Did you see what I saw? A reflection of Christmas, in the oddest place.
When the main shaft of a copper and gold mine in the Atacama Desert collapsed in early August, it buried thirty-three men. For weeks no one knew if they were dead or alive.
On Day 17, a search drill from the surface found its way into the cavity where the men had gathered. When it returned to the desert sand it had a passenger: a scrap of paper, bearing this message: “We are fine, in the mine, 33 of us.”
But thirty-three men needed saving. Fifty-two days and monumental costs later, a giant pulley on the desert surface lowered a saviour—a metal, bullet-shaped rescue capsule a half a mile below the Chilean landscape. An hour later—after living for 69 days in subterranean hell—the first miner stood on the desert. The world roared with delight.
The Pheonix 2 plunged and surfaced over and over, each time bearing another rescued man. I watched, clenching my jaw and gripping the Preacher’s hand. “Keep your eyes on the wheel,” he said. As long as it’s turning, they’re okay.”
Did you hear what I heard? Never have so many people—many more than a billion worldwide—rejoiced at the same time, for the same reason. For twenty-three hours, we watched men get saved. We laughed. We cried. We speculated. We joined hands. And we remembered that faith is infinitely more attractive than cynicism.
Images remain: a released miner, embracing his wife, running his hand through her glossy hair. Fists in the air, bursts of jubilant shouting from inside the capsule before it even surfaced. Miners fallen to their knees in prayers of gratitude for their rescue. A father and son locked in tight hug. The Chilean president and his wife, waiting at the top with the miners’ families, greeting each man with joy.
The oldest miner, 64-year-old Mario Gomez, wrote the note that told the world the trapped men were alive. He took the ninth trip up. His sister, Eva, had spoken to him a few days before. “…He said was that he was scared, that the mine was making creaking noises, that he was tired, that he felt sick.”
When the capsule door opened at the top, her brother fell on his knees in a prayer of gratitude. “I’ve spent a night with the devil,” he said, as had another miner before him. “But I grabbed God’s hand…I never doubted he would take me up.”
Do you know what I know? Everyone, in their own way, has “spent the night with the devil.” But God, in an infinitely costly move, designed a rescue capsule to plunge to earth and pluck weary, fearful people from sin-collapsed lives. A saviour…Christ the Lord. To lift us to inner peace and the promise of heaven—if we trust the capsule.
Do you see what I see? A child, a child….come to bring us goodness and light. And in the oddest place.
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No one can sing that song like Bing Cosby did. For the memories…
Evangelical Christianity is full of much “Christian-ese”. Often we assume people understand what we mean by phrases that feel so comfortable to us. If the term “getting saved” has confused you…this little video explains it well.