Daily Guideposts - 20 Day SampleSample

The Cave

As part of a weeklong cruise, I was in Guatemala for a day packed with adventures, including swimming in hot springs, tasting tea made from some kind of tree bark, and taking a high-speed boat ride into the Rio Dulce (Sweet River) that sashays in and out of the rain forest.

When I climbed into the boat, I met Jeanne, a blind woman. I sat next to her, struck up a conversation, then held her hand as we bounced along.

Mostly that day I was fascinated by all the things Jeanne could do. I guided her down some steep steps into the hot springs where we splashed around with glee and were the only two from our boat who ventured in.

Later, I followed a Guatemalan boy into a cave for a short tour. He had one small flashlight, and all I could think as we inched our way down steep, wet stone steps was What if his batteries go out?

“Look over there,” the guide whispered as he pointed his light toward the biggest cockroach I’d ever seen, at least five inches long. Around the next corner the teen pointed his flashlight up on a small ledge about shoulder high where a baseball-sized spider was enjoying the cool darkness. Terror punctuated my every cell. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and prayed, “Lord, get me out of here soon!”

I thought of Jeanne and understood that her life is like being in a dark cave all the time. She never really knows what’s going to dart out in front of her. Then I thought about her spunk and willingness to try new things and how her spirit had grown out of her lifelong faith that basically all is right with the world, if she just uses common sense and proceeds with a bit of caution.

Lord, let me be more like Jeanne, always willing to try something new, even if it is dark, scary, fast or bumpy.

—Patricia Lorenz
Digging Deeper: Luke 1:78–80