Unless you’ve ever needed to be rescued, a photo like this Lifeboat may fail to touch you. However, if you have experienced life-saving rescue of any kind or know you need one, then it can’t fail to touch you. Sometimes however we need rescue without even realising it. One such tragic case was 5 February 2004 when 21 Chinese illegal immigrant workers were drowned in Morecombe Bay England whilst harvesting cockles. These workers were exploited as they spoke little or no English and were inexperienced in the dangers of quick sands and fast incoming tides. They needed rescue from their Chinese Gangmaster and from the sea but it was too late. Anyone who knows that there are crocodiles or piranhas in a river would be foolish to ignore signs warning people not to swim.
- ‘Please, Lord, help me get one more’– Desmond Doss (Hacksaw Ridge)
- ‘Don’t be content in your life just to do no wrong, be prepared every day to try and do some good’ – Sir Nicholas Winton
There were 669 children saved from the Nazis in former Czechoslovakia by Nicholas Winton’s brave rescue mission in World War Two as depicted in the film ‘One Life’. Equalling inspiring was Oskar Schindler who rescued over 1000 Jews by employing them in his factory in Poland. There are many more brave people recognised by Israel’s Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem – 26,971 others in fact are called the ‘Righteous among the Nations’. Although relatively unknown, Irena Sendler, Geertruida Wijsmuller-Meijer and Aleksander Ładoś are just three of these who saved many more thousands of lives between them. In the film ‘Schindler’s List’, Itzhak Stern explains the meaning of a phrase to Oskar Schindler: ‘It’s Hebrew, it’s from the Talmud. It says, “Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire”’.
What is the value of one life? To you, your life is everything.
On October 13, 2010, the last of 33 miners trapped nearly half a mile underground for more than two months at a caved-in gold and copper mine in northern Chile, were rescued. These miners had survived longer than anyone else trapped underground in recorded history and not one of them was lost. On March 4, 1824, Sir William Hillary proposed the creation of a National Institution for the Preservation of Lives and Property from Shipwreck. With the backing of William Wilberforce and King George IV, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution was born. In 2023, the Institute operated 238 lifeboat stations around Britain and Ireland, where 349 lifeboats are stationed, together with 108 boats in its relief fleet, and has been responsible for saving over 143,000 lives since its formation. The largest number saved in a single sea rescue was February 2, 1907 when the Suevic sank off Cornwall. Around 4.25 am, lifeboats, open wooden boats each with six oarsmen, were launched in dangerous seas from the nearby stations of Lizard, Cadgwith, Coverack, and Porthleven. All 523 were rescued and this included 70 babies.
We too should care about the lives of others, one at a time. God does this for us, one at a time – it is the heart of the Christian Gospel.
- ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him’ – John 3:16-17
Before paying the absolute cost of rescue with his life, Jesus showed his love and care for people, one at a time. He healed them, was the Good Shepherd to them and taught them a better way to live through parables such as the Good Samaritan and The Prodigal Son. All of these showed the value of a single life. Even whilst on the cross of execution, he cared for another dying man on a nearby cross and provided for the care of his own mother after his imminent death. What is the value of your life to God? It cost Him everything to save you.
- ‘He has delivered us from such a terrible death, and he will deliver us. We have put our hope in him that he will deliver us again’ – 2 Corinthians 1:10
Imagine floating on a stormy sea and a life boat coming to your rescue – who wouldn’t gladly grab hold of the saving hand? In both Nicholas Winton and Oskar Schindler’s cases, the two films portray the sense of admiration and indebtedness felt by those they rescued. Those of us who experience the rescue of Jesus go on to tell others about Him and seek to live our lives to honour His sacrifice. Here’s a link to David Smith’s story to inspire you:
Matt Redman sings a beautiful song about rescue:
If you’ve not experienced this, here’s how you can take hold of God’s loving rescue:
For further reading: Jubilee – Connect4Life