Archive article 13

Disastrous earthquake hits Haiti  – immediate needs are for

“Search and Rescue” teams

As the first televised reports of the massive earthquake which shook Haiti flashed across the screen, so too the various news reporters summed up the immediate need for international help. It took the form of two words, “search and help”.  And you could easily see why as the images showed the impossible task of survivors trying to tear at huge piles of concrete with their bare hands. How could an uncle, a neighbour, a friend, as compassionate as he might be, be able to lift the rubble to save a dear relative or injured survivor?

It was obvious that you need a group effort which can not only locate survivors but then be able to move the mountains of collapsed buildings to then rescue the person. It was clear how those two words together described the immediate need: resources which could “search” and also “rescue”!

Time is always important in our lives, but even more so in the times of crisis.  The hours immediately following a disaster are crucial. And as the television shots made all too clear, to find people still alive,  there was a dramatic need for equipment which could “search and rescue”. So as I watched the various early reports and heard these two words repeated, they became the focus of my prayer for the Island.  The hours inevitably pass quickly. From 12 to 24. Then from 24 to 36. The more time that passes the less hope there always is for people to be extracted alive. It really is a race against time and the need of the hour was for equipment and personnel which had the ability to “search and rescue”.

The reason that these two words stuck in my brain and alive in my heart probably doesn’t only come from what I was seeing on the screen. These two words are the exact words which I associate with Jesus Christ.  Just a few days ago we celebrated Christmas and the coming of Jesus Christ into our world.  If I were asked to sum up the reason that God sent His son into the world I could find none better than the two words “search and rescue”.

And this is not simply because of my imagination! It was Jesus himself who, speaking with the tax-collector Zaccheus, said…..

“The Son of man came to seek and to save what was lost”.

To this I want to add  that the words  “search and rescue”, not only admirably capture the older biblical phrase “seek and save”, but they were described in a vivid parable by Jesus himself when he explained his own mission to a group of sceptical and intellectual religious critics.  He portrayed a Shepherd leaving the 99 sheep to go in search for the one which was missing. He didn’t settle back for the fact that he had 99 which were safe.  His quest was for the one which was lost, and his mission was to “search and rescue” – a mission which when achieved gave so much happiness that he called all his friends and neighbours to celebrate with him.

I can think of no two words which are so needed today. They are the words which are being used by the media in Haiti in the wake of the disaster created by the earthquake, but they are the same words which Jesus used of His mission to mankind two thousand years ago. “I have come to search and rescue those who are lost”.

36 hours after the disaster, we were shown a baby being lifted alive from the pile of ruins which was her home.  Her mother and father have not survived, but she miraculously did. A passing journalist heard her cry and found a way to rescue her.  How precious it is when Jesus Christ finds someone who is “lost”.  That person is truly “rescued” and given a life which was never believed possible.  For Him, no one is ever ‘too’ lost to not be sought and rescued.  Whoever you may be, wherever you may be, there is hope.  Turn to Jesus – and contact us.  Every thing you read on our site is valid and we, too, are available.

                              Pastor Paul Finch