Streams of Mercy
Like many folks around the world, my heart has been in that cave in Thailand keeping watch over those young soccer players and their coach.
The drama of the rescue, with all its euphoric peaks and anxious lows, has gripped the world, prompting experts from all over to weigh in on possible extraction methods that would minimize risk to the boys. Authorities for days have been stalling on a firm decision on the best way to extract the boys and their coach. Efforts to drill down from the top of the mountain have been unsuccessful. Impending rains make that option less viable anyway, as it would take too long.
While water levels in the cave were the lowest they had been throughout this mission, and the first few chambers the group had to pass through – all of which were flooded days ago – were dry, and oxygen levels were stabilized following fears that the chamber the group was in was filling with carbon dioxide from members of the large rescue operation, it was thought these conditions were unlikely to hold up, as rains fell almost relentlessly.
Before the rescue attempt was announced on Sunday morning, ambulances were seen zipping up a muddy pathway to take their stations. Officials moved the large media contingent away from the rescue site to make way for those working directly on the extraction. According to information released by the Thai government, four boys have been brought to safety. The boys were each attached to a diver, with another positioned behind them, as they made their way through the dark, murky waters that have clogged the cave’s passageways. Each boy was fitted with a face mask connected to a compressed air tank. At especially narrow parts of the cave, the tanks had to be released from their backs and rolled through.
The divers on the international team assisting the effort are from the United States, Australia, China, and Europe. At the present time, four boys are out safely. Our prayers continue for the safe return of all the boys and their coach, and the safety of the rescue teams.
There are sacred moments of time when we come together as a human family, beyond the differences that would usually divide us. I remember the story of the little girl looking at a world globe and asking “Who drew all the lines separating the people of the world?” We smile at such a question, but it touches our hearts just the same.
Do you remember the song “We Are the World?” The charity single originally recorded by the supergroup , United Support of Artists for Africa in l985, was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie The song topped music charts throughout the world and became the fastest-selling American pop single in history. “We Are the World” raised over $63 million for humanitarian aid in Africa and the US.
I was teaching elementary school in Kentucky and well remember the Elementary Chorus leading the student body in the singing of the song, and in that moment, everything seemed possible! Remember the words?
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
There’s a chance we’re taking
We’re taking our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a brighter day
Just you and me.
There comes a time
When we heed a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
Oh, and it’s time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all
We can’t go on
Pretending day-by-day
That someone, somewhere soon makes a change
We’re all a part of God’s great big family
And the truth, you know, love is all we need.
Continuing to pray for the safe return of each one from that cave; giving thanks for those sacred moments when we realize “we are the world…..a part of God’s great big family” ; and for those streams of mercy, never ceasing, carrying us on toward a new day of hope and possibility.
Elizabeth