The Refuge

They were buried. Alive. 

There was no real hope of getting them out at all, especially getting them out alive. No hope at all. It was just too far. Too deep. There was much too unknown. 

But yet, the digging began. Perhaps the hope was to recover the bodies. Perhaps a few people hoped that enough oxygen would remain and carry them a few days. But 2,300 ft is a long way down. And even if they could dig that far, one degree of variation would mean the difference between finding them, and never finding them at all. 

 For weeks we prayed our hearts out for the trapped Chilean miners. The idea that these men were lost underground without hope was too much to think about. We continued to pray, but day after day passed on with no news. And any hope that remained early on faded to black with each passing day as they were not found. 

In northern Chile, geological instability coupled with poor mining safety practices led to a collapsed mine shaft in 2010. And with the collapse, 33 men were trapped 2,300 ft underground, at the bottom of spiraling underground ramps. It was only speculated where the trapped men might be, after all, there were so many places to begin looking. The task before the rescue workers was daunting. The pressure was high. The world was watching. The fear of failure was tangible, and the conditions underground were dismal. 95 degree heat, 95% humidity, total darkness, and a significant lack of oxygen made survival of these 33 men just a small glimmer of hope. But coupled with the hardness of the rock, the instability of the land and the inadequacy of the provisions for all 33 men made it logical that they would all be dead within days. 

Still, the search and rescue effort began. Bore holes were drilled and directed toward where the highest probability of their location held out. 

Day after day brought no news and dead ends. 

17 days and 30 bore holes in, a final bore hole was drilled, one last try. 

One more, "what if". 

After 17 days underground with no news, drillers broke through the final section of rock into an area labeled The Refuge, an area at the bottom of the mine. There was no sign of life and no way of knowing what the drill bit had found. But the rock gave way, a sign that perhaps an open cavity was found, and drillers began the process of slowly withdrawing the bit designed to claw and chew through even the hardest rock in the Atacama. 

Slowly the bit surfaced, one agonizing foot at a time. 

When the bit vacated the dense rock, rescue workers found a note tied securely to the end. 

Written in red, it said, "Estamos bien en el refugio, los 33".

"We are fine in the refuge, the 33 of us." 

Hope was renewed around the world at that moment. We cheered, we cried, and we thanked God for this renewal of hope and for this evident, visual, tangible miracle we all witnessed. And while we knew that finding them at all was its own miracle, getting them out alive would be another. And so we watched. Countries around the world continued to watch as the Chilean authorities tried to find a way to bring these 33 men to the surface. Day after day brought new hope, yet new challenges, and new failures. Plans A, B, and C were all deployed to find the fastest way to drill a hole large enough to extract these men. And at some points along the way, Plans A, B, and C all failed. But hope held out. And workers kept drilling. 

To say we were anxious for the happy ending to this story is an understatement. But to say we were overjoyed upon the miracle of this story's ending, is absolute truth. Because 69 days after the collapse of this copper and gold mine in the Atacama Desert, the miners were brought out one by one. From half a mile underground, they were brought out one by one in a tiny capsule. All alive. All safe. 

 I watch this documentary with my students. And I know they cannot fully appreciate what they are seeing because they did not watch the live footage on national television with their hearts in their throats like we did. They did not sit in front of national news and pray for a miracle for these 33 men we did not know. They don't understand loss the way many of us do, yet. And at this moment, I know they do not see the overwhelming significance in this story of hope, survival, prayer, and miracles.

Upon this near death experience, left in complete darkness, at the bottom of a mine, 2,300 ft underground, location unknown, there was a refuge. There was a sanctuary of hope at rock bottom. There was just enough food and just enough water and just enough oxygen to sustain them for just enough time. 

In my life, in your life, there is a refuge to sustain you. Through the hard times when you feel you are at the end of your life, the dark times when there is no light to speak of, the times when hope seems futile, the times you are at the rock bottom of a dark pit, even when you think no one can find you,,,

There is a refuge to sustain you.