Young William experienced something that no eleven-year-old should ever experience. He lost his father to a respiratory infection. In the mid-1800’s, William was now the man of his household and carried the weight of providing for his family.

With his family’s financial situation declining, he took a job as a “boy extra” with a freight carrier and would run up and down the length of a wagon train to deliver messages between the drivers and workers. At age eleven, he left home for months at a time, crossing raw, unforgiving terrain.

When I heard this story, I was stunned. I understand the 1800s was a different era, and that they had a strength we rarely see today, but all I could imagine was sending my twelve-year-old boy across the prairie to face the dangers of the wilderness with strangers. I can imagine his mom, now a widow, looking across the prairie wondering if her son would return.

It would be one thing to send him with his father. A father who can guide him and train him as the wagons roll along. Someone who could teach him about the wilderness and how to survive. But he didn’t.

We often feel like we are in the wilderness. Alone. The “wilderness” can be any life situation where we feel out of control. Whether it’s a prodigal, or a job issue, or an unexpected change, we all face the wilderness.

The Israelites also faced the wilderness after God brought them out of Egypt. Even though freedom called, I wonder how many quaked with fear at the unknown. Still, God never left them.

Exodus 40:38 says, “The cloud of the Lord hovered over the Tabernacle during the day, and at night fire glowed inside the cloud so the whole family of Israel could see it. This continued throughout all their journeys.” (NLT)

This past Sunday, the kids in children’s church made “glory clouds” after talking about the tabernacle to remind them of how God is with us. His presence never leaves us. It never forsakes us.

So, there’s a difference between our journey and William’s.

We are not Fatherless.

We serve the same God that parted the red sea. The same God who rained down manna from heaven. The same God who led the people with a cloud that glowed at night. He is the same yesterday as he is today, as he will be tomorrow.

Whatever wilderness we are in, we are not Fatherless. Our Father will be our guide and our protector. And there is such peace in believing it.

By the way, I suspect God was also watching over young William. When he grew, he became the great William F. Cody better known as “Buffalo Bill” Cody.