The Value of a Father’s Instruction and Observations

I went with my son on a school field trip to Squire Boone Caverns near Corydon, Indiana last Friday. Inside the cave, our guide went over how several rock formations were thousands or tens of thousands of years old as I expected that he would. I had already talked with my son about what to expect from the guide and taught him many of the reasons to not believe that what the guide was saying. I also taught him how the Bible tells us that the earth was created in six days just a few thousand years ago so the guide did not surprise him either. My son is nine.

At the end of the cave Squire Boone boast 72 stairs that must be climbed in order to exit the cave. As I climbed the spiral staircase I noticed that the tunnel leading out was very cylindrical and probably not part of the original cave. In fact, I asked a worker in the gift shop and was told that the tunnel was blasted open 30 years ago.

The reason that this is so interesting is that inside the 30-year-old tunnel I was able to point out some flowstone that greatly resembled flowstone inside the cave that our guide confidently told us was thousands of years old. When I pointed this out to my son he just smiled and an important point was made. How can the guide know that the flowstone inside the cave is thousands of years old when similar flowstone in the tunnel can only be 30 years old?

What is really amazing is how many times a day the guide probably passes the flowstone in the tunnel and either doesnt notice it or just disregards it.

Robert Birke
US