The twelve teenage boys thought it would be fun. Exciting! As each boy followed the man that day there was no way their thoughts anticipated what would happen.
All of them entered the darkness. Danger everywhere. It was June 23, 2018.
After walking two miles, water began rising at their feet. The cave exploration was coming to a horrible end. Their twenty-five-year-old soccer team coach and “guide” kept taking them higher to avoid drowning. It was monsoon season!
This flash flood was deadly. Without food, water, or light, there was only darkness. They would all die. After nine days of searching the caves, rescuers bobbed to the murky water’s surface.
Elated, the boys continually said, “Thank you, thank you!” The ordeal wasn’t over yet. Evacuation could only be achieved by swimming under the muddy waters for two miles. One boy at a time.
Each rescue took two hours. Sixty-three hours later, all were safe. It was July ninth.
Wow! Have you ever found yourself in such lost circumstances? This story reminds me of our sinful nature. We think sin is fun; exciting. Not thinking about consequences: an unwanted pregnancy, a smashedup car, a battered body. A lost soul!
Would you be thinking about Jesus if you were trapped like those boys? What fear! What would you be thinking?
The apostle Paul writes in the Bible, “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time” (1 Timothy 2:3-6).
Jesus came into the world at just the right time. We need Him as much today as the ancient world did. If you lived back then, would you be thinking about Jesus?
Paul also writes in the Bible, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly...God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6,8).
Jesus came to save people who have sinned. God wants all mankind to be saved, like a drowning person in a hopeless situation. Would you be thinking about Jesus?
Jesus came to rescue the lost and dying. Now, it’s your turn to be thinking about Jesus.