A Slice of Life
Bill Lites
When I was 16, I was 6’0”, weighed 125 lb, and knew all there was to know about life, and so, was ready for any life challenge that came along. My mentor at the time was an 18-year-old Air Force brat that was bored and as rebellious as the day was long. When I wasn’t working, I followed him around everywhere he went. We both had small motorcycles, so transportation was not a problem. The other kids in our following came and went, but the two of us stuck together in everything.
One day my mentor said, “I know a really neat place we can go exploring up in the foothills outside of town.” He polled the others that were hanging around his house with us that day and everyone thought it would be a lot of fun. So, the five of us piled on our motorcycles and headed out of town. It only took us about thirty minutes to get to our destination, the entrance to the old deserted mine opening, on the side of one of the foothills. 
Of course, my mentor had been there before and knew all about this deserted mineshaft. So, with flashlights in hand, we set off to explore the dark hole in the ground. At first, the shaft angled down at about a 5 to 10 degree slope, and was big enough that we only had to bend over slightly to make progress. The further down we went, the angle steeped, and the shaft grew smaller, until we had to get down on our hands and knees to make any progress. We crawled along like this for some time until we came to a caved-in area where we had to lay down on our bellies to squeeze through the opening. Now I’m not normally claustrophobic, but that was very scary for me. I guess I’d seen too many tunnel cave-in movies not to think, “I might just get caught in a cave-in here and now.” But, I just held my breath and squeezed through. About 100 feet beyond that tight spot, the shaft opened up into a large cave about 50 feet wide, 25 feet high and filled with water. And there on the edge of the water was a raft. What a surprise! Only two of us could get on the raft at a time, and we took turns paddling around for a while getting wet in the process.
All this time, I had this niggling feeling in the pit of my stomach that we need to get out of here while we can before that shaft caves in again. But, of course, I said nothing, because I didn’t want to embarrass myself. After we tired of splashing around in that dirty water, we headed back up the shaft toward daylight. I was relieved to get past that caved-in area and to finally make our way to the shaft entrance.
I thought later, “Well, I got out of that alive, and this is one venture my folks don’t ever need to know about.” And, they never did. What kind of things did your folks never know about you?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there! If I go underground, you’re there.
Psalm 139:8 (The Message)
Related articles
- The Cave and the Candle (kokoandkudzu.com)
Old Things R New 