This post is just to demonstrate just how versatile this website is, and to encourage those of you who might have a story to tell to share it with the rest of us on our new blog page.
But since I am here..... this is Donald Ingle, and this is my story to share.....
I have been privileged to bring many different groups along on cave trips over the years. And yes, we ALL returned alive and relatively unscathed by the experience. One of the groups I took was a youth group of teenagers from Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church in Terre Haute. I took them to a pair of caves on the Scenic Hills Bible Camp property near Mitchell Indiana, called respectively Coon Cave and Eversole Cave. The following story comes from Coon Cave.
Coon Cave is entered by a short ten foot pit that after some wriggling first through some narrow and meandering crevice passage, finally opens up into a walking stream passage that continues on a few hundred feet to a final beautiful formation room with many tree roots hanging down in it. But to get to it, you have to endure a reasonably short cobble crawl in the stream passage. This was our second cave of the day, and the girls in the group were just about all adventured out for the day, so they elected to wait behind in a crossing overflow passage that was some 6 feet above stream level just before the aforementioned cobble crawl to the final room. So I took the boys along who wanted to see the final room and told the girls we would be back within 15 minutes, and off we went. Though it was still fairly close to where we left the girls behind after some few dozen feet down the cobble crawl, it was quite impossible to hear anything but the noise of the stream and of our own passage through the cave. We arrived in the terminal room and proceeded to take many pictures, rested a bit and viewed the beauty of God's creation there in one of the most unlikeliest of places and then began heading back.
In an odd way, caving has brought me closer to God in a way you probably wouldn't expect. It is relatively easy to see God's Hand at work in the beauty of the natural world around us. And almost easy to imagine Him smiling as He carves the canyons, fills the seas and creates a palette of unimaginable beauty that often we take for granted during our stay on God's earth. But even underneath our feet are wonders to behold too, out of sight and unappreciated by all but those who choose to seek those hidden places out. Some are unimaginably breathtaking, beautifully stunning and majestic. And you can't help but be struck in amazement by how this was God's hidden hand at work in the world all the time. I was imagining that this was God just kind of wrapping up a gift for me to see later, if I were only able figure out where He put it. It was mindblowing that He could do things this big and grand and awesome and yet put it in a place where we may never even see it. It makes you feel kind of quietly awestruck with His Power and Glory. And grateful for the experience. Caves have always filled me with wonder and astonishment. Probably always will.
Now, caves are often quite echoey acoustically, some much more so than others. The sound of deeper voices, for instance, have a particularly booming effect in the larger rooms. But the sound encloses you and envelops you and blocks off the more subtle or quieter sounds in the smaller passages of the cave. As we headed back, we were left to our own thoughts, the sounds of our splashing in the stream and our scattering random rocks about disturbed by our crawling through the passage as we returned back to the girls waiting above the cobble crawl. That whole sound was all we had to hear and we were immersed in it. My mind wandered as we headed back, and I soon began to sing to myself. The song that seemed to come unbidden to me was "Surely The Presence Of The Lord Is In This Place". It seemed appropriate at the time. As we got closer to the girls, I could hear their echoed murmurings up ahead but initially couldn't identify one voice from another but knew we were getting closer and would soon be together again for the trip out. Finally, the passage opened up and there ahead was the overflow passage above the stream level and I could now hear them much more clearly and distinctly. Like me, they chose to pass at least some of the time in song.
They were singing.....
Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place
I can feel His mighty power and His grace
I can hear the brush of angel’s wings
I see glory on each face
Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place
I honestly did not know what they were doing to pass the time while we were gone, nor could I even hear they were even singing until we popped out into the larger passage adjacent to them. But there is no doubt in my mind that we were sharing a spiritual moment in time together long before it was even remotely possible to do so. Message sent, message received. It filled me with a sweetness I have not often experienced in this world, or under it, for that matter. Thank you Jesus, for these moments You show us everyday, reminding us of Your presence wherever we are and at whatever thing we happen to be doing. We are never alone, as long as we open our hearts and minds and listen for the sound of Your voice.
Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place, indeed.
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