Surviving Against All Odds

Maybe it’s because I have Google alerts set for the word “wilderness” but almost every day I read a story about someone surviving in a wilderness. Sometimes they have only spent a day or two out in the conditions but other times it’s longer.

Do you ever wonder what it takes to survive in an almost hopeless situation? I often wonder how I would do. Have you heard about the guy who spent 3 days under the water in a tugboat that had sunk to the bottom of the ocean? He survived in an air pocket drinking tiny sips of Coca Cola? I would think the water was cold and that it was dark down there and I can’t imagine the loneliness and despair he must have been feeling.  But against all odds he was rescued.

Another recent news story is about a woman who spent 3 nights in the Alaskan Wilderness cuddled with her dog beneath her burned out snowmobile.  Temperatures dropped down to -20 degrees.

And yet another survival story involves a man from Michigan who spent 7 days without food, shelter or warm clothes. He endured cold temperatures, rain and 70 mile per hour winds all by himself before being rescued. He contributes his survival to “luck, guile and an abiding faith in God.”

Faith in God. Is that what determines life or death or is it human will? Is human will and faith in God the same thing? I’m not sure I know the answer to that question and I don’t know that I have enough of either to survive against all odds.

Something to ponder during this Christmas season, the season of faith and miracles.