August 11, 2013 - Church, Caves and Camp

It's a hop, skip and a jump (just like home!) to Cave City Church of Christ - Eldon and Beth's church...

We arrive just before it starts at 10:45 and are greeted by Beth who graciously introduces us to so many nice people!  We were given a bulletin that was just brimming with activities...a ladies retreat is planned (30 signed up!)...a church garden with produce free for the taking...an up and coming wedding to be held in the barn, at a farm (I just love that!)...a booth at a festival to benefit a children's home...updates & prayer requests for loved ones...attendance records...key contacts with phone numbers...all their mission efforts...meetings, classes.  So informative - love it. 

The service begins with Eldon making announcements, and soon afterwards another man leads the congregation in acapella singing!  We sang a lot of songs throughout the service - some of which we know...This is the Day the Lord Hath Made, Lead me to Calvary, I Have Decided to Follow Jesus and God is so Good.

Also in the bulletin was an "Active Listening Guide" which had key points the minister made throughout the sermon with "fill in the blank" sentences.  (I enjoyed doing that - just can't take the student out of me!)   The sermon was titled Genuine Discipleship based on Matthew 16:24-26.  Great talk.  As always, just what I needed to hear!  He asked, "How bad do you want to be a follower of Christ?" You gotta want it, and want it bad.  Self denial is the key.  Jesus had His cross, and every disciple of Jesus does too.  Taking up your cross doesn't refer to the bearing up under everyday problems all humans have, but to the lifestyle of total self-sacrifice that disciples have freely chosen.  Following Him.  It seems scary... what if I'm going the wrong way?!  But in losing ourselves following Him, we surely find ourselves.  

I must say, the days I give over to Him, are the best days of my life...

A beautiful mural they had at the front of the sanctuary,
the River of Life...told Beth about the awesome murals Roseann was working on at our church!  







We returned "home" to change for hiking through Mammoth Cave!  The view from our campsite...

Signed up for a 2:45 tour.  Since we had some time, we hit the gift shops (of course!)

and got a bite to eat.  

Met another Beth!...She was sitting at the counter and we noticed her hair...so when she got up to leave I asked her if I could take a pic of it.

I think she was taken back a bit, but she said yes!  She had just colored it yesterday and said she changes it up all the time!  I loved the colors and asked if she was an artist...nope, a lab technician!  Told her there's an artist in there somewhere!

As we went to put our purchases in the jeep (couldn't very well carry them caving!) 
we saw...

...they have trog tours just for kids that go off trail...they get a first hand experience of "discovering" a new world as they hike, crawl and slide through rarely visited sections!  What fun!  

As we passed a group when we were in the caves, they were sitting and hanging out and one kid was singing..."my name is Pat and I saw a bat!"  Hysterical. 




Looked at the displays in the lobby...

Stephen Bishop is considered the one of the greatest explorers of Mammoth Cave.  

He learned the tour routes when he was in his teens, but ventured beyond them and discovered many miles of cave no one had ever seen.  The gateway for modern exploration of the cave is attributed to his crossing of a deep vertical shaft known as the Bottomless Pit!   And today we viewed this area and beyond because of him!




                                                 Here we go!!

We walk downhill, trees gracing either side...

Then the ranger gives "the talk".  

He asked us not to touch the cave at all, unless it was to stop a fall!  The reason being the oils from our hands actually alter the cave.  At one point he asked the children on the tour to raise their hands...then put their hand on the person who "made them" go on the tour.  Lol.  Then explained he wants them to stay that close to the person, for safety and in case the electricity goes out!  Read a card with all the governmental disclaimers and precautions. We'd be getting into some tight spots and low ceiling spots, along with climbing.  Sounded cool to me!  (even though I must admit, I have been known to get a tad bit claustrophobic at times!) 

The descent...

We were allowed to take pictures but they are a bit grainy.  You'd really have to visit and see this place to encompass its size, depth and awesomeness!!  The cave used to be layers of limestone, which is soft and erodes, hence creating the open cave areas.  Above the limestone is sandstone which acts as a cap to cover and keep the cave areas intact. About 400 miles have been surveyed - twice as long as any known cave in the world. And they believe there could be 600 miles of yet undiscovered passageways!

