Out of the Cave

In October 1967, Johnny Cash crawled into Nickajack Cave along the Tennessee River, intending never to come out. Years of amphetamine and barbiturate addiction had cost him nearly everything — his first marriage, his health, his reputation. He later said he wanted to lie down in the darkness and let God take him.

But something happened underground. Cash described feeling a presence, a warmth, a sense that the Almighty was not finished with him yet. He turned around and began crawling toward the light. When he finally emerged, June Carter and his mother were waiting near the entrance, having gone searching for him.

That moment didn't make everything easy. Recovery was slow and painful. But Cash never forgot what happened in that cave. The man who crawled out went on to record some of the most powerful gospel music of the twentieth century — albums like My Mother's Hymn Book and American V: A Hundred Highways. He sang "Amazing Grace" not as performance but as personal testimony.

Redemption rarely arrives as a single clean moment. More often it begins in a dark place where we have exhausted every option, and God whispers that He is not done with us yet. Paul wrote, "Where sin increased, grace increased all the more" (Romans 5:20).

The Most High meets us in our caves. He does not wait for us to find our own way to daylight. He shows up in the deepest darkness and says, "Turn around. I have more for you."