Following the Light Out of Nickajack Cave

In 1967, Johnny Cash crawled into Nickajack Cave near Chattanooga, Tennessee, intending never to come out. Years of amphetamine addiction had hollowed him out. He had lost his first marriage, alienated his friends, and wrecked his health. He later wrote that he wanted the darkness of that cave to swallow him whole.

He crawled deep into the labyrinth until his flashlight died. He lay down on the cold stone, ready to let the cave become his tomb. But lying there in absolute darkness, something shifted. Cash described feeling the presence of God — not as a voice, but as a certainty that his life was not his to throw away. He stood up and began feeling his way through the blackness. Then he felt a faint breeze on his face and followed it. A tiny point of light appeared, and he walked toward it until he stumbled out into the Tennessee daylight.

Cash called that moment the beginning of his transformation. With the help of June Carter and a renewed faith, he rebuilt his life and his music from the ground up.

The Apostle Paul writes, "If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Transformation rarely begins on a mountaintop. Sometimes it begins in a cave — in our lowest, darkest moment — when the Almighty whispers that He is not finished with us yet. The light may be faint. The breeze may be barely perceptible. But if we are willing to stand and follow, God will lead us out.