On the night of July 24, 2002 nine miners were working the second shift in the Quecreek Mine near Somerset, Pennsylvania when they unexpectedly broke through a wall and into a cavern just beyond.  Suddenly a massive flow of water began to gush into their shaft; between 50 to 60 million gallons of water; frigid, 55-degree water. The miners were trapped in a dark, wet, cold prison 240 feet below the surface. The miners "decided early on they were either going to live or die as a group," so "when one would get cold, the other eight would huddle around the person and warm that person, and when another person got cold, the favor was returned." After three desperate days, they were all rescued.

"Everybody had strong moments," miner Harry B. Mayhugh told reporters after being released from Somerset Hospital in Somerset. "But any certain time maybe one guy got down, and then the rest pulled together. And then that guy would get back up, and maybe someone else would feel a little weaker, but it was a team effort. That's the only way it could have been." *

They faced incredibly hostile conditions together and they all came out alive together.

What a picture of what God envisions for the CHURCH!

Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2) and from one another!  But God loves us so much that He gave His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins (John 3:16; Ephesians 1:7).  Through Jesus, we are reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-21).

We are reconciled to God when we accept His offer reconciliation (and salvation and eternal life!) by placing our faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turning from sin in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confessing Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and being baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:38).  This is how one “obeys the Gospel” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 6:3-4).  We experience the “new birth” (John 3:3-5; 1 Peter 1:23).

And when we are “born again,” we are born into a family – the family of God, the Church (Acts 2:41, 47).  We have God as our Heavenly Father as well as brothers and sisters in Christ to help us as we live the Christian life.

Miner Harry B. Mayhugh’s words should reflect the unity and purpose that is experienced in God’s Family:  "But any certain time maybe one guy got down, and then the rest pulled together. And then that guy would get back up, and maybe someone else would feel a little weaker, but it was a team effort. That's the only way it could have been."

That is the way that God intends for it to be in His Family, the church: Christians helping one another in the struggles that flood our lives, awaiting the Day when Jesus will come back and take His Family home.

Won’t YOU be reconciled to God by trusting and obeying Christ so that you may become a part of His Family?

David Sargent, Minister