Nothing Short of A Miracle!
Whether one is a Christian, a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Hindu or a Sect, there is no denying that the recent event in the Tham Luang Caves was nothing short of a miracle. Imagine this:
(1) There were twelve teenage boys in the caves and none of them could swim well.
(2) There was their football coach, a twenty-five-year-old teacher, who, again could not swim very well.
(3) They were stuck in one confined space no less than half the size of a tennis court for seventeen days.
(4) The waters of the monsoon were flooding the space and the water was coming fast and rising.
(5) The caves were considered by expert divers as the most difficult to maneuver by many expert divers from overseas.
Prior to the rescue efforts of the expert divers from many countries, no one would have thought that the thirteen members could be rescued alive.
The following facts add to the belief that the entire episode was carried out with an extraordinary hand of the ever-caring God, in whatsoever form one might want to think God is/or was.
(a) The rope that the British rescue-divers was using to guide them into the cave ended just at the spot close to and within reach of the boys. Had the rope been longer it would have passed straight under the waters next to the boys and they would not have found the boys.
(b) Only one of the boys could speak a spattering amount of the English Language to communicate with the British divers.
(c) The rain remained slight (without affecting the rescue operation) during the rescue mission of three days (three or four boys a day) but as soon as the last boys left the cave safely, the pump that took the water from the cave broke and the cave was flooded.
(d) All the boys and their coach were in surprisingly good health in spite of spending so many days in confinement
(e) There was just one moment of despair when one of the divers died due to a lack of oxygen when he was depositing oxygen tanks inside the cave’s tunnels.
“Thirteen is not now an unlucky number anymore.”
The final four boys and their soccer coach were successfully removed from a flooded cave in Thailand on Tuesday, capping a herculean international rescue effort that appeared bleak just days ago.
Four Corners documents the extraordinary international effort to find and rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach from a remote cave in northern Thailand. Mark Willacy was in northern Thailand for this special report.
The 12 boys rescued from a flooded cave in Thailand have spoken publicly of their ordeal for the first time, describing the “moment of a miracle” when divers found them. Adul Sam-on, 14, the only member of the group who speaks English, told reporters he could only say “hello” when the British divers surfaced. The boys were trapped in the Tham Luang caves for more than two weeks. They left hospital earlier on Wednesday and are on their way home.
Now that all the thirteen have been rescued, let us turn our attention on a social media posting that gives me a good laugh. The heading of this posting would perhaps be: “How would Singapore deal with a similar situation where Singaporean schoolboys were stuck in such a cave?”
(1) The parents would have complained non-stop as to why the school had allowed the boys to enter the caves.
(2) The coach would be called “totally irresponsible,” and perhaps be prosecuted.
(3) The school or perhaps even the MOE (Ministry of Education) would implement new guidelines to restrict extra-curricular activities for the safety of the precious Singaporean kids.
(4) The school could expect a law suit from the parents.
(5) The cave would be destroyed henceforth.
(6) The rescue vehicles and the cars of all parents parked at the cave entrance would have to pay a nominal parking fee of say a dollar an hour during office hours.
(7) The boys would be arrranged to be rescued in the order of their past three grades - top students being rescued first.
(8) A multi-agency committee of inquiry would be set up to investigate every aspect of this incident and in the interim, authorities would immediately keep their mouths shut, saying that the matter was now under investigation.