The Rotunda Room was enormous!  

Miners would bring in water, along the hollowed out trees to be used to procure saltpeter to make gun powder, used in the War of 1812.

As we went further and further the cave got smaller and smaller!

And we descend again!

  This is actually the ground...

Looking down...about 100 feet...

and up...

Mmmmm.....I'm curious!

The Bottomless Pit that Stephen crossed over to discover new passageways!  Just saw on the National Parks website that he crossed it by means of a slender cedar sapling thrown over the gulf...yikes!

Then the area we had to go through got real small!  It's named the...

It serpentines for over 230 feet. 






It's hard to tell but these people in front of me were starting to crouch down!

Sometimes the "ceiling" was so low you had to fold at the waist and step down crooked!





You obviously are not allowed to write on the cave, but way back when....

They had inscribed these with candle soot.

The only stalactites we saw...they consider this a "dry" cave.

Kinda creepy looking!






The final ascent - 2 hours and 2 miles later!

Afterwards we had to step on these mats of disinfectant.  

Scientists have discovered that bats in Mammoth cave have white-nose syndrome, a fungus which has killed more than 5.5 million bats in the eastern third of North America since 2006.  The amount of insects they would have consumed yearly would have been 8000 tons!  

Disinfecting feet afterwards, requiring that anyone caving wear brand new gear and not allowing anyone to go into the cave who has on regular clothes and footwear that they may have worn caving somewhere else - all the way back to 2006! -  all helps hinder the spread of this fungus.

On the way back...

It was still daylight so we drove around Cave City for a while...
...stopped by this cool place!

The best part was watching people zip-line!  

Then we came upon this crazy place!

                    The office...

...and the wigwams!!  





Had dinner at Alice's Restaurant recommended by Beth.

Great view!  We went with regular fare for dinner, but heard she makes a mean eggs & pig brains for breakfast!




The day ended with us stopping by the camp office and we wound up staying quite a while to talk with Beth and Eldon!  It was great!  They are both so nice! As I was just emailing to my friend Jackie, meeting people along the way has been the greatest blessing!    

They told us about the different places they've lived.   For a while they were missionaries in Africa.  Sounded pretty intense.  She brought her 3 month old daughter in for vaccinations and watched as the doctor filled the serum in the needle and just went down the line of babies injecting them!  Holy mackerel!  Well, she said to him, I want a sterilized needle, an alcohol swab and the prescribed dose for the vaccination.  He replies,"We don't have time for that!".  Needless to say, she was out of there!   

They have wanted to own and run a campground for a long time, but wanted to wait until their two beautiful girls were out on their own.  And so finally, about 6 years ago they prayed about it and then took the plunge!  We wish them continuous success!  Found out their busiest months are June, July and October!  (October??)  Folks probably want to see the fall foliage!  

She talked about her mom who was having back problems because the muscles on one side pulled.  So she did tons of research and found out if you relax the muscles on the tight side (with injections), the bones will realign.  Now her mom's up and around, even doing housework and coping just fine!

We talked about God's plan verses our plan...and Beth told a story that just blew me away...

Her sister was going to be dropped off at a mall in this town at 12 o'clock at night.  Beth said she was going to be at an uncle's quite a distance away, but she could drive there and pick her up.  The sister was adamant about Beth being there exactly on time, it being late and there being no one there and all.  Beth insisted she would be there!  

So it's time for her to leave.  She's driving down the road and the car dies.  What can she do?  She has to be there at twelve!  This was before the days of cell phones!  She sees a car coming.  It's someone she knows!  She asks the woman to go tell her uncle to come and get her so they can drive and pick up her sister.  He gets there and they are finally on their way, but they are an hour late.  

No sister.  A policeman pulls up.  Beth tells the whole story.  He gets on the radio. There's another policeman on the other side of the mall with a lady who's looking for HER sister - because SHE was delayed an hour also!! - Her car slid into a snow bank and it took the hour to get out of it!

The policeman tells Beth it was a good thing they were both late.  One hour before, there were two gangs in a violent brawl and there were police everywhere!!

As Beth puts it, God put His finger in the road to stop her and her sister from arriving "on time"!

That just made my night...He's the Man with the Plan.