Thirty-three Chilean miners are
telling an unlikely story. After being trapped half a mile underground for 69
wretched days, they were brought to the surface one at a time in a cigar-shaped
steel capsule that was only slightly larger in diameter than a grown man's
shoulders are wide.
In a rescue process that combined the efforts of the
Chilean government, NASA, a Pennsylvania drill company, and so many others, an
ahead-of-schedule operation brought the men out in a flawless rescue operation.
Each took the 15-minute journey to freedom from the longest underground
entrapment in history.
From the pre-commercialized reports that have emerged
so far, it seems clear that there was an early time of extreme fear and deep
discouragement. In the first 17 days, the men huddled in an area no larger than
165 square feet. They had no contact with the outside and knew nothing of what
was being done above ground to rescue them.
Reports say that some of the younger men in the group
threw themselves on the ground and refused to get up. They appear to have
resigned themselves to death. Then the first bore hole penetrated their tiny
space, and hope soared. Bodies that had started eating muscle were provided with
food, and tainted mine water was replaced with pure drinking water. Things
improved dramatically.
But there was still a long wait to be endured. Even
with good food and water, what about the emotional health of the group?
The men organized to live. Everyone was assigned a
job. Nobody was allowed to isolate himself with his fears. One report of the
experience I read contained this sentence: "They functioned like a family - a
mix of love, dependence, frustration. But there were never thoughts of turning
on each other."
Then I thought this: What a microcosm of heaven,
earth, and church! And how much we could learn from the experience.
The "rescue work" we call salvation is going on above.
No more than the miners could know what was happening a half-mile above them, we
cannot know all God is doing for us in our times of weakness, failure, and
discouragement. We know of the cross in history, and we have the promise we will
never be forsaken.
The "holding-on work" we do as the church is our task
while trapped in the dark and threatening environment of a world where sin has
done its best to trap and destroy us. No, we can't climb out under our own
strength. We wait instead with all the patience we can muster, keep hope alive,
and trust the promise. Refusing to turn on each other, we encourage one another
daily to keep the faith.
As we wait, never doubt that heaven is furiously
active on your behalf.
Rubel Shelly GBCIII@aol.com FAX of Life www.rubelshelly.com
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