Most probably you will recall the thrilling 2010 incident of Chilean miners who got trapped underground for two months in a mine in Chile’s Atacama Desert. The incredible feat saw the 33 men clock a total of 69 days sealed in dense darkness, and for the first 17 days no one knew whether they were still alive or dead. The disaster first broke on an afternoon shift at about lunchtime when a massive 700 000 ton block of stone broke off from a mountain above the mine and fell through the layers of the mine creating a chain reaction as the mountain collapsed.
On realizing that all passageways to the mine had been blocked, the supervisor Urzua, took off his special white helmet and announced to the workers “We are all equal now…there are no bosses and employees” Though this seemed to be a shirking of responsibility it later turned out to have inspired the miners’ collective behavior and survival. The workers arranged themselves into work shifts, participated in daily prayer sessions, and rationed their food supply into one meal a day of two cookies and a spoonful of tuna fish. They also had to drain water from industrial waste containers to furnish their need. Eventually on Oct. 13, 2010, all the 33 men were raised to the earth’s surface through a newly drilled tunnel into which a capsule was lowered and raised by a giant crane.
It was certainly a trying and difficult ordeal for the miners during those 69 days, but one thing for sure is that they did not give up; they kept looking forward for a rescue. They had hope, and hope sustained them through that time. Did you know that the Bible has a wonderful message of hope for our world? As we look at our present world today, the sight is not very pleasant. Strife and commotion runs high, disease outbreaks are frequent, famines and natural disasters grow more and more common. We tremble at the possibility of a nuclear war that could lead to mass destruction of life. Nevertheless, in the midst of all this commotion God has Good News for the human race.
After telling His disciples that He was going to be separated from them, Jesus noticed their sadness and comforted them by these words “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you maybe also.” John 14:1-3. What a wonderful promise! Jesus tells His disciples and believers that He is preparing a better home for God’s children. Since the entrance of sin into the world (Genesis 3) the human and indeed all creation’s experience has been one characterized by pain and suffering down through the ages. The apostle Paul writes “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God…for we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now” Romans 8:19-22
All nature is waiting in earnest expectation for that time when our old and wasted world shall be made anew. We have a privilege to share in this wonderful hope. By giving our lives to the Lord and abiding in Him we can rest in this hope that the Saviour is coming take us to a better Home. The apostle then assures “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ” Titus 2:13. Choose Him today to be your Lord and Saviour.
Key Text: “Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Revelation 22:12
MISSION GO 