Do you remember the 33 coal miners who became trapped underground in Chile in 2010? They were stuck under 700 feet of dirt and rock when the mineshaft collapsed. They remained entombed for 69 days before they were all rescued.

            Can you imagine being a coal miner? It takes a special person to be a mineworker — a miner has to be someone who does not suffer from claustrophobia and who is able to work long hours knowing that there are hundreds of feet of solid earth separating him or her from fresh air, sunshine and freedom.

            When a mine catastrophe occurs, there is a series of events the mining company must immediately initiate. First, the rescue team must try to locate where the miners are trapped and determine if anyone survived the accident. We might think the next step would be to plan the best way to get them to freedom. But before determining an escape route and before any machinery is set into motion, the rescuers work to communicate with the miners who are trapped so far below.

            Mining companies have learned that trapped miners can survive up to five times longer when they realize that someone knows where they are. In the case in Chile, it took 17 days of nonstop searching to discover the location of the miners. Once that was determined, a message was lowered though a drilled hole to tell the trapped workers that rescuers knew where they were.

            Nothing had actually changed — they were still trapped, they were still hundreds of feet below the surface and there was no immediate plan in place to get them out or even a certainty that their rescue was possible. The trapped men still had many reasons to be afraid. But the good news was that they had not been abandoned to their fate. Others were working on their behalf, and this gave the miners tremendous relief.

...approximately 1,398 words remaining. You are not logged in. Please see options at the top of this page to view complete sermon.