If there is anything in this world that can pierce our imaginary safety shield and cause us to realize that we live under a false sense of security, it is the abduction and disappearance of a child. As parents this is our worst nightmare and nothing will drive us to our knee‘s before the Lord faster than the thought of a child in the clutches of evil.

We see reports on the news of children missing and abducted on a regular basis and push it from our minds because the mere thought of losing our children in this manner is too hateful to even consider. We are horrified when we read reports on kidnapped children full of statistics such as 3,000 to 5,000 children each year are abducted by someone outside their family, as reported by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and we wonder if we have done enough to protect our children from this threat.

We are haunted by the faces of the families of the missing children that we get to know as their tragedy plays out on national television because we live in a world saturated by the media. We are shocked and horrified by these details of cases such as that of Polly Klaas, who was abducted from her bed in her own home where she should have been safe. Carlie Brucia who we watched being taken by the arm and led away on surveillance video by a man who would later murder her, and the heartbreaking details of how 9 year old Jessica Lundsford was kidnapped, sexually assaulted then buried alive by John Couey who was later convicted and sentenced to death in Florida for his actions.

The world seems to have gone completely insane. A place where the weak, vulnerable, and especially the innocent are preyed upon by men full of evil desires. As the world continues to grow more violent and immorality of all kinds begins to manifest itself one must ponder the question of how much the internet and television have accelerated our spiral downward.

The internet is an awesome tool, full of information on any topic you choose. We are living in a time of great knowledge and information sharing. Because of the internet the gospel of Jesus Christ is being preached throughout the entire world. With all the good it has caused it has also opened the flood gates of immorality. As is typical of this world we seem bent on perverting anything good to serve our own self destructive and evil desires. The internet gives man the ability to instantly gratify any sinful impulse they may have. Everything from gambling, impulse buying, entertainment of every realm, and the most evil and persuasive of all is the access it gives to sexual sin. We have developed a technology that has provided us with an avenue to sin that we cannot handle and because of it society is being poisoned at an alarming rate.

Television is so saturated with sex that one can barely watch the Disney channel anymore without blushing. The advertisements that supply the networks with their income exploit mans weaknesses by using sex to sell their products. After watching a one hour television program one finds that their mind has run rampant continually as sexual innuendos and the images of sex are virtually in every detail of the story as well as the commercials.

Charles Stanley, the esteemed preacher from Atlanta Georgia of the Intouch Ministries stated that there are several stages to sin. First the thought enters our mind, then we begin to entertain the idea, then we start to fantasize, and then we act. Since we are continually bombarded with the thought of sin then we are continually in the beginning process of sinning. Weak willed men, or men who do not have God as their moral compass are being driven to act in ways that are pure evil and it has reached the point where our children are no longer safe, sometimes not even in their own homes. There is no doubt the world is in desperate need of Jesus Christ, and his coming cannot be far off.

In 1988 Sharon Murch had her entire world turned up side down when one of her children became a victim of this unthinkable crime. At that time Sharon was married with the last name of Garecht and living in Hayward California, which is in the San Francisco Bay area. Her life revolved around raising and loving her children, Michaela, Alex, Libby and Robbie. Michaela Garecht was only nine years old then, but was the oldest of the four children. Sharon’s family was young and their future was bright. Sure to be full of cherished moments of school plays, Christmas mornings, first dates and weddings.

On November 19^th 1988 everything changed forever. Michaela had gone to a neighborhood market with a friend. After leaving the store and heading home Michaela was lured to a car and was abducted by a stranger. Though there was a good description of the man, as well as the vehicle he was driving, he managed to slip through law enforcements hands and Michaela was lost forever.

Through the years the police have had numerous tips and leads about Michaela Garecht’s case, but so far there have never been any real answers as to what happened to Michaela. The nightmare every parents prays they will never have to experience had become a hellish reality for Sharon and her family.

In the years that followed Sharon would find herself on a long journey searching for answers and understanding of how a loving God could allow such a terrible thing to happen and found herself questioning if he even existed at all. Although Sharon was a Christian prior to Michaela’s abduction and attended church regularly, her faith had been shaken to the core and she no longer trusted God.

