Of the many unsung heroes who rose to the occasion helping to rescue the nine trapped miners in Somerset County, one may be head and shoulders above the rest.
It's still hard to believe our prayers were answered — especially since some of us thought all was lost. Nearly everyone seemed to describe the happy ending as miraculous. However, there is a missing piece to the feel-good story of the summer.
How can so many people talk about a miracle yet not talk about God⢠Maybe, just maybe, a case could be made that miracles are something more than random chance.
During the agonizing ordeal, it seemed as if everyone connected with the story referred to prayer — the miners' families, rescue workers, television reporters. Surely everyone praying was begging for the miners' salvation from that blackest of black holes.
Did you notice how few spoke about the odds of success, even after the drill bit broke⢠There were not many sound bites about applying statistical principles such as "random sample," "standard deviation" or "variance" to calculate the probability of success. Chances are that those prayers were not beseeching a statistician.
To whom can you pray other than God?
Dear reader, please know the rant du jour has nothing to do with religion. And it will not even try to make the case that God exists. Your beliefs are your business.
While devouring the news reports about the accident and rescue, no one seemed to have trouble saying things such as, "You are in our prayers" or "Our prayers are with you."
It looked as if many prayed for his help with the rescue effort, but few acknowledged that help when they were interviewed afterward. Yes, many said their prayers were answered, but I didn't hear many say by whom. God is the real unsung hero.
Unless prayer is nothing more than a coping mechanism whenever you face possible disaster, how can you not give God credit when he gives you what you pray forâ¢
Miracle — "An event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature and so is held to be supernatural in origin or an act of God," says the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. "Supernatural" involves an act of God, at least that is how it works for me. Maybe that's also how it works for those miners and their loved ones.
If you don't think the rescue was an act of God, then don't call it a miracle.
Do you get a sense that some people are embarrassed or self-conscious whenever God is mentioned anywhere other than in a house of worship?
Why does it take the threat of tragedy to get so many people talking about what they hope he would do?
If people can speak freely about prayers and miracles, why don't all of them speak freely about the final third of that equation?
There is no shame saying God came through for you, whether you prayed for the miners or wished for something more mundane.
Have you ever given a gift, but were not thanked for it⢠Did you think the recipient was an ingrate⢠How hard would it have been for that person to offer a sincere "thank you"â¢
Surely, many said "Thank God" as the last of the nine was lifted out, but how many actually "thanked" Godâ¢
Our prayers were answered. Let's not act like ingrates.
