The Trapped Miners and The Forgotten Ones

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"One thing that comes out in myths is that at the bottom of the abyss comes the voice of salvation. The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light.

~Joseph Campbell


I don't cry easily...But warm tears trickled down from my eyes as I watched the Chilean miners being hoisted up in a capsule, one by one...It's still going on, as the 15th miner is due to be pulled up as I type...

I found myself praying for all of them. I couldn't imagine what they had to endure while enveloped in a great depth of nothing but hard earth and darkness. Trapped and uncertain of their safety. Longing for their loved ones, not knowing if they would ever see each other again.

One 19 year old miner, by the name of Jimmy Sanchez, found his hope and comfort from God as he wrote his message to his family:

"Hi Roxana, I'm very good. I'm not nervous yet. I believe that when my turn comes [to get up on the capsule] nerves will attack me badly. But now I'm happy and calm. I have been always this way. And yes, it's been since August 4th that I have not seen you. That was 2 months and some days ago. But for me, it's like it was yesterday that we got caught here. God wanted me to stay here, I don't know, maybe so I change from now on. I have thought and I have changed a lot. I have suffered too much and don't want to suffer anymore. In the hard moments I was thankful of God because I got a daughter. I expect that when my turn arrives, everything will be ok. Hugs for everyone."

The world cries for these trapped miners. Even more sympathy pours out for the families who are anxiously waiting, day by day, regarding the conditions of their loved ones deep down below. But to hear the crying turned into cheering, rescuers triumphant, and miners emerging from darkness into the light they had not seen in so long, was just too extraordinary to be described. It is "reality tv" at its best. Not edited. Live.

The memory of the crying child waiting for his father who was the 1st miner to come up was etched in my mind. As he broke into tears, of mixed emotions that no one would know what they were about. Of his own fears he had to face as his father did, too. Of the fear of permanent separation that haunted him night after night, as his father must have thought, too. But last night, I knew his sighing and tears were celebration of a new life. Of rebirth. Of the best joy in his life to see his father emerged from the capsule. The way his father must have felt, too.

We forget all of us are trapped, too. In a vast area of darkness for so long. This is reality, too. We are without hope. Without a chance for life. This world is a big prison we are all in together. We have nurtured the seeds of envy, bitterness, lust, lying, greed and other sins that have a good grip on our souls and spirits. Our children did the same, when our sins' consequences, also have an effect on them. But like those trapped miners, some of us discovered that living hope. That joy and a chance for eternal life. Through Jesus. He is the only One Who can pull any trapped sinner from the pit of darkness into light. Into His Light.

May you be found by our Savior Who longs to have a personal relationship with all of us...Because when you make this crucial decision of accepting Him into your heart, remember that your children get affected, too with all the decision you make.



"Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress. He sent forth his word and healed them;
he rescued them from the grave. Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing loveand his wonderful deeds for men." - Psalm 107:19-21