|
Themes Able to Save THE TUNNEL TO SAFETY Reba McClure ran to answer the phone. Some neighborhood children were playing in the backyard with Jessica, her 18 month old daughter. When Reba hung up, she turned to see all the children huddled around a hole in the ground. Jessica was gone. She had fallen 22 feet down a 12 inch wide well shaft. Rescue workers soon arrived and lowered a microphone down the hole. They heard a tiny cry. Workers began to dig a hole next to the well with a backhoe. The big shovel scrapped away two feet of earth and then slammed into solid rock. Workers brought in bigger equipment. Drills kept breaking. Progress was slow. Hour by hour they worked, only stopping to listen for Jessica's cries. Ten hours later, darkness descended. They were only five feet down. As one worker tired, another jumped in to fill his place. Reba and her husband Chip hugged each other and waited. By morning, the hole was 29 feet deep. Workers then began the tunnel across to the well. Each worker would lie on his stomach and use a 45 pound jackhammer. They worked through the rock at one inch per hour. Each worker could only hold the jackhammer for 15-30 minutes before the steel-like rock would win and they would climb out exhausted. One driller collapsed and several others had to be hauled out due to the dust. Soon Jessica began to sing her favorite Winnie-the-Pooh song. The little voice brought tears to their eyes and made them even more determined to get Jessica out alive. The hours slipped away until another night came. By the morning of October 16th, 1987, Jessica had been stuck with her foot jammed up against her face for 48 hours. Her voice grew weaker with hunger and thirst.
One worker asked what a kitten says. "Meow," she replied. She was still responding so workers kept chiseling away. At noon, they broke through the well shaft. Worker Robert O'Donnell could reach in and touch her but he could not get her out. The workers then began to widen the tunnel. Finally at 6:00P.M. everything stopped. O'Donnell climbed down the hole and across the tunnel. He gently pulled on Jessica but she would not budge. He pulled harder until she began to cry. For two hours O'Donnell struggled to free her. Finally, he coated the walls of the shaft with clear jelly. Then, slowly he pulled her down. With one final tug, Jessica fell down into his grasp. He then strapped her on a board and lifted her up to the surface. The workers cheered and her parents sobbed with joy. After 581/2 hours in the well, Jessica was safe! Jessica had been completely helpless to save herself. Unless someone came to where she was, she never would have been saved. The Bible says, we are like Jessica. We cannot save ourselves. Unless someone comes to earth, we will never be saved. Thankfully, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15). He came to earth to suffer and die on the cross. He is "worthy of all acceptation." In other words, you can accept Him and depend on Him for the salvation of your soul. Have you?
Other pages in this section
|
Jim Batterton