“ I have always had a desire to know God since I was a little girl.” Sharon reveals. “When I was nine years old I remember asking my mother to take me to church. I would pick up the Bible and try to read it because I wanted to understand, but I was just not able to. There was a minister who lived beside of us when I was young who had a Bible study and he invited my mother to join and we began going to church. My father was in the military so we moved quite often. I attended thirteen schools in twelve years. Eventually we moved away and never went back to church again, but I never lost the desire in my heart for God.”

Sharon’s final move with her family would be to California in the San Francisco Bay area in her sophomore year of high school. “I first truly found the Lord when I was twenty years old.” Sharon explains. “I was newly married and my husbands family was Catholic. I started attending this little charismatic Catholic Church. It was like no Catholic Church you have probably ever been to. The church itself was held in an old restaurant. The masses were filled with people raising their hands in praise.”

“The way I found the Lord was by reading the Bible. A priest told me I needed to start reading the Bible so I did, and that’s where I found God, in the Bible. After I did find God I eventually felt I needed to attend church elsewhere so I ended up at an Assembly of God Church in Freemont California. That’s where I was attending church during the time period that Michaela was kidnapped.”

“Michaela was born on January 24^th 1979. I had been trying to get pregnant with her for a long time and had even taken a prescription fertility pill to help in getting pregnant.” Sharon reveals. “So you can imagine how really special she was. When she was born I quit work so I could stay home with her and take care of her.”

“Michaela was a very sweet, nurturing little girl. She always said when she grew up that she wanted to be just like me and have kids and stay home and take care of them. She was the oldest child and was very loving and caring of her younger brothers and sisters.”

“Michaela was a very beautiful child.” Sharon recalls fondly.

“Michaela was a Christian and had accepted the Lord as her savior. She had accepted the Lord at our church, but also while attending a Vacation Bible School at another local church the summer before she was kidnapped. They had a bus that would come through the neighborhood picking kids up and take them to the Bible School and Michaela would ride the bus. After Michaela was kidnapped the people at that church were very glad that Michaela got the chance to attend and accept Christ that summer.”

It has been said that the Lord works in mysterious ways and anyone who walks with the Lord and is watchful for his hand at work knows this is true. Sometimes God warns us that we are in danger. God may intervene on our behalf with Angelic assistance or he may speak to us through the Holy Spirit with in us whispering a warning. Sadly many times we don’t recognize His voice and miss the warning that becomes so obvious after it is too late.

In the last weeks before Michaela was abducted the Holy Spirit began to stir within and whisper warnings. “In the months before Michaela was kidnapped we had seen on TV where a child was kidnapped and we actually had a conversation about how that would be the worst thing that could happen to someone.” Sharon reveals.

“Michaela was very friendly and out going, but she had this area of fear within her.” Sharon explains. “Michaela was almost ten years old when she was kidnapped and she wouldn’t even go to the bathroom by herself. She always wanted me to go with her. Our house was laid out in such a way that I could see her from the living room if she was in the bathroom, but that wasn’t good enough for her. I had to actually be with her in the bathroom with her because she was afraid to be alone.”

“Michaela would also wake up in the middle of the night sometimes. She didn’t like to sleep and would even resist falling asleep.” Sharon explains. “She would often come into my bedroom and get into bed with me.”

“The night before she was kidnapped she woke up and got into bed with me. I was really crowded in the bed and I reached out my hand and felt Michaela’s hair so I would know it was Michaela.” Sharon recalls with fondness. “I thought about sending her back into her own bed because I was really cramped and crowded, but I didn’t, I let her stay and I’m really glad that I did because that was the last time I was able to offer her that comfort in the night.”

“A couple of weeks before Michaela was kidnapped I woke up in the wee hours of the morning. I had an eight month old baby at the time and he woke up early and I had gotten up with him. I went out to the living room and Michaela was sitting there in the dark at the coffee table with a piece of paper and a pencil. This was unusual for Michaela because if she woke up in the dark she would always come to my room, but she seemed very peaceful and happy.”

“Michaela told me that she had written a poem about people who had been kidnapped and were being held captive in our attic.” Sharon explains. “She said she had woken up and had heard them up there and had written a poem about them.”

