Two miners rescued after 2 weeks underground.

In the small town of Beaconsfield, Tasmania, two miners were released after spending two weeks trapped nearly 1 kilometre under the ground.

The whole of Australia has been caught up in this saga. The joy of their release this morning was almost tangible in the atmosphere.

At the beginning of the rescue operation, the mine manager said "This is the Olympics of mine rescues. Nobody has ever done anything like this before."

The rescue effort involved boring a tunnel 1 metre in diameter for 14 metres through some of the hardest rock on the planet. They had to drill slowly and carefully for fear of setting off another earth tremor similar to the one which had trapped the men in the first place.

Then from this rescue tunnel they had to use hand-held power tools to cut upwards through rock to the cavity where the men were.

Enormous amounts of time, energy, work, resources were poured out to rescue two men. Many obstacles and difficulties were encountered along the way, but they didn't give up.

There no guarantees that they would be successful.

The rescuers risked their lives for the sake of the men they were freeing.

This reminds me of how precious human beings are.

How much did it cost God to rescue us from the trap of our sin?

Praise God, He did not hold anything back from us, but sent His Only Son Jesus to rescue us from the power of sin.

Blessings

Keith