What do we do when people need rescue?
Like a lot of you, this story caught my attention a few weeks ago.
On June 23, the Wild Boar soccer team, a team of 12 boys ages 11-16 in Thailand, entered a cave after soccer practice along with their 25 year old coach for a little team building. They parked their bikes outside the cave, dropped their back packs & took off their shoes. Then entered the cave together.
The whole world was captivated as we learned that this group of boys who had gone to the cave for fun were soon trapped as monsoon rains caused a flash flood in the cave & left them trapped for more than 2 weeks.
Because they had just come from practice & weren’t planning to stay in the cave, they had no provisions.
In an effort to avoid the rising flood waters, they journeyed deeper into the cave looking for a way out. The boys were four kilometers from the entrance to the cave with no way to escape. When they couldn’t find a way out, they started digging hoping they could make their own way out. They dug 16 meters to no avail.
The youngest kid on the team is an 11 year old boy named Titan. Can you imagine being the 11 year old boy trapped in the cave? No food. Only cave water to drink. All you want is to go home.
A park officer saw the boy’s backpacks, bicycles & soccer cleats outside the cave. That’s when a massive search was launched for the boys. They were finally found on July 2. That’s when the search became a rescue mission.
Search and Rescue
What happened next was unbelievable.
People from all around the world dropped what they were doing & came to Thailand to be apart of the rescue mission. This became an international effort to save these 12 boys & their coach. And it wouldn’t be easy.
Most of the boys couldn’t swim. Not to mention the fact that escaping the cave meant navigating under water for hours through tight spaces & through jagged parts of the cave.
This would be a near impossible rescue mission. The probability that all 13 would be saved was somewhere between slim & none.
But this is what we do when there’s a crisis, isn’t it?
When there’s problem of this magnitude, when kids need rescue, when lives are at stake, people pull together to find a way to save them.
And nothing gets in the way of that mission. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, what language you speak, if you can help, if you can contribute to the effort to save those who are in danger of losing their life, then you’re a part of the rescue team.
The International Rescue Team
That’s what happened here.
More than 1000 people from 7 different countries pulled together to be a part of the rescue team. Their mission was clear. Form & execute a plan to save every life, to save every boy trapped in that cave.
No one asked where the money would come from to pay for this. No one wondered if they should do it or not. No one who could help thought twice about whether they should help or just hope that someone else would do it. People from all around the world pulled together with a sense of urgency to rescue the boys.
This is one of the things I love about people. As far as I can tell, most people, when there is a problem, regardless of their theology, regardless of their background, regardless of their race, religion, language, place of origin… most people, when there is a problem, when someone needs help, we find a way to help.
When there’s a hurricane, or a flood, or a fire, or whatever it is… we go & find a way to help. We send money & supplies. We look for ways to be a part of the rescue effort.
The Rescue Mission of God
I think that’s true of people because that’s true of God.
All people, whether they realize it or not, are created in the image of God. And it’s part of God’s nature to value life, to value people no matter their origin, language, race, background or experience. It’s part of God’s nature to do search & rescue. To find a way to save lives.
And if you haven’t figured it out yet, that’s precisely what the cross is all about!
From the very beginning of time when sin first entered the world, God started forming a plan to save the world, to save every person no matter the cost. And it would, in fact, cost God everything. It would cost Him the life of His one & only Son. But there was no price God wasn’t willing to pay to save you.
[Tweet “There was no price God wasn’t willing to pay to save you.”]And Jesus was willing to go to the cross so that you & I might have the opportunity to know God, to experience His great love & to be a part of the greatest rescue mission the world has ever known.
This is the story we tell every week when we gather. The story of a God who loved us so much that He SENT His one & only Son for us. Who came to SEEK & SAVE the lost. The story of Jesus who loved us so much that He went to the cross & died for us!
But, the cross wasn’t the end of the story.
The cross is central to the story & it’s a crucial part of the story, but it’s not the end of the story.
We celebrate the cross & we remember the cross & we know what the cross stands for. But the cross is really only meaningful because it wasn’t the end of the story. If the cross of Jesus was the end of the story, if it were the end of His story, then it would have just been another cross & He would have just been another person crucified by Roman soldiers.
But the cross wasn’t the end. Jesus wasn’t just another person crucified by the Romans. There’s more to the story.
And Mark wanted us to know that there was more to the story.
At the end of Mark’s gospel, we find these words…
“And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.” – Mark 16.15
Jesus told them that now it’s their job to go & share this message with the whole world.
That now it’s their job to be a part of the international rescue team.
To go into all the world, to seek & save the lost, to tell people who… without hearing & believing this good news about Jesus & about God’s love… they will die. Now it’s the job, it’s the calling, it’s the mission of every disciple of Jesus to join Jesus on His rescue mission to go & share this news with everyone so that everyone can be saved!
[Tweet “It’s the calling of every disciple of Jesus to join Jesus on His rescue mission.”]Join the mission
On July 10th, the last few boys along with their soccer coach emerged from the cave. Everyone of them made it out alive.
You probably know this, but one rescue worker did die in the effort to save the boys. 38 year old volunteer Saman Kunan passed away placing oxygen tanks along the passage way & was found by another diver.
Being a part of the rescue mission will likely cost you something. It might cost you financially. It might cost you relationally. It might cost you your life. I don’t know. But I do know that when you’re willing to pay the price, that lives will be saved.
This is why discipleship matters. This is why your daily time with God matters. This is why church matters. All of it prepares us for that which we do not know. But when the time comes, when it happens, we are ready!
Ready to be sent. Ready to be deployed. Ready for rescue. Ready to share the message. Ready to tell the person God has put in front of us about His amazing love. Ready to point others to the amazing love of God.
This is important because this is exactly the way Jesus lived. The movement of Jesus always pointed others towards the amazing love of God.
[Tweet “The movement of Jesus always points others towards the amazing love of God.”]The movement of Jesus is always towards search & rescue.
So who has God put in your life that needs to hear the message of God’s great love?
Sometimes we say the church is a hospital for the sick. And we are. Sometimes we say we are a refuge for the weak. And we are! But we are also a group of rescue workers ready to go into the dark places & shine the light of Christ!
So go & share the message of the great love of God with those in your world today.
It’s your move!
To read more from this series, click #MOVE!