The following is Michaela’s poem:

“I don’t think she actually thought there were people in our attic because she never suggested that we let them out or anything , but she said it was like the movie “The Peanut Butter Conspiracy”, which was a movie based on a story by Roald Dahl who wrote “James and the Giant Peach”. The movie was about a man who was a crazy artist and kidnapped people and held them against their will and used their hair to make paint brushes, which he used to paint pictures that would come to life.”

Sharon kept Michaela’s poem and has posted it on a special Myspace page dedicated to Michaela, which can be viewed at www.myspace.com/missingmichaela. The fact that Michaela left her comfort zone that morning and ventured out into the dark living room to write a poem about being kidnapped is nothing short of prophetic. God was trying to speak through a child’s poetry.

“I questioned Michaela a lot about this poem in the coming days, explains Sharon. I didn't think it was a premonition then, but I was concerned about what might be going on in her head. "Are you behind the doors of steel?" I asked. She was always so calm, even cheerful, when talking about her poem. "No, mom, I am not behind the doors of steel," she'd answer with a smile.

“But two weeks later she became one of the people who had been kidnapped. And for all the years since then I have considered this poem to be a premonition of sorts. More than that, I considered it to be a clue that Michaela left us, a key if only we could find the lock it fits. But I was never able to find the lock, and never able to understand it.”

“The day Michaela was kidnapped she had been playing outside with a neighborhood friend named Trina, who was her best friend.” Sharon recalls. “The two had been running back and forth across the street to and from each others house, and were trying to match their outfits and dress alike. They came into the house and Michaela asked if they could walk to the neighborhood market, which was about two blocks from the house. I had always been fearful and over protective of my kids and I really didn’t want to let her go. She had gone a couple of times before, but only in the company of some teen age girls who lived next door. Trina’s dad had given them five dollars to buy some candy and treats. Michaela’s dad was out of work at the time so that was a significant amount of money for her to go get treat’s.”

“Trina came from a wonderful family and I trusted their judgment so I figured it must be alright if her father felt it was safe to go up their.” Sharon explains. “They were going to ride their scooter to the store and the only concern I had at the time was some teenage boys who lived up the road, but I felt they could avoid them safely. So I let her go.”

“I still remember Michaela jumping up and down saying “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Sharon recalls. “So many times I have thought about that and thought what would have happened if I had said no. She probably would have been mad at me, but would have never thought to say thank you mom for saving my life.”

“I walked to the door as she was leaving. I was holding my son Robbie who was a baby at the time.” Sharon recalls. “I watched the girls pick up the scooters out of the driveway. As Michaela picked up the scooter and got ready to leave she turned around and looked at me and said “I love you mom”, and I said I love you too Michaela!”

There was no way of knowing it at the time, but the sweet goodbye Michaela and her mother had just exchanged was to be their last, and in that moment Sharon was struck with a profound thought.

“At that time the words from an Ann Landers column flashed through my mind, which were whenever you part with someone you love always do it as though you’ll never see them again, because you never know when that will happen.”

“I stood at the door and watched until she rode out of sight down at the end of the street.” Sharon recalls somberly. “I have become kind of superstitious about that now. If I say goodbye to someone I love I will say I love you, but always follow it up with see you later or something like that, and I never watch until they are out of sight.”

“After Michaela left I went back inside and started washing the breakfast dishes. I heard some commotion outside, and heard Michaela’s dad, who was very laid back, and he sounded excited. He ran inside and yelled out that Michaela had been snatch up at the market. I just stood there with my mouth hanging open. I couldn’t even comprehend what that meant at the time.”

“I found out that Trina had called her dad from the market and told him what had happened, and as he was leaving his house headed for the market he yelled at Michaela’s dad who was out in the yard, and told him what had happened. This was the commotion I had heard.”

In the minutes that followed the shocking news of a parents worst nightmare Sharon and her husband began to learn some of the details of Michaela’s abduction.

Michaela and Trina had ridden their scooters to the market where they purchased some soda and beef jerky. When they came out of the store one of the scooters was missing. Michaela spotted it in the parking lot and went to get it. When she bent over to pick it up, a man jumped out of the car next to it, grabbed her from behind, threw her in his car, and took off with her. Trina had witnessed the kidnapping and went immediately for help.

Police response was swift, but because the location of the abduction was in an area bordered by multiple police jurisdictions the abductor slipped through their fingers.

