The dust was a terrible problem in the mine as well. It was so thick it was actually gravel-ly. When the worst of the rumblings and groanings began resonating in the caverns of the pit and the men endeavored to drive out, piling two dozen to a truck, the drivers could not see to drive or back out and kept running into the walls. This is when panic set in.
When the “mega-block” fell, there was a percussive effect that was like having your ears plug up in an airplane, and more painful. They lost hearing for long minutes, except for one or two that were closed up in the cabs of loaders and other equipment. Responding to gestures from the men on the ramp, they opened their doors and the sound wave hit them like a sonic blast. Men were blown off their feet by the force of it. The noise was, as they said later, as if an enormous building had fallen flat in front of them.
There had been warnings. Several men had noticed a two-inch crack in the ramp, the road leading in and out. This was an ominous sign, for the ramp wasn’t contrived; it was carved out of the rock. Several men were going to report that fissure as soon as they got up and out for lunch. One man said, “That’s it. This place is too dangerous, and I’m turning in my papers.”
As we’ve mentioned, the mine had been so full of groanings that day that they were saying to each other, “La mina esta llorando mucho!” … The mine is crying a lot! … a phrase they used when the usual odd sounds turned to groans.
One of the most compelling stories of the pre-collapse morning was that two men were traveling on the ramp in a truck and one of them cried out, “Look! A white butterfly!” Butterflies hardly exist in that desert to begin with, and never in the belly of the mine. His partner said, “No way! You’ve got to be mistaken,” but the first insisted and told the others when they returned to the floor.
Warnings. Of those we pray for, those who have stepped into darkness or have been overcome by darkness, there were warnings, but there must also be grace to heed them and liberty enough to take action. Some of our 33 know little of grace or liberty.
Supposing we spend some time today and over the weekend and in the days ahead, and commit ourselves to a little listening, so that what warnings we need to hear will be heard. How to pray. What they need. What the really need! The angry mother often needs comfort more than patience and hope more than self-control. On their behalf and for their sake, and for our own as servants of the Most High God, we are remembering that when we are called to Jesus Christ, we are called to His intercession, and the intercession of the Spirit goes down, deep, into the dark.
A massive sand storm cloud is close to enveloping a military camp as it rolls over Al Asad, Iraq, just before nightfall on April 27, 2005. DoD photo by Cpl. Alicia M. Garcia, U.S. Marine Corps. (Released) By permission, United States Marine Corps, Wikipedia
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