The Epic Rescue
My childhood friend, Thian, who I knew since elementary school in Bangkok, visited me from Canberra recently. We had some good catching up to do and spent much of our time in our usual light-hearted talks. It is such a blessing to have genuine friends who you can catch up with after a long period and still feel like you’ve never spent years apart.
The issue that was widely publicised at the time was regarding the young Wild Boars football team and their coach in Chiang Rai, Thailand, who disappeared into Tham Luang. At that point when Thain visited, the young players and their coach had not been found yet after disappearing for almost 10 days. We watched a live feed by a Thai TV channel through Facebook showing the media and rescue workers camping outside the cave. As I could not read Thai, Thian read me some of the live comments from the Thai Facebook users. While there were words of encouragement and hope from some, there were an alarming number of nasty comments as well. They went along the line of
“Those kids are so dead”, “Stupid kids wasting all these resources and manpower” or “Aren’t there better things for the Navy SEALs to focus on?”
Those comments were totally pessimistic and unnecessary but that was the sentiment of many at the time. As much as we all wanted a happy ending to this story, it was also quite possible that the boys might not be found alive.
We all know the rest of the story. British divers John Vaughan and Richard Stanton found the boys alive but frail on the 2nd of July. I can just imagine the overwhelming joy the boys must have felt as they heard the voices of the divers. It would have been very discouraging until that point but when the little hope that they had manifested into reality, they must’ve been over the moon.
Then there was the tragedy of Thai Navy SEAL Saman Gunan losing his life in the mission to get the boys out. He is remembered as a faithful and wonderful man by those around him, a true hero who had to sacrifice his life for this wonderful cause.
All the effort paid off and every single one of the boys were rescued by the 10th of July. It was an extraordinary ending to a situation that started off so bleak. All the effort and resources poured into the mission was all worth it! Some say that this showed us humanity at its best.
This whole story made me reflect on the rescue mission conducted to save me and you. I reflect on my own life and how through my own dubious choices I ended up getting stuck in this cave of sin and shame. I became powerless and trapped in the condition. God could have used His resources to do much more worthy things. But no; He wasn’t going to leave me for dead in there. He poured out all His resources, not withholding anything, not even His Son. Christ was willing to give His life to allow this mission to be successful.
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
In the darkness, I heard His voice telling me there’s hope! “We’re coming to get you out of here!” I have experienced how true to His Word He is and look forward to the time when He will finally get us all out of this dark cave and bring us home. Hallelujah!
