About Those Miners in Chile

I was listening to one of those  “the rest of the story'” episodes the other day on one of my favorite radio shows In the Market with Janet Parschall.  She recounted the actions many churches made to assist the trapped miners in Chile and their families.

Discussed here at First Things:

Christian Differences Illustrated

by David Mills

An illustration of the differences that still divide serious Christians, from contrasting stories on the 33 Chilean miners trapped so long underground. From the (Southern) Baptist Press:

When the mine collapsed, three of the miners — including Henríquez — were Christians. Since then, two more of them have made professions of faith. . . . He [Marcelo Leiva, a Chilean Baptist minister serving at the site] has noticed the difference between the families who know Christ and the families who do not.

“This has been a testimony to what the Lord can do in a person’s life,” Leiva said. “Those that are the children of the Lord have been those that have shown, even in the midst of the storm, a testimony of peace, tranquility and trust in the Lord.”

And from the English weekly the Catholic Herald:

. . . what it is that has kept the men sane and united and undespairing, what has sustained their hope of deliverance from this truly appalling ordeal. I have no doubt at all that it was their religion and that that there weren’t that many Adventists or Evangelicals down there. . . .

Consider the following CNA report from Santiago, which appeared on August 27: “The 33 miners trapped in the San Jose mine in Atacama, Chile, have requested that statues and religious pictures be sent down to them as they wait to be rescued… “Although a crucifix has already been sent down, the miners are continuing to request more statues of Mary and the saints… to construct a makeshift chapel.

Then today a friend sent this:

I can only hope that if I ever end up trapped or in great peril that someone with a faith without doubt or wavering is dedicated to rescuing me and pleading with God Almighty for my safety and my salvation.

The solutions to the problems of this world are beyond us, praise God they are not beyond His sovereignty.
II Chronicles  7:14