PREPARATION

Faith believes in asking "why." In fact, the faith journey is all about discovering the why of life. Ask "why?" and discover God, wisdom, insight, perspective, secrets, danger, surprise, destiny, just to name a few. The spiritual life is all about one question: "why?"

The "why answers" lead to personal discovery, to growth, to maturity, to new versions of self. "What" and "how" questions lead to detours, distractions, side trips, and short term quick fixes, but nothing new, no aha, no WOW. "What" can I do to be happy? "What" should I do to be successful? "What" are the right answers? "How" much fun can I have? "How" rich am I?

Faith in the unseen is God's way of teaching us the unknown. You may work in a repetitive job where you perform the same task over and over, and you're good at it. You may get bored, but your pay check alleviates the boredom. In this environment you never ask "why," and discovery is not expected.

You may have gone to church all your life and studied the same verses of the Bible over and over without ever asking "Why." Someone told you if you believe these verses you will go to heaven, and that was enough. In that environment you never felt the need to ask "why." Therefore you don't expect anything more… and you grow uncomfortable even talking about discoveries.

Back to the real world, what have you discovered? Remember what the old apostle said, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—-unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test."  2 Corinthians 13:5-6 NIV

INSPIRATION

During my last year of undergraduate school, Lyn and I were living in a small two-bedroom house on Houston Street in Abilene, Texas. We had just finished our morning Cheerios when Dennis pulled up in front of the house.

By the time I reached the front door, he was already at the doorstep. "You got some free time?" he asked.

Before I could answer he opened a bag of stuff he had hauled out of his trunk. The bag held two old mining hat, some rope, a compass, flashlights, extra batteries, and assorted other things. Then he pulled out a mimeographed map (we are talking circa 1968).

"It's a map of a cave up toward Throckmorton. It's on private property, and we'll need to stop and ask permission, but it's only an hour away. We could be there by 10 AM. What do ya say?"

"You mean like Carlsbad Caverns?" I quipped.

"No, this is small. I met with the Spelunker Club and got the map, but I need someone to go with me. Thought of you. So what'd ya say?"

"I need to be back before dinner," I responded.

It took a little longer than expected to get to the ranch house. Dennis took the map and asked the owner if we could explore his cave. He said yes and we headed off to what I envisioned would be a cave entrance in the cliff/bank of the Brazos River, but nothing was like I envisioned.

It was a little before eleven when Dennis said, "There it is."

"Where?"

"This crack in the ground, right here."

Less than ten feet ahead was a rather hidden hole in the ground just big enough for one person to crawl down into, if that person was flexible and crazy.

"You're kidding, right?" I said.

"This is going to be great!" he said.

Dennis grabbed the hats out of the bag, some extra batteries, a couple bottles of water, two flashlights, and a small tightly folded inflatable two man raft. We each took our share. Then he took the raft and said, "I'll bring all the supplies, you go first."

"What?"

As I write this, I can't believe I actually crawled down that crack in the ground, but I was more flexible back then.

I put my hat on, looked at the lame excuse of a map, and began my journey down into the bowels of the earth. Dennis kept asking, "What do you see? Are you at the big room yet?"

&quotirt and rocks and bugs and no big room."

Then, about 20 feet down, the crack widened out just big enough to for us both sit up. We shined our flashlights enough to see we were face to face with a rock as big as my house, minus the front porch.

"Great!" said Dennis. "Now, just crawl under it."

"I had to put my face in the dirt to shine a flash light under the rock to see nothing but blackness on the other side of the rock, if that was the other side.

"Well, go on," Dennis said.

I squeezed under the rock, moving the loose dirt with my body. The rock was tight on my chest, the dirt was cold and damp. "Why was I here? I don't even like Dennis that much," I thought.

Then, to my surprise, I broke free into darkness. Before Dennis could follow me into the big room, I turned on my flashlight, and what seemed like a million bats swarmed around me. Dennis yelled, &quoton't turn on your flashlight yet, there might be bats."

"Really?"

We messed around in the cave for a while, then inflated the raft, and floated out via the underground stream into the Clear Fork of the Brazos River.

I had no desire to repeat that adventure, then or now, but the memories of that day have lasted a lifetime. In those cave-crawling moments I discovered "why" I went. I love the "why" times of life.
 

MOTIVATION

What have you discovered in life thus far that is worth passing on to the next generation?

Why?