"This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." Joshua 1:8

When I was 12, my family moved to the little town of Mission, BC, about 45 miles East of Vancouver, wedged between the Fraser river and the coast range mountains to the north. Before I was there very long, some friends showed me a fascinating place. It was a small knoll of rock north-east of the main part of town, called Mount Mary-Ann. The rock itself was a lot of fun to climb on. There was a lot of good, solid, safe granite, with lots of moss, weird wild-flowers, wild raspberries and wild blackberries.

It also had a rock pit in it, with a bunch of rocks and boulders, including a bunch that piled up at the bottom of the pit, making it impossible to actually see the bottom.

But the most fascinating part of the whole mountain was that, right at the base, just below where the rock pit was, there was a mining tunnel that ran horizontal into the mountain. This tunnel ran in for about 50 feet. About halfway in, there was a place where a shaft, choked with boulders and rocks, ran up to the left. At this same point, the floor and roof both raised a bit, the floor more than the roof, so you had to crouch to get through this part, then it dropped down into a big, rectangular chamber. Because of this arrangement, when you got into this chamber, the light from outside was almost completely blocked out.

The rock walls had plenty of places where a boy could put a candle, and we often had our lunch in "the dungeon", with "candelabras" all around us. It made it really creepy, and extremely exciting.

One day, when I was 14, my friend Larry and I were in the tunnel, and had brought some hammers (we didn't have *real* rock hammers, but a ball-peen hammer would do the trick), and we got into a discussion. I was convinced that the shaft that ran up to the left, in the middle of the tunnel, actually was connected to the pit above us. It just seemed that the two were lined up right for this. As we talked about maybe exploring this idea, Larry got quite excited.

First off, we had to go out and do some "surveying" to make sure that our theory was right. One of us stood on the lip of the pit (which was VERY hard to get onto - you had to do some tricky climbing - Larry volunteered for this part) the other (me) stayed below and lined up where the wildly waving Larry was pointing with what I could see of the tunnel from where I stood outside.

Having convinced ourselves that our little theory had some merit, Larry then climbed down into the pit and tried to lower some chain down the base of the pit, while I stood in the tunnel, straining to hear the sound of rattling chain. The fact that I could actually hear Larry's yelling from the shaft had us convinced that we were on the right track.

Now we began the serious work of removing rock from the side shaft. For the first few minutes this was really just a matter of moving loose rocks, but then we began to run into bigger rocks that really didn't want to move. They had been where they were, nicely jammed in place for a LONG time, with LOTS of other rocks on top, to hold them in place. As we tugged at one of these, we suddenly heard this ominous sound. A loud, rumbling sound that had us bounding back out of the way. We hesitated for a second then, more carefully now, we resumed our tugging.

The next few minutes we managed to move large some large tonnages of rock, generally only a few inches at a time. If we had had any sense at all, we would have been out of there, but when you're a 14-year-old boy, in the middle of a scary, exciting adventure of discovery, a little thing like danger just doesn't enter into the formula!

It kept getting harder and harder to move any significant amount of rock without moving a LOT of rock, and we had a few close calls where moderate sized boulders would roll out. We got to where we would go in, one at a time, and try to get something to move, running out at the slightest rumble. We could also see that the next boulder we had to move was a REALLY big one! Then we hit an impasse. We just couldn't get it to move.

First I tried, then Larry tried, then I went back in. I looked at it carefully, and this is what I noticed. The really large boulder was pressing against one that was about the size of a ladies shoulder purse, but about as long as 2 of these. It was about 18 inches long, 6 inches high and 4 inches thick. This in turn was propped against a really tiny piece of rock, about 4 inches by 1 by 1. This was jammed end-to-end. As I looked at it, it became obvious that if I removed this little piece, the bigger one would drop to the floor and the large boulder would come down!

I yelled back to Larry that I knew how to move the boulder, and he, from the safety of the cave mouth, 20 feet away, yelled back to go and do it. So I did. That was when I experienced success. I succeeded in moving the rock. The problem was, I was right under it, I whirled and ran, bumping my head on the low part of the ceiling as I went (good thing I had a hat on or I would have had a bad cut - I had a big goose-egg as it was!).

After the adrenaline settled down a bit, we snuck back into the cave, to discover a boulder, almost as tall as myself, right where I had been standing! And the side shaft? There were more boulders in it. We went around to the pit and couldn't see any change there. We gave up on the idea at that point, rightly deciding that it was both too hard and too dangerous to proceed with. Besides, we'd had our excitement and fun, and a memory that we'd never forget!

Whenever I read the scripture verse above, this story comes to mind. Many times, like two boys trying to clear a side shaft, people are caught up in a desperate effort to achieve something. They will push everything aside to try and make a success of their endeavors. Finally, they achieve the thing that they thought would bring them satisfaction and happiness, only to discover that the success is not what they thought it would be. Sometimes success is wonderful; sometimes it really does nothing, either bad or good; and sometimes it can be devastating. If I had not moved back quickly when that boulder came down, my success could have crippled or even killed me!

God gives us a formula for "good" success. There is a satisfaction in working towards a goal, succeeding at it, and finding that it truly brings goodness to your life and the lives of those that you love. God tells us that this can only be done when we speak about, medidate on, and strive to obey, His Word.

If you've been finding that the things you're striving for are not satisfying, don't waste your time looking for something else to strive for. Instead, start to study God's Word. Look for people who have the desire to study it with you. People you can talk about it with. Then begin to bring your life into obedience to His Word, as you discover His will in it!

If you do this, you may find that the same things that left you empty before, now bring you to a place of emotional and spiritual prosperity, and GOOD SUCCESS!