Posted on: Saturday, October 2, 2004
EXPRESSIONS OF FAITH
Stranded have hope of rescue
By Rev. Dennis Mendoza
A few years ago, the Russian submarine Kursk was involved in an accident that led to its sinking in about 600 feet of water.
Rescuers were hopeful they could reach survivors in time.
Days passed. When rescuers finally got to the stricken sub, they found water had completely filled the ship. Everyone aboard had died.
Later, it was revealed that a number of the crewmen had lived through the initial explosion and made their way to an air pocket in the ship, where they eventually died. One crewman was found with a farewell letter to his beloved wife. In the cold darkness of the flooded sub's hull, he had been able to write a letter to her and seal it in a plastic bag.
What would it have been like on that submarine?
Water inundating you, your crewmates crying out in the darkness for help and finally huddling together, holding out hope those rescuers were on their way.
In many ways, the world we live in can be like that submarine: cold, dark, filled with danger and despair, suffocating and scary.
Just reading the evening news confirms this.
Praise the Lord that through Jesus we have been rescued from a seemingly hopeless plight! Colossians 1:13 says: "For he delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son."
We who at one time were separated far from Christ, having no hope without God in this world, have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2).
The only person who could save us, Jesus Christ, has rescued us from a sunken, flooded, darkened, cold sub.
That is good news worth sharing, my friend. There is hope beyond this world, this life. The best is yet to come.
"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we eagerly wait for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:2).
The Rev. Dennis Mendoza is pastor of International Baptist Church in Honolulu. Expressions of Faith welcomes written works from pastors, priests, other leaders in faith and spirituality, and lay people. E-mail faith@honoluluadvertiser.com or call 525-8035. Articles submitted to The Advertiser may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.