At the time of the kidnapping the abductor was described as being in his late teens to early twenties. He had dirty shoulder length blonde hair. He was described as being slender with a pock-marked face and was driving a dirty, beat up, boxy older vehicle, which was gold or tan in color.

Initially the police had interviewed employees of the store who gave a description of a suspicious person they had seen moments before the abduction who was described as a white male with a mustache and driving a burgundy vehicles. After the police interviewed Michaela’s friend Trina they realized they had been looking for the wrong person and had given an inaccurate description of the vehicle for law enforcement to be on the lookout for.

All of this played out in a very short time, but at a time when every second was crucial. It is because of scenario’s such as this that the AMBER alert system was created following the abduction and murder of 9 year old Amber Hagerman in Arlington Texas in 1996 whose body was later found a just short distance from the scene of her abduction. Concerned citizens from the local news media created a system that would work much like the weather alert system. If a child is abducted and there are some descriptors of the suspect such as physical description or vehicle description then the information is broadcast through every information outlet available, such as television, radio, internet, and digital road side construction signs, all in just a matter of seconds. No doubt the AMBER alert system may well have changed the out come of Michaela’s case, much as it may have for Amber Hagerman, but sadly it is a good idea that came too late for them.

Through out the years the police agency investigating Michaela’s abduction have had several leads and numerous suspects, some stronger than others, however they have yet to have a major break through in solving the case. Despite the fact that it has been nearly 20 years the case remains open and actively investigated with a detective assigned to the case who devotes two days out of every week to investigate new leads that they continue to receive to this day. All are hopeful that some day they will have answers and Michaela’s abductor will be brought to justice.

“In the years after Michaela’s kidnapping I was just in the darkest of places.” Sharon recalls. “I became angry with God for what had happened to Michaela, and I turned my back on him. I kind of created my own religion that was centered on the self. I had been heavily into philosophy in college. I began to study Eastern religions, Native American religions, and some goddess stuff. I read psychological religious stuff and just kind of took want I wanted here and there. When I look back on it I think that was kind of a bizarre practice. “

“I fell into a period of darkness.” Sharon explains “When I look back on it all I can see is darkness. I used to run at the time and I would have to get up at 4 o‘clock in the mourning. and run in the darkness. Even on Saturday’s and Sunday’s when I didn’t have to get up and go to work. That’s the picture of my life in that time period, running in the dark.”

When one lives through extreme extended periods of stress and depression it can often have an adverse and destructive effect on ones life especially if it is suppressed and not dealt with. With stress you can pay now or pay later. If the latter is chosen the price is usually a lot steeper. Sharon was living in the darkness of grief with many questions, but no answers and no comfort. She found herself in a deep depression and her bitterness was beginning to take its toll. “I had a lot of anger, such a large amount of anger.” Sharon recalls. “I had gone through this great earthquake in my life and as a result Michaela’s father and I divorced so I had to go back to work. I tended to take my anger out on other commuters as I was going to work. I had also developed an overwhelming desire to break glass, but I was able to control it.”

“I started to control it little by little as time went on. I gave birth to another daughter in 1993 named Johnna. Having Johnna was the beginning of a healing process.” Sharon reveals. “I had shut down so many of my feelings over the years since Michaela had been kidnapped. Having a new baby I was really just forced to open my feelings up again. There was a lot of crying and dealing with feelings that I hadn’t, and over a period of time things began to normalize to some degree.”

“I will never forget the day Johnna was born I was in the delivery room. The television was on and the news was broadcasting a memorial service for Polly Klaas who had been kidnapped and murdered. They were showing pictures of missing children on the screen and as I was there giving birth to Johnna Michaela’s picture came onto the screen. I looked up and there she was smiling down at me. It was as if she came into the room to say hello.”

Sharon had began to heal, but not completely. Much of the anger she bottled up inside still existed. Sharon was angry with God. Her heart was hardened and she wanted nothing to do with Him any longer, but years before Sharon had given herself to God and accepted Christ as her savior. In the Bible Jesus promised that His Father would not lose even one that he had called. God was beginning to soften Sharon’s heart through the new birth of her daughter, but she was still angry with God and needed to know that God is loving and trustworthy. Sharon needed her faith back, and God was about to deliver.

