When I finished my post on Friday, (May 6, 2011) I had intended to share it with the Chretien family on their Facebook page (Missing – Al and Rita Chretien) with the hope that it might bring them some comfort. They had been waiting a long time without answers, and even the notes of encouragement were becoming few and far between. But when I went to their page, I saw that Rita had been found! Alive! What joy I felt, I do not have adequate words to express.
Today’s post is in honour of Rita Chretien, her strength and her faith. My regular readers will know that I’ve been following the story of Al and Rita Chretien since they failed to return home as scheduled from a business trip to Las Vegas. From the evening of the day that they left their home in British Columbia, Canada, March 19, 2011, until the afternoon of May 6, 2011, Rita was stranded on a remote logging road in Northeastern Nevada. For the first three days, until he left on foot to get help, her husband Albert was there with her. Forty-nine days stranded in the wilderness, 46 without any human interaction. There is no cell phone service for miles, and no one used the road. There was no access to food, save what little bit of snack food they had in the van, and little access to water.
Fortunately, Rita was in good health when she started this stationary odyssey. But what would you do, what would you think, how would you feel if you were in this situation? I know that as I prayed for them, not knowing where they were or if they were still alive, I pleaded with God, “How long oh Lord, how long?” as the psalmist David did in Psalm 13 (February, 11, 2011). While I was praying from Psalm 13, Rita was evidently drawing strength from Psalm 86. She could have prayed David’s very words, except that the arrogant men of Psalm 86:14 could have been replaced by the harsh wilderness and the seemingly impossible situation that she was in.
I expect that when she reached Psalm 86:8, Rita too praised God and worshiped Him for His power and majesty. She would have seen evidence of it all around her, and the very fact that she was still alive several weeks into this ordeal was proof of the power and love of God. Rita certainly depended on the promises of God, which according to Ann Thomas, author of the blog, the writing heart, “are realized by those who choose to believe”. The psalms are full of David’s words pleading for help, for protection from his enemies, for deliverance, but they end with David giving praise to God. David always comes back to trusting in God because of who God is, and because he knows that God will be faithful.
Many may ask why, if Rita was such a devoted child of God, why would God allow this to happen to her. I don’t have all the answers, because God is God, and I am not. However, we might gain some clues from two men who endured great suffering in the Bible. Job was a great man of God, who lost everything he owned, including his children and his health, because Satan wanted to prove that Job’s faith was based on his wealth and privilege. God allowed Satan to take everything but his life from him. (Job 2:6) Job had questions, you can be sure, and he in no way pretended that he was happy with his situation, but he never stopped trusting in God. (Job 13:15) The Apostle Paul had plenty of trials of his own (II Corinthians 11:24-27), but from prison he wrote to the people of Philippi that his situation had actually turned out to advance the gospel. (Philippians 1:12) More and more people were finding out about the saving love of God because of Paul, and I believe the same will be said of Rita.
At the time of this posting, Al Chretien is still missing. Please continue to pray for him and for the people who are searching for him. One more lesson we can learn is to never give up. (Philippians 3:12-14) As Rita’s son Raymond Chretien said at a press conference from his mother’s hospital, “Never give up. Never lose your faith. Miracles happen. Never underestimate that.”
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Update:
On September 29, 2012, Albert Chretien's body was found by elk hunters, 11 kilometres from where the van had been stranded. He had been going in the right direction to find help, but the terrain was steep and wooded, and the snow was up to ten feet deep at the time. His body was found intact with identification still in his pocket.