What a week it has been! I am glad it is Sunday, the start of a new week.

Have you ever felt like you were standing under a torrent of discouraging circumstances? This was one of those weeks. It seemed like everywhere I turned there was a negative report, a trying circumstance, opposition from within and without; above and below. The three days of deary skies and rain didn’t help elevate my mood.

We said goodbye to Colin Wieckowski, our wonderful 18 year old team member on Friday. He spoiled us with his work ethic, quiet but friendly demeanor, his mechanical ability and maturity beyond his age. He is going back to school, which is something I have always encouraged the hundreds of young people (possibly over a thousand) I have worked with in the cave business over the past four decades to do. He made the right and smart decision for his future. However his pending loss cast a somber pall over the week for me. He won’t be easily replaced. We have been blessed with an incredible team that has worked hard and persevered the past four months in some really tough and discouraging situations. We can only hope that there is one more like Colin to take his place.

Our job site this week was the base of the drop off into Big Bone Mountain where we are erecting a big steel staircase to bring visitors down into the room. The three days of rain turned our worksite into a real nightmare. The first overnight rain created a waterfall right in the middle of our worksite. Everytime you bent over water drops fell on your neck and ran down your back. On Tuesday, we were faced with a cascade of not only water, but small globs of mud, rock or pebbles. Every few minutes another blob fell. While none of these globs were very large, everyone tried to avoid the direct landing zone and kept one eye on the sky – so to speak. On Wednesday, the Dog decided we had to address the potential danger and the team spent the first half of the day hanging on ropes and drilling & shooting off anything that seemed remotely loose.

Wednesday night the skies opened up and over thee inches of training rain storms belted the Corydon area. I cringed going to work on Thursday morning wondering what might more might have taken place overnight. It was immediately obvious that a torrent of water had run down the basement drain, which is the cave entrance, and over the drop. To our surprise however there was essentially no water running over the drop and since then no more rock or mud and very little water has interfered with our work.

At times like these I look back over the decades and remember how God has brought me through similar cascades of discouraging circumstances. We have all been there, haven’t we? I need to meditate on Phillipians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” He has never let the rope break when I hang on tight.

I am grateful for God’s protection in the midst of the difficult, but I am also grateful that the past week is over.