The Rescuers

My Dan, Rebecca, and Ben as
Daniel, Miriam holding baby Moses, and a lion from the den
Fall Church Festival, 1987

"...we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope! And He will yet deliver us!" (2 Cor. 1:8b-10)


      One of my all-time favorite Disney animated films is The Rescuers - a story of two tiny, Rescue Aid Society mice, Bernard and Bianca, who embark on a mission to rescue Penny, an orphan girl held prisoner in the Devil's Bayou by the eeeevil Madame Medusa!
       The most thrilling rescue stories, however, are found along the pages of the Holy Bible. In the book of Daniel, when King Darius the Mede was tricked into sentencing Daniel to the lions' den, Scripture records that he set his mind on rescuing Daniel and made every effort until sundown to deliver him. Darius failed, but Almighty God, the True Rescuer, sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths!
       In Exodus, a young Hebrew girl named Miriam watched over her baby brother floating in a wicker basket on the Nile River until he was rescued by Pharaoh's daughter. That baby, as we know, grew up to be Moses - God's chosen one to rescue an entire nation from Egyptian slavery!
       In a recent issue of "In Touch" magazine, Dr. Charles Stanley tells the greatest rescue story ever:

        "Whether good or bad, our deeds don't determine where we will spend eternity. Apart from the Lord, no one is righteous - not a single person has done enough good to earn a place in heaven. But the Father loves us and wants us to live with Him eternally. So before the creation of the world, He planned solution.
         The rescue plan was simple - a perfect sacrifice had to be made for mankind's sin so that every one could be blameless before a holy God. By accepting this sacrifice on his or her own behalf, any individual would receive a new nature to replace the corrupted one. In addition, the Holy Spirit would indwell that person to provide truth and guidance.
         The sacrifice was Jesus Christ, who died on the cross, bearing all our sin. When we trust Him as Savior, our "flesh" nature dies with Him. The Holy Spirit comes to make our hearts new so we can find joy in obeying God. We are rescued and set free!"

     Are you in need of rescue today? Cry out to Jesus and trust Him to be your Rescuer!