What a profound emotion it is, observing the first of the Chilean miners leave the infernal trap after 68 days of confinement, nearly a kilometer below the surface! Even that these men could hold unto hope during the first 17 days before contact is remarkable and inspiring. Rations for 48 hours were stretched to sustain all 33 men for more than 8 times that duration. All this in a hot, dank, dark place. I can only imagine that an abiding trust in a hoped for rescue mission could have sustained them through such an ordeal of suffering. Then the probe found them, and they were told they would have to wait further months for rescue. But in a very real sense their rescue mission started right away. Food, water, and contact with the land of the living must have buoyed the miners profoundly. I wonder when they felt rescued. Having the promise of fresh air, I wonder if they felt “in the pit but no longer of it”. Watching these men leave the pit with the praises of God on their lips should leave us breathless. President Pinera’s words to an emerging miner are profound : “Welcome back to life…You have been given the profound gift of being born again.”
Indeed. To all who follow the voice of Christ out of the pit of despair – into hope and the promise of new life – we utter those words.
