I SEE IT BUT I CAN'T GET THERE

A man named Floyd Collins, in 1925, was exploring near Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and got stuck fifty-five feet from the surface. Icy water was dripping in his face. The rescuers came in and diverted the water, and they talked with him, they calmed him down, but they couldn't get him out.

He began to come unglued there, stuck in that cave. He was able to see the light, able to see where he wanted to be, hearing voices, getting food, but he was stuck and he couldn't get out. So he slowly began to have raving lunacies about everything from chicken sandwiches to angels in white chariots.

The newspapers got in on it, and ten thousand people came to see him. They sold hot dogs and sandwiches. It was a side show. Seventeen days later, Floyd Collins died in that hole, able to see where he wanted to be and not able to get there.

(Source: from a sermon by Brian Matherlee, "Are, Want, Do, Get" 7/14/08, SermonCentral.com)