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Keeping Hope
Alive
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Many of us breathed a sigh of relief this week after the miners in Pennsylvania were pulled to safety. Mark Popernack was the last man out. He and his wife, with support from their United Methodist Church family, found faith and hope in their darkest hours. They've gained new life perspective and a greater understanding of the power of prayer. | ||
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Locator: Somerset Co., PA
MARK POPERNACK ACHED FOR A SIMPLE MOMENT SUCH AS THIS AS HE PONDERED HIS FATE 240 FEET UNDERGROUND.
Mark Popernack/Rescued Miner: “That’s when we all got a piece of cardboard and wrote our last words on. We were all ready to die.”
MARK AND THE OTHER MINERS WAITED FOR THE SEEMINGLY INEVITABLE END...SURE THEY HAD LOST THEIR STRUGGLE AGAINST THE RISING WATER AND THE DARKNESS.
"All we had left at this time when that water reached us, all we had left was God and hope.”
THAT SEEMED ALL THEIR FAMILIES HAD AS WELL.
Sandy Popernack/Mark’s Wife: “I think there’s hope in prayer. I think that’s the bottom line.”
BUT EVEN AN UNSHAKABLE FAITH CAN BE MOVED IN SUCH DIRE STRAITS.
“The first day I thought, he’s coming out alive. Then I thought, there’s no way he can come out of there alive.”
LOCAL MINISTERS COUNSELED THE WAITING FAMILIES. THE “WHAT IF’S” WERE UNAVOIDABLE.
The Rev. Barry Ritenour/Bethany St. John’s United Methodist Church: “What if I’m telling these people the wrong things? What if what I say to them, and this goes sour, am I going to destroy their faith?”
BUT AMID THE DOUBTS AND FEARS WERE INDICATIONS THAT ALL WAS NOT YET LOST.
Rev. Barry Ritenour/Bethany St. John’s United Methodist Church: “The fact that they were on an uphill slope it was a possibility of them climbing higher and getting out of there` The fact that they got pumps in here very quickly and started pumping water, which lowered the water in the mine. There were too many positives not to he hopeful.”
MARK’S VIEW OF THE WORLD IS DIFFERENT NOW. PERHAPS BECAUSE HE KNOWS FIRST HAND THAT NOTHING IS BEYOND THE REALM OF POSSIBILITY.
Mark Popernack: “The whole world never gave up hope and I think what happened is proof.”