“In 2003 my mother, whose name was Audrey, was hospitalized after she fell causing a broken rib, which had punctured one of her lungs.” Sharon reveals. “My mother had emphysema and was on oxygen. She had tripped over the oxygen tube and fallen. She ended up in the hospital with a breathing tube down her throat. Eventually they removed the tube and she was like a wild and crazy person thrashing around and trying to beat up the nurses. My mother was a very gentile, proper English lady and this was not like her at all. She was talking to people who wasn’t there, and it was kind of spooky because some of the people she was talking to were no longer alive. Because of the emphysema I already knew my mother wasn’t going to live for very long, but while I was prepared to let my mother die, I wasn’t prepared to let her die in this way. It was too violent, it was not her and I wasn’t being allowed to say goodbye because my mother wasn’t really there.”

Sharon’s grief was now focused on her mother, and in her moment of desperation she found herself on her knee’s. “It was just something that would bring me to prayer, and when I would pray there was never any doubt who I was praying to.” Sharon states with conviction. “It never occurred to me that I was praying to a goddess, or to Buddha, or one of the Hindu deities. I knew it was the one true God! I knew in part who I was praying to because of the feeling I had. In the fifteen years that I had lived apart from God I was angry with him. If I spoke of Him I couldn’t even bring myself to say God I would say “The G word” if I had to say it. Just speaking of God would cause a great feeling of anger to well up inside of me that would almost make me to grit my teeth.”

“When I found myself praying to God about my mother I had that gritting of my teeth feeling because I was angry that I had to talk to him, but when it came right down to it there was no where else for me to turn because I knew that He was the real God.”

“In the moments that I would pray I didn’t tell God that if he healed my mother that I would come back to him I just simply asked him to heal her.” Sharon explains. “I prayed, God if there is anything you want to tell me or if there is anything you want me to be you can go ahead and let me know.”

“My mother ended up being healed and I totally forgot about my prayer, but over the next few months I began to feel this tugging on my heart like God was pulling me back to Him.” Sharon explains. “I kept saying no, no I don’t want to come. Over the fifteen years away from God I had developed all of these beliefs and I had all these questions about the Bible, but in 2004 on Michaela’s birthday I was driving passed a church where they had held a birthday celebration for Michaela on her first birthday after she had been kidnapped. I started thinking about that and all of a sudden it occurred to me that when I die I want to see Michaela again. I knew she was going to be with God because that’s who she put her faith in, she put her faith in Jesus.”

“That was the just the final thing that broke me down.” Sharon reveals. “I gave my life back to the Lord and I told Him that I had all of these questions with no answers, but I was going to put them all in a box and give them to Him and then I committed my life to Him. That was in 2004 and we have been moving forward since then.”

“My mothers accident happened on October 10^th 2003 and she lived one more year and passed away on October 10^th 2004. Exactly one year to the day from the time of her accident. To me this was God’s way of confirming to me that it was Him that had healed her and it wasn‘t just a random thing.” Sharon proclaims. “It was as if He said to me, this was my hand, and it was I that gave you one extra year.”

“In that year my mother and I got a chance to spend time together and talk about the Lord, and when she died it was peacefully, and I was there.”

Although Sharon had rededicated her life to the Lord, and her faith had been strengthened she now was in need of a church to attend, and whether she knew it at the time was in desperate need to be part of a church family where she could be loved and become an active part of the body of Christ. Even before Sharon rededicated her life to the Lord God was busy preparing the way for Sharons full redemption. After Sharon rededicated her life to Christ she felt reborn, but prior to that she was angry and bitter because she was living with grief over Michaela. Her sadness had caught the attention of someone who would later become very special to Sharon and who was also important to Gods plan. His plan for Sharon was about to enter into a new phase where He would not only pull her back into the body of Christ, but also give her a dear friend for life with whom she could share her walk with Him.

“I had taken a job in the office of a local high school.” Sharon remembers. “A woman came into the office one day who was a Christian. He name was Janet and she ended up taking a volunteer position in the high school to come in and answer the phones every day at lunch time. She had volunteered because the Lord had told her to. When she had first met me I was a very unhappy person and she wondered why and wanted to reach out to me. I wasn’t a very pleasant person to talk to in those days. We didn’t form a friendship at first, but I later found out that she had been praying for me all along.”

