Rescue (ADVENT-URE DAY 1)

This is Day 1 of our 25-Day Christmas Advent-ure on Faith Radio, in our 2025 Advent Guide, found in the latest Faith Radio Ministry Magazine.  This year's theme is The Story for the Ages, and we look at the various players, the characters in the amazing drama that comprise the story of our salvation.  Our character for today is by far is playing the lead role - his name is JESUS, and today's Scripture is found in Matthew 1; here's a passage from that chapter.
19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. ”

The story of our salvation is an amazing rescue story, as we reflect on God sending His Son to earth to save us from our sins - we were destined for death because of our sin, but Jesus came to rescue us and give us eternal life.

Ron Dailey knows a thing or two about rescue.  According to a Faithwire article, he is a 65-year-old man who embarked on a day of hunting in California's Sierra National Forest, as a report by ABC7 Television said.  Faithwire noted:

When Dailey didn’t return home, his family contacted authorities, and a search commenced. He found himself with a destroyed vehicle and no way to navigate out of the situation.

Fortunately, Dailey had enough food for around two weeks and used his car as shelter.

At first, he waited for help, but he told ABC7 he came to a realization: “You either try to walk out or you’re going to sit here and die.”

And, walk he did, even when his legs began to cease to function. He had no phone, and no longer had his truck. He called out to God: “I can’t hardly walk anymore, Lord, you gotta help me Father God,"  then, as he related: “I raised my head up, there was a car with headlights on and I go, ‘Oh God, thank you, Lord.'”

The Faithwire article went on to say, incorporating material from a New York Post story:

His wife, Glenda, reportedly also relied on prayer every day he was missing, posting flyers to Facebook to try to raise awareness.

“I want to thank everyone for all the support and love that we received while we patiently waited for Ron,” she wrote on Facebook. “God has answered the prayers of so many of us. He is going to be shocked when I show him all of the people who searched for him. He is resting and will share what happened very soon.”

She concluded her message with a powerful reminder: “God still does miracles, and we have just been shown one.”

I picture Ron Dailey, isolated, running out of options, ultimately crying out to God for a miracle.  You know, that is really the human condition - for each of us, and humanity in general, we were once without hope, lost in our sins. We were in need of rescue, but there are no options available to us. We cannot save ourselves.

But, God sent His only son in order to rescue us from the power of sin and death.  In a world without hope, God provided our only option for salvation.  And, that option is real for each human being today - Jesus said He is the way, the truth, and the life.  We cannot come to God the Father except through Him, Jesus said.

When we come before the Lord, when we pray and call out to Him, confessing that Jesus is Lord and believing God has raised Him from from the dead, as Romans chapter 10 teaches us, we will be saved.  That is the message of hope which has been entrusted to each of us, that we carry in our hearts and can proclaim at Christmas and throughout the year.