Anyone who witnessed on TV or even read about the rescue of 33 Chilean miners last week has been introduced to a powerful picture of baptism and what it represents in one’s journey of faith.

Buried alive for 69 days, these fortunate workers were hoisted 2,041 feet through a tunnel in a narrow pod, from which they surfaced, one at a time, to the light of television cameras and the welcome arms of family and friends. 33 times this happened and the joy and exuberance was no less when number 33 arrived than when the first one did. Each new face – each new embrace – was like the first. We could still be doing this and it would never get old.

There was truly something unique in the fact that the amount of time it took for the pod to descend and return with a new survivor insured that the rescue of each miner would be a separate, anticipated event. And knowing the inherent dangers of heavy equipment and unstable earth meant that none of these rescues was guaranteed. Who’s to say that after 32 successful rescues, something could go wrong with number 33. So each one was an event worth celebrating. Each one was like one coming back from the dead.

Which is exactly what happens when new believers are baptized. Each person is a universe saved. Each one is a child of God, made in his Image and redeemed by his blood. And each one comes up out of the water one at a time. This is individual and personal, but celebrated and shared by all the saints and angels and forgiven sinners waiting on the shoreline for that watery pod to birth a new life of faith.

These are great pictures to reflect upon as we consider our own faith journey. For all of us, it’s as if it happened today, and our life, due to God’s grace and Christ’s sacrifice is as brand new today as when we went down in the water however long ago or recent that was, and came up in newness of life. That, my friend, is what it means to be buried alive.