Trapped Miners

I would hate to be stuck in my house for two full weeks, let alone trapped in a mine.

Last week two Aussie guys, Brant Webb & Todd Russell, escaped from a mine that had been their horribly small home for two full weeks. I just read a UK news report that said it was the most famous resurrection since 33AD.

This is such an amazing story - and I'm sure the celebrations are still going strong down in Beaconsfield, Tas!

I've just had a thought that this might be quite a good illustration of what spiritual rescue is like as well. We all start out as if we're trapped in a mine. It's dark and cramped, but it is our entire world, so we have to live with it.

And then we hear distant calls, reports - the news that there is a way out to a vastly different world, much bigger, much more exciting, much more colourful, where we can live life to the full. All we have to do is call for help and we will be rescued.

At this point, what we call "free will" kicks in. You can choose. You might decide that, actually, you're quite happy where you are - this is what you know and you don't need anything more - and besides, who wants to live a more exciting life...? So you don't call out, you just make yourself more at home in the cramped, smelly hole.

Or you might decide that, even though you've gotten used to the dark, smelly hole - and the thought of light and a bigger world scares the living daylights out of you - it just might be worth the trouble. So you call out, and you are incredibly RESCUED. The open, unfiltered sunlight burns your eyes, and the fresh air sears your lungs.... But after a while you find you can see and breathe infinitely better than in the hole, and the bigger world is so beautiful, and the colours so vibrant, and the life so rich. You wonder how anyone could choose to live in a cramped, smelly hole....

It is impossible to know the richness of life until you call out for help. There is no real life without God. Look up and see.