Miracle in Chile

Last night was another “aha” moment. The excitement and anticipation reminded me of 41 years ago, the summer of 1969 – watching the moon landing and waiting to see one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

My heart was in my throat as I watched the live feed on http://www.cnn.com/ to see the ascension to freedom of the first miner from the depths of the earth. It was equally striking. After being “underground” for 69 days…I can only imagine the horror of it all.

It was nothing short of a miracle. As one miner stated, To say there were 33 trapped in the mine is wrong. There were 33 men — and God.

I was glued to the screen as I watched one, two, three, then four men arise from the depths of the mine.

Miner #2 was especially joyful. Jumping around with excitement and giving abrazos to everyone within reach and turning around again to give the Chilean President another one, then another. He reached into his knapsack and gave several of the surrounding people a souvenir rock from down below, then he ran over to the crowd and led them in a cheer: C-H-I-L-E, C-H-I-L-E, C-H-I-L-E. The excitement was contagious.

As I watched the joyous reunions, I could only think of how that must be one small inkling of the joy that will be felt when we’re reunited with our loved ones on the other side after this life.