It Was Pitch Black!

I asked God to direct me to a verse and he gave me this one. As I tried to sleep later that night, I tossed and turned in bed, dozing off and on, thinking about this verse and the experience I had some years ago spelunking with a group of friends in a cave in Indiana.

After crawling on our hands and knees through a narrow tunnel on a bed of sharp rock for approximately a quarter of a mile, we emerged into an expansive open area. We eventually exited the open area by crawling over a ledge and dropping down through a hole and continuing to crawl, twisting and squeezing through a series of small passageways and narrow openings before reaching the volcano room.

The volcano room was cone-shaped and huge as well, probably thirty feet high and forty or fifty feet wide at the top. We had reached the bowels of the cave. It was hard to imagine exiting the cave by going back the same way we had come in. So we chose the only other alternative, a hole on the floor of the volcano room. Leaving this way required standing waist deep in the hole, then dropping down on my hands and knees, sliding my feet far enough back into a dark cavity in order to get enough room to duck my head under the lip of the hole to proceed headfirst through a narrow tube that ran downward at a forty-five degree angle for about twelve feet.

Several in our group preceded me and did just fine. They, however, weighed less than I did. Nevertheless, I expected no difficulty as I ducked my head and entered the tube. For reasons I cannot explain, my arms, instead of being out in front of me like a diver, ended up at my sides. Gravity carried my body down the incline as the tube narrowed around my body. About ten feet down I got stuck. With my arms behind me and my weight pushing down I had no leverage, and every wiggle I took wedged me tighter and tighter into the hole. It was dark. Pitch black. I could see nothing. My chest was under presssure so it was difficult to breathe. The people below could not reach me, and there was not much maneuvering room from the top. There I was, trapped. I fought the panic growing in me. Even as I write this, my emotions are stirring up within me at the memory, and my eyes are beginning to tear. I prayed. I was extremely frightened, and cried out to God. I still consider it, to this day, a moment in my life when a fierce battle with my fears was won. The minutes slowly ticked by and nothing happened. It seemed like forever to me. How long was it actually? I do not know. Seven or eight minutes, possibly longer. It seemed like forever. Finally, someone managed to get far enough down the hole to grab onto my feet, and, with great effort, pulled me back up the tunnel just far enough so that my arms wiggled free, and I was able, then, to put them in front of me and wiggle and slide out the bottom of the chute.

If you ever feel trapped and helpless and afraid like I did in that cave, no matter what "Dark Valley" you are in, remember this verse. And cry out to God to rescue you like I did, and he will deliver you!

A Prayer begins . . .

Our Father in heaven, we acknowledge that you alone are God. For us, you are our source of strength and hope when we are confronted with the shadows of darkness. And, we will not be afraid because you are with us, protecting and comforting us.

You matter to us.

These pages are labored over as acts of service. They are words, graphics and little computer instructions whisked from here to where you are by means we know about but can't fully understand. They are for you, not us. We pray you will make something of them.

Two selected book quotations begin . . .

Friendship With God

Bruce Wilkinson, Secrets of the Vine, Breaking Through to Abundance, Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 2001, pp. 102, 103. Part of the Break Through Series.    SoAmazing.com

Category: Christian Living
Keywords: abiding, fruit, fruitfulness, spiritual, spiritual experience, pray, prayer, Jabez, The Prayer of Jabez, God, Christian, Multnomah Publishers, Inc., Wilkinson, Bruce Wilkinson

"The pleasures of abiding--and the extraordinary benefits--have redefined the scope and impact of God's work through me. I see fruit everywhere I turn. Yet not even one grape is a result of working harder.

I assure you that I possess no special knowledge in these matters--generations of seasoned disciples have traveled ahead of me down this road. Yet, as far as I can tell, the great majority of God's people today live ignorant of the promise and practice of abiding. As a result, they fail to reach the level of 'much fruit' represented by that fourth overflowing basket.

Maybe you're among that majority. You're not sure how an overflowing spiritual experience actually happens. And you might be asking, 'How could merely abiding possibly propel me to the highest levels of fruitfulness?' My prayer is that in the next few pages you'll find the answers."

SoAmazing Review: Bruce Wilkinson's chief goal is to point people towards God. In Secrets of the Vine, Wilkinson explains how you can have a friendship with God.

Buy Secrets of the Vine Now!   Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Christianbook.

Hopeful Glimmer

Francine Rivers, Unashamed, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2000, pp. 10, 11. This is the second book in the A Lineage of Grace series. SoAmazing.com

Category: Fiction
Rahab, Moses, spies, Israelites, Joshua, Egypt, genealogies, God, Jesus, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Rivers, Francine Rivers

"She watched the road again. She had one small glimmer of hope that had been roused by something her father had told her. Moses had sent spies into the land forty years ago. 'We beat them back then.' She wondered about that, mulling over reasons for the Israelites' failure. They had been slaves, freed from mighty Egypt by an even mightier God. But perhaps they had still thought like slaves rather than men under the banner of a true God. Perhaps they had refused to obey. She could only guess why they had failed. But she knew it was not due to any failure of the God who rescued them.

Those who had rebelled all those years ago must surely be dead by now. A new generation had arisen, a generation who had been hardened by desert living, a generation who had been in the presence of Power from their birth. She could only hope that Joshua would do as Moses had done before him and send spies into the land. And she would have to be the first to spot them. With victory assured by their God, the Israelites didn't need to send anyone, but she still hoped the noble leader Joshua would take nothing for granted. Even if it wasn't necessary, it would be prudent to send spies to view the land and evaluate enemy defenses.

Please come. Please, please, please come . . . . I don't want to die. I don't want my family to die. Send someone . . . . Open my eyes so that I'll recognize them before the guards do. If they see them first and report to the king, all is lost!"

SoAmazing Review: Women are not typically noted in Jewish genealogies in the Bible. Yet in the genealogy of Jesus, five women (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary) are mentioned. While the series A Lineage of Grace covers all five women, the book Unashamed focuses on Rahab, an unlikely inclusion. Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho who provided protection for Jewish spies. She and her family are spared in the battle of Jericho, and Rahab ends up listed in the 'Hall of Faith' in Hebrews 11. Francine Rivers' fictionalized portrayal, done in her magnificent style, brings Rahab to life.

Buy Unashamed Now!   Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Christianbook.

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