“At the time I was looking for a church to attend. I remember thinking how nice Janet was and I began to pray that she would ask me to go to her church.” Sharon remembers. “I didn’t know at the time if she was a Christian or not or if she even went to church, but it was just a feeling I had.”

Janet is a caring lady with a heart for Jesus. She had met Sharon Murch in the high school office and sensed her deep state of unhappiness. Being a Christian and knowing the peace and joy of Jesus Christ she wanted to share this with Sharon. Janet set out on a mission to bring the light of Christ into Sharon’s world.

“I first came in contact with Sharon at my children's high school. She worked in the office.” Janet recalls. “Every time I would see her or talk to her she seem so sad or angry. When I heard there was a request for help in the office I thought I would help in there and get to the bottom of why this dear woman was so sad and clearly in pain. I was very drawn to her but at the same time afraid she would bite my head off! I just tried to be nice to her and prayed for her.”

“One day during my time of prayer for her I asked The Lord to show me why she was so sad and he gave me a "vision" in my mind of the article of when her daughter was kidnapped and there was her photo! Because she had a new name I never put it together. If I had every gone over to her desk. I would have seen the pictures of Michaela on her desk. I felt like a fool for not noticing before.”

In Matthew 18:12-13 Jesus speaks of a Shepard who is willing to go looking for the one lost sheep out of the flock of a hundred. Jesus was telling us that God pursues the lost. He puts an exclamation mark on this passage in 18:14 when He states “Your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.”

When God pursues us he uses many means. The most common is by moving men through the leading of the Holy Spirit with in them. Janet was being used by God to rescue one of his lost sheep and she was answering his call.

“Michaela Garecht’s abduction had affected our family so much.” Janet recalls. “We lived in Hayward California at the time and I have daughters that were Michaela‘s age. A few days before the kidnapping, I had allowed my daughters to walk to the store alone for the first time. It was the last time! My children often referred to "before and after Michaela was kidnapped" when referring to the freedoms allowed as children growing up. We even made flyers and took them on a trip to Los Angeles, stopping along the way to hand them out. I remember my girls holding the flyers in the car windows to show passing cars.”

“I had never met Sharon during that time, but here we were years later, the Lord had brought us together. Sharon asked me one day if I went to church and I shared with her. The rest is history. She came to our church and we have become close friends. Her son Robbie and my daughter Ashlee are close friends also, both in leadership at church working with the youth and serving in other ministries as well.”

“Sharon is a different person today, she is quick to laugh and smile and bless others with her generous, giving spirit. I don't know how someone ever gets over what Sharon has been through, only with The Lord's help.”

According to Sharon one of her favorite scriptures is Psalms 56:8 "You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book." Sharon has realized that God has been with her through it all and has seen every tear, which gives her comfort.

Sharon reveals that she used to feel like God didn’t understand what she had been through. Then one Sunday during church services in a moment of revelation her eyes were opened.

“One day after I had come back to the Lord I was setting in church and I felt the Lord say to me, “You think I don’t understand how you feel?”, and I realized in that moment that there is nothing I had been through with Michaela that God hadn’t gone through with his own son.” Sharon explains. “One of the hardest things for me to accept about what happened to Michaela was imagining her coming to a point of feeling abandoned. That after a period of time she felt that the police wasn’t going to help her, I wasn’t going to help her, and God wasn’t going to help her, which was a big assumption on my part, but I had always told her if she ever needed help and I wasn’t there to help her to look in her heart because God was always there.”

“Then I remembered that Jesus had cried out on the cross, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” So you see there is nothing that I have experienced with Michaela that God did not experience with Jesus suffering on the cross.”

2008 is the twentieth anniversary of the abduction of Michaela Garecht. Through the past twenty years Sharon Murch was lost and now is found, to steal a line from Amazing Grace. She has written a book about Michaela that she hopes will be a jewel in her crown and cement a legacy for her. She is hopeful that someday it will be published. Her desire today is to walk with the Lord and do his will. Sharon is content to know only what He is willing to reveal to her. The only thing Sharon knows for sure is that if Michaela is still alive she wants her back. If she is not then there is only one fact Sharon needs to know and that is that Michaela is with Jesus where there is no pain, and there are no tears, and that one day they will all be reunited.