Lessons from Chile:"Are YOU Ready for the Pits of HELL?"

"It is living in eternal darkness," 43-year-old Carlos Bugueno wrote to his family.

Bugueno was one of 33 men stuck in a mine in Chile for 69 days (Aug. 5-Oct 13). You don't have to think too hard to know that being entombed underground in total darkness has got to be "The Pits of Hell!"

But...the 33 men survived!

Many will credit the rescue efforts and the meticulous details that were executed to bring man, after man, after man, out of 2,000 feet of darkness into the light.

Congratulations are indeed warranted for the Chilean rescue team and all involved in getting those men out...without a hitch! Now, three days after the rescue, many are praising Andre Sougarre, a "straight-talking" engineer for success of the mission.

Yes, a small country in South America taught the WORLD how to unite and work for the good of all...putting the BEST men in charge, without care for politics, and some of the normal rumblings that go on in other places. Andre Sougarre was summoned by the Chilean President because he was known to be the best. He said he focused on getting the job done, not on the other "outside things." He said:

"I never allowed myself to think about what was happening with them — that's anxiety-causing. I told myself, 'My objective is to create an access, a connection. Put that in your head.'"

"Why they were there and what happened, that's not my responsibility. My responsibility is to get there and get them out."

Putting egos aside, Chile brought its countrymen up into the LIGHT!!!

Let us learn lessons from Chile.

But, I go back to the time before the rescue.

I go back to the 14 days, where no one above knew whether those 33 men were alive or dead.

What kept them alive...when they didn't know whether they would ever again see the light of day?

I dare say...the Spirit Within!

In stating this, I'm suggesting both a literal and metaphorical perspective:
First, the men had to believe in their ability to survive and also want to survive.
Then, within the group, each person seemed to have special gifts or talents that they shared with the others.

There was Pastor/Spiritual Leader Jose Henriquez, the 24th man to be rescued.
There was Ariel Ticona, who was able to set up communications.
There was the group foreman, Luis Urzua, who rationed their meager and dwindling food supplies.
Yonni Barrios, became known as "the doctor," because he knew first aid; Mario Sepulveda, "the spokesman," who set up video and messages from the group.

[A combination photo shows headshots of the 33 miners trapped in a copper and gold mine in Copiapo, Chile. The first of Chile's 33 trapped miners were pulled to safety on Wednesday after a two-month ordeal inside a Chilean mine in Chile's northern Atacama desert. From (L-R) (top row) Carlos Mamani, Jose Ojeda Vidal, Jose Herriquez Gonzalez, Luis Urzua Iribarren, Omar Reygada Rojas, Mario Gomez Heredia, Pablo Rojas Villacorta, Claudio Yanez Lagos, Juan Illanes Palma, Mario Sepulveda Espinace and Juan Carlos Aguilar Gaete, (middle row) Yonni Barrios Rojas, Victor Zamora Bugueno, Carlos Barrios Contreras, VÌctor Segovia Rojas, Claudio Acuna Cortes, Carlos Bugueno Alfaro, Ariel Ticonao Yanez, Samuel Avalos Acuna, Renan Avalos Silva, Dario Segovia Rojo and Richard Villaroel Godoy, (bottom row) Osman Araya Araya, Jorge Galleguillos Orellana, Jimmy Sanchez Lagues, Franklin Lobos Ramirez, Florencio Avalos Silva, Esteban Rojas Carrizo, Raul Bustos Ibanez, Pedro Cortez Contreras, Daniel Herrera Campos, Edison Pena Villaroel and Alex Vega Salazar.]

But the greatest talent the men had...was an ability to connect within themselves.

"We did have the strength, we had the spirit to fight," Urzua told Chilean President Sebastián Piñera after he emerged from the hole.

There is no man or woman who can help another find TRUTH within, unless he or she is open to believing and feeling it.

There is no way anyone can survive the Pits of Hell without having an inner determination to believe...feel the stirrings of the Spirit of God within them and want to keep on keeping on!

Then, there is the Spirit of those above ground that simply refused to let those men die!

Many could have given up hope after 14 days, too, and not really, seriously attempted a solution. After all, never in history of mining has any group or individual survived as long as 14 days underground!

So, how did the "miracle" happen?


Faith & Prayer; FAITH & PRAYER...reaching within your own self and finding truth within you and believing, despite the "evidence" that suggests otherwise.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11: 1

We often hear:

"God in you, the hope of Glory!"

To not have faith in God and to continue to live in the world we live in is to be living in the Pits of Hell! Our primary purpose in this lifetime is to uncover the TRUTH within us and to connect with our "forgotten" Soul!

"Your chief task in life is the care of your Soul. You should care for your Soul and work to improve it, and you can improve it only with love."

--Leo Tolstoy

Often, many people are able to connect with the Spirit (Soul) within themselves in crises, and they find the strength to go on. In comparison to the miners' experience, many of these challenges are insignificant, but are thought to be "the end of the world" type experiences for many.

After the crisis is over, though, many walk away, never looking back until the next one happens.

When will we attempt to find and live in this perpetual state of hope and glory of God?

My suggestion is that you don't wait for the next crisis to hit your life. I suggest that you begin to take a page out of the many lessons the 33 miners lived on to tell us. Begin to find the Truth within yourself.


We are Free!

We are able to enjoy sunshine most days. Even when the sun is not shining at its brightest, we are still given "natural" light of some sort.

Let us learn to look at the 33 miners as "messengers of Truth!"

Ricardo Villaroel, 28th miner to be rescued, said, "I never used to pray; here I learned to pray and I got closer to God."

"Love your family and be close to God; you only get close to him when you're in a bad place."

Let us see in their situation just a few Truths about life:


1. It takes prayer.
2. It takes a connected community.
3. It takes love for your fellow man.
4. It takes caring for each other in our depths of despair.
5. It takes forgiving all the wrongs we may encounter each day and moving past our own struggles to see the plight of others who may walk within and among us.
6. It takes always wanting to reach deeper within ourselves to find the TRUTH that may not be so evident, especially on the "surface of things."
7. On the surface, it may seem that YOU are the source of your power; but it is so much deeper: it takes connection to our Soul to survive and thrive! Without this real and authentic connection, we are just spinning our wheels until the next crisis. Let's truly learn to LIVE and get out of the Pits of Hell!

"I soar from the mines of impossibility. I rise from the shafts of doubt. I fly from the soil of burdens -- and I am lifted in a new day! I don't need anyone's permission or approval. My prayers have been answered, and I am free at last!"

Rev. Cecilia Loving, Spiritmuv, New York City


Namaste',
Che'