchen clock and was surprised to see it was already 6:00 p.m. The cow needed to be milked and fed. She stopped short in her tracks. “Where’s Valdy?” she gasped. Hastily she searched the hay loft, then the chicken coop. He was not there. Terror seized her.
Mom realized she needed help immediately. She ran a quarter of a mile to the nearest neighbor and blurted out her anguish. “We’ve got to tell Dad, quickly!” she said. They rushed to the grain field where he was working to notify him.
Neighbors figured it would be no problem finding Valdy because his dog Trixy was with him. They were sure the dog would come to them when called, and then would lead them back to the child. This was not to be. They searched until darkness closed in. Exhausted, they trudged on anyway, hoping Valdy would answer their calls.
As the hours dragged on, there was no rest for this worried young mother and father. Rain began pelting down on the roof. Their hearts sank as they pictured their son hungry, cold and wet. The hours dragged on unbearably through the night. Finally, at the crack of dawn, they again joined the search.
Grandpa arrived just before breakfast to find Mom and Dad wet and exhausted from their futile search. Valdy was extra special to Grandpa. This grandchild had been born in his home and had lived there for 18 months. He was more like a son than a grandchild. But Grandpa was too feeble to join in the search.
Shortly after 8:00 a.m. the police and a group of fresh volunteers joined the search party. By mid morning the search had extended down to the creek in the deep ravine.
Grandpa paced back and forth along the driveway, watching and waiting for news. As the hours passed, Mom began to worry if her rain-soaked little boy could last through another day in the woods.
As her anxiety grew, the kitchen door suddenly flew open and there was Grandpa with Valdy in his arms! What a tearful and joyous reunion!
Dad and a faithful neighbor shared how they had found tiny footprints in the deep ravine. These led them near the creek, and then they heard a faint cry -“Mama.” Overjoyed, they found the limp, dehydrated little boy among the dense bushes along the creek. Picking him up, Dad pressed him to his chest. “We’ve found him, we’ve found him!” he shouted. His cry, echoing through the ravine, brought shouts of joy from every searcher.
Apart from a chest cold and wrinkled feet and hands, Valdy was in good shape. In unraveling the events, it was discovered that Valdy, having been refused the wild chokecherries he loved so much, had decided to pick some himself.
Seventeen years later, Valdy, now called Walter, found himself lost again - not in the woodlands of Manitoba but in a cold, stony prison near Winnipeg. His aim had been adventure, and no one warned him about the company he kept. One of his friends had needed some fast money. There was only one way to get it - steal it.
So began a series of break-ins which provided excitement for the two friends. They didn’t get caught for a while.
But one night, after committing another burglary, six plainclothes detectives stormed their getaway car and arrested them.
While sitting in prison one night, Walter realized that there was more to life than a search for fun and games. A visiting preacher, who traveled over 200 miles every month to visit Walter, shared 1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7): “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” He explained that he needed to act on this verse by sincerely confessing to God that he was a sinner and having God forgive all his sins through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.
There, in the privacy of his cell, Walter fell on his knees and cried out to God for forgiveness. A peace that words could not describe came over him. The Bible became precious, and a new life began for him.
Walter thought back over his life and remembered being lost as a three-year-old. Years later he had been lost again. Totally helpless and alone, he had been brought to his knees before God. How thankful he was to be rescued from a wasted life of crime. Now he was not just a sinner, but a sinner saved by the grace of God. “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:1313For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13).
ML-04/24/1994