miners who were trapped in a mine in Chile on August 3rd

 

       At this point there is little doubt that you have heard about the miners who were trapped in a mine in Chile on August 3rd of this year.  In fact, a couple of articles have even come from our Daily Breads.  So, most of you are probably aware of most of the events that occurred there.  However, there are a few details that I was surprised to hear that I wanted to share.
       As we know, the rescue plan was to drill a hole down to the miners and basically bring them up in a type of pod that could be hoisted up and down the hole until all of them were out.  However, because of the rescuers' equipment, and possibly other reasons, they were not going to be able to drill a very wide hole. This meant that the miners would have to be small enough to fit into the pod.  Since this was the case, this only gave the miners two options. (1) Get in shape/stay in shape, or (2) stay in the mine.  If the miners lost weight and stayed in shape, they would be able to fit out of the hole.  However, if the miners did not stay slim enough, they would be too big to make it out and would have to stay in the mine.
       People throughout the world have been rejoicing as all 33 men made it out of the mine a couple of days ago.  These men were only given two options, but obviously they chose to do what it took to get out of the mine.  And who wouldn't?
       Many times in scripture we are given two options as well.  Mark 16:16 says, "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved, but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned."  There are only two options given here.  We can either do it God's way and be saved, or do it a different way and be condemned.  1 John 1 talks about how we can either "walk in the light," or we can "walk in darkness."  Again, there are only two options.  This is very common occurrence in Scripture.  It's God's way, or the wrong way.  Light or Darkness.  Faithfulness or Lawlessness.  Heaven or Hell.
       The miners were only given two options and they chose to do what it took to get their freedom and their lives back. Spiritually, we are also only given two options.  We can either be lost in the darkness of our sin, or we can be brought out into God's marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).  As we go through our lives, let's keep in mind the two options that we have spiritually, and make sure we make the decisions necessary to keep ourselves out of the dark cave of sin.

 

Brett Petrillo