Each
Wednesday
the
summer
of
2000,
26
million
Americans
tuned
in
to
watch
the
CBS
program
"Survivor."
One
of
the
16
castaways
attempting
to
be
the
lone
survivor
who
would
walk
away
with
a
million
dollars
was
a
24-year-old
youth
ministries
major
from
Seattle
Pacific
University.
When
advised
that
each
of
the
contestants
could
bring
one
"luxury"
item
to
the
remote
island
in
the
South
China
Sea,
Dirk
Been
took
his
Bible.
He
said,
"I
couldn't
imagine
not
having
my
quiet
time
with
the
Lord
for
a
single
day,
let
alone
thirty-nine."
Being
forced
to
eat
beetle
larvae
was
not
the
most
difficult
ordeal
Dirk
had
to
face
on
the
island.
The
hardest
aspect
of
being
marooned
on
a
remote
island
was
not
having
anyone
around
who
shared
his
beliefs.
"The
spiritual
isolation
was
tortuous,"
Dirk
admits.
"The
other
members
of
the
Tagi
and
Pagong
tribes
couldn't
understand
where
I
was
coming
from.
When
faced
with
the
tensions
of
insufficient
food
and
sleep
(not
to
mention
members
of
your
tribe
stabbing
you
in
the
back
in
an
attempt
to
win
a
million
dollars),
he
said,
"I
didn't
have
someone
I
could
really
open
up
to
and
pray
with."
Fortunately
for
Dirk,
he
felt
the
support
of
family
and
friends
at
home
praying
for
him
each
day.
The
day
before
he
left
for
Malaysia,
about
70
members
of
Prairie
du
Sac
Evangelical
Free
Church
gathered
around
him
to
pray
for
his
health
and
safety.
"It
was
awesome!"
Dirk
recalls.
"And
it
didn't
end
there.
Even
though
I
was
alone
and
lonely
as
the
sole
Christian,
I
felt
the
presence
of
the
Lord
in
incredible
ways."
Survivor
is
a
game.
Granted,
surviving
on
an
island
then,
or
in
the
Australian
Outback
on
another
season
of
the
show,
would
be
incredibly
difficult.
But
nothing
they
could
possibly
face
could
even
come
close
to
equaling
the
reality
of
surviving
death.
Death
is
that
final
frontier,
that
door
through
which
we
each
will
one
day
walk.
It
is
a
door
that
closes
behind
us,
signifying
the
end
of
time
and
space
and
the
beginning
of
eternity.
Surviving
death,
then,
is
the
most
important
consideration
of
life.
Why?
Because
how
we
fare
in
death,
how
we
fare
in
eternity,
is
determined
solely
by
the
choices
we
make
in
this
life.
Permit
me
to
address
two
groups
of
people
today
because
there
are
two
categories
of
what
the
Bible
calls
"lost"
people.
I.
The
Unchurched
What
in
the
world
does
"lost"
signify,
anyway?
To
be
lost
is
to
be
without
the
Lord
Jesus
in
your
life,
to
be
in
a
place
where
you
have
not
yet
permitted
God
to
"find"
you,
to
draw
you
to
Himself.
To
be
lost
implies
you
are:
1)
without
hope:
you
don't
know
which
way
to
turn
because
you
have
no
direction;
2)
you
are
without
purpose:
you
have
no
reason
to
go
on;
and
3)
without
a
family:
you
do
not
know
the
satisfaction
of
having
an
eternal
family
with
whom
you
can
identify
in
every
way.
The
Bible
talks
specifically
about
the
lost
in
Luke
15:3-10.
In
three
stories,
Jesus
demonstrates
the
seriousness
and
the
urgency
of
finding
the
lost.
Though
we
don't
have
time
to
look
at
all
three
of
His
stories,
called
parables,
notice
the
first
one
here:
