Lord, we thank you for letting us come once again to marvel at your creations. We hope that those in the group who are new to this activity will leave with the same sense of wonder that we always feel as we step into a cave.
We treat these activities as fun, but always with a sense of wonder at the thousands of years required to create even the smallest of the features at which we look.
Help us to preserve your work, both for ourselves and for future generations of Scouts and Cavers. Amen.
Beneath the surface of the earth lies a strange, magnificent world
darker than the darkest moonless night. No rain falls. No
seasons change. No storms rage. This underground world is
silent as a tomb, yet it is not without life. Birds and bats fly
with sure accuracy through twisted mazes of tunnels, while ghostly,
eyeless creatures scurry along the walls. The floor is sometimes
the home of strange insects and microorganisms. This is the world
of the caver, as beautiful, alien and remote as the glaciers on high
mountains. And, just as mountaineers are tempted by summits that
rise far above familiar ground, cavers are drawn into a subterranean
wilderness every bit as exciting as any place warmed by the rays of the
sun.
There are thousands of caves in America. Some are at the edge of
the sea, carved by the erosion of the waves. While others are
lava tubes created when the surfaces of rivers of molten rock cooled
even as the lava beneath continued to flow. Most caves, however,
were formed as rainwater, made slightly acidic by carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere and chemicals in the soil over which it ran, seeped into
fissures in soluble limestone and gradually, over thousands of years,
melted out branching networks of tunnels and rooms.
Some caves are too tiny to enter, while others are many kilometers in
length. Within some caves are chambers larger than the biggest
sporting arenas, and shafts deeper than the tallest buildings.
There are towering pillars, and expanses of colorful stone folded as if
they were massive draperies. The forces that build a cave work
with infinite patience. A drop of water hanging from the point of
a stalactite leaves a trace of mineral residue when it falls,
lengthening the stalactite ever so slightly.
Scouting works the same way. Over your years in Scouts, slowly
you accumulate knowledge. Much passes you by - some stays, and
becomes part of you. Every experience you have in Scouting, good
or bad, leaves its mark on you. There are millions of Scouts in
America; some are at the edge of the sea, others are in the middle of
the country, some in big cities and some in small towns. Who has
the easier time of it? The city Scout, who has all the resources
of the city - but all of the dangers that city life can bring. Or
the country kid – who has none of the pressures of the city - but
instead an aching loneliness every time they realize that the nearest
friend their own age is a several hour journey away?
Make your heart big enough for all the Scouts in the world to enter - for they are all your brothers and sisters.
Into your keeping, O Lord, we commit ourselves. Help us to watch for trouble and choose the right way.
Defend us with your mighty power, and grant that we fall into no danger, and that all we do be pleasing in your sight.
[Wait about five seconds...]
Thank you all for being part of our Scouts Own.