Thursday the14th

2 Corinthians 9: ¹¹You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. ¹²This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

I was reading an article about the amazing rescue of the miners in Chile, and it was truly amazing, there is no doubt that God’s hand was on that entire rescue operation. I love the quote form one of the miners who said he met God, and he met the devil down there. He said he took God’s hand and never doubted that he would be saved. At the end of the article a geologist was quoted on the likely hood of these men going back down into the mine. He said if they need the work they will go because "It's their life, their culture, the way they make their living." That quote really stuck with me…..it sounds like a pretty bleak outlook doesn’t it? It is what they know, it is how they make their living…….A man is saved, he said he found God, yet the thought is that he might return to his old life, because that is all he knows. It begs the question, how do you make your living? Have you found God yet feel compelled to go back to your old life because that is your culture? I know that is how the world sees things, I know that is how many people live their life. No matter what happens to them, they just go on back to the way things were. It is almost a one step forward and two steps back type of life. We share something in common with those miners, you might not realize it, but you do. You see we too are trapped, we are trapped by this world, by this society, by this idea that we can only be one thing. We might not have been trapped in a mine, but I know that each of us have been trapped in some pretty dark places…..we have had to endure some pretty painful seasons. Some may be trapped there right now. During that time, just like that miner said, we too meet God, and we meet the devil, we have chosen, or will choose which hand to take, and yes the devils hand is out there just as far as God’s….and when our season passes, when the darkness fades and we see the sunlight once again. Just like those miners we have a choice to make……what are you going to work for, how will you make your living? Will you step out into the sunlight and go out and use that hardship to help others through theirs? Will you take God’s hand when it is offered, then go out and live a life that glorifies God? Or will you listen to the world, will you take the easy way, and just go back to what you know, walking willingly back into that darkness, because that after all is your culture? I pray for each one of those men, I pray that they will never have to descend back down into darkness after what they have endured. I pray that the powers that be do the right thing and take the steps needed to ensure they are running a safe mine. Most of all I pray for all of you, I pray that when you are delivered from the darkness of your own mine that you step into the sunlight never looking back to the darkness. It is not your “culture” it is not “all you can do”. We are children of God, we are siblings of Christ, you are not set in any mold other than the one of perfection that God cast you in, the one that is in His image. Choose to take God’s hand, and never look back, give that love generously, so that all may give thanks to God.

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

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