tears off his face he said, "Scared mans."

"You were here! You were here the whole time, weren't you? You were afraid of the others, so you hid!"

Dave spent ten incredible days with Paul and learned that although Paul was a bit primitive, he was very resourceful, cunning, alert, clever, and had more common sense than anybody he had ever known. He even had good teeth. He showed Dave how he'd chew on a twig until it frayed before using it to brush his teeth. Dave wondered how he even knew to brush his teeth and asked him why he did it. He said, "Chewed stick make teeth feel good."

Sitting in a tree for nearly an hour, Dave watched him stalk a rabbit, catching it with his bare hands. Once he watched him weave vines into a net-like basket that fish wondered into but somehow, couldn't get back out.

The "fire-sticks" he referred to when Dave first met him were matches he'd found from campers and hikers who left them behind. Animal skins of all kinds lay around the cave where he lived, along with pots and buckets he'd made with woven vines, clay and straw. Tools of all sorts, shapes and sizes he had fashioned and perfected over the years filled some of the baskets while the others held water.

Apparently there was about a 30-day period during mid-winter when he couldn't leave the cave. There were tunnels leading to smaller caverns where he stored nuts, dried fruit and supplies for making tools and weaving baskets.

One day, Dave was standing by the stream as Paul pulled the fishing basket out of the water. Dave asked him if he believed in God. He said he didn't know what God was. They sat on a large boulder and Dave told him about how Adam and Eve disobeyed God, plunging mankind into sin and alienating us from our creator.

Paul asked him what he should do and Dave told him about how Jesus loved us so much that he gave His life to pay for our sins. "It's a gift," he said, "but it's not forced on anyone. We have to ask for it. When we do, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and live forever."

"Give me," he said.

"You have to ask Jesus."

"You ask."

"It has to come from you, Paul. God is everywhere. All you have to do is speak and He hears you. He can even hear what you say in your mind."

"Mind?"

"You know, when you're thinking in your head. The scriptures say you have to believe in your heart then confess out loud that Jesus is Lord and you'll be saved."

Paul listened intently as Dave told him about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Then he taught him how to pray. Ultimately, Paul received Jesus Christ as his Savior.

By the end of the ten days, they had gotten to know each other pretty good and Paul seemed to understand why Dave couldn't stay and Dave understood why Paul wouldn't go back with him. Dave left him with a promise to return in a few weeks for another visit.

However, on his last visit he found Paul lying dead in the cave. Judging from the horrible smell, Dave realized that he had been dead for quite a while but he couldn't determine the cause. He buried him and covered his grave with rocks.

For several days Dave tried to understand why God had allowed him and Paul to meet, only to take his soul a few weeks later. He couldn't accept the notion that God used him to explain salvation to him. Paul had the innocence of a child. Nevertheless, it seemed like the only plausible explanation.

Therefore, he knelt at the grave and thanked the Lord for the privilege of meeting Paul. Every year he returned to the mountain to place flowers on his grave until he was too old to make the trip. No one truly believed Dave when he told them about Paul, but I did.

Learn more about this author, Pat Lunsford.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

• << previous page
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

---

Add your voice

Know something about Travel experiences: Hiking adventures?
We want to hear your view. Write now!