today on the way to work, i was listening to 'mornings with brant', my favorite radio morning show. brant was discussing the miracle of the miner rescue, and how powerful it was. He mentioned the parallel between their rescue and the rescue Jesus offers us: one metaphorical and the other a literal rescue out of a dark hole. i haven't been paying much attention to the miner rescue, although every time i hear it it pulls at my heart strings. then he played one of my all time favorite songs, 'anchor', by satellites and sirens, a song about Jesus being our anchor in a storm (sound below- no video really, just play to listen to the lyrics).at first i didn't get the connection, as he was talking about being pulled out, and the song was talking about being anchored down. as i thought about it further, though, the juxtaposition of Jesus being the one that anchors me down and my Savior that pulls me out of a pit was awe-inspiring.
as i listened to the radio talk, i thought about the miners, and how emotional a rescue would be after being trapped for so many days. brant spoke about how they had formed their own community, found their own patterns and ways of doing things as a group... 'this is my space, this is your space, we take turns doing this, we'll do that together', etc. i immediately pictured men in a dirt hole, sanctioning off their space, and communing in a way that at first seemed foreign. it reminded me of how my elementary school friends and i would play pretend in the dirt at recess. it was like playing house, but with only our imaginations. if i were trapped in a hole, would i be able to play that game again? would i be able to play it for 69 days?
i thought, too, of that book, 'lord of the flies', a fictional story of what humans will do when no one is looking, and all order is thrown to the wind. in this mine, these men were not held to any order, any social rules. and yet, reading reports, they all found roles to play and tasks to accomplish. they played nice for 69 days, and held steady. i can't imagine the emotions that ran through each of them every day- i'm guessing some times were hopeful, some times were desperate. and yet they remained human. hopeful in their cores.
and, they were rescued. many of the miners, once out, were in high spirits and good health, and maintained that they were certain, the whole time, that they would be rescued. hope- they held hope. one even mentioned, 'there weren't 33 of us down there, there were 34. we can't discount the presence of Jesus'. He was their Anchor.
and, they were rescued. they were pulled out of the dark pit they had been living, and pulled back into life. they were given dark sunglasses, to protect their eyes from the bright sunshine that they hadn't seen in 69 days. they had to go up, one at a time, and re-enter life... and i can bet you all the money and cupcakes in the world that each of their perspectives on life are different now, flavored with the isolation and unfathomable situation they had found themselves in. i would guess each of them see life differently now- from the 19 year old to the only bolivean to the 54 year old shift foreman. they were rescued, from the dark, cavernous pit, and brought into the open, fresh light of the world.
that's what Jesus does for us. he pulls us out of this life we were living, gives us bright light and a new perspective, new eyes to see a new world. and that's the beautiful contradiction of our faith: He is our Anchor in our storm, and He is our rescuer from the pit. He holds us down, and He lifts us up. He pulls us out of the darkness, and He keeps us safe from the weather outside, around us.
would i have survived in a dark, humid, collapsed mine for 69 days with 32 other people? me, kaci, alone? no. i would have flipped out and probably gone a litte (lot) postal. kaci + Jesus? yes, i have faith i would have survived that time. maybe not as graciously as the men that actually did, but i know that with His strength, i can do anything. when i look to Him as my Anchor, and my Savior, then i am able.
You said, "the storms that will come will be more than enough, and alone you can not win...without hope you'll only sink, not swim."
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