Transparent Christian Magazine

The release of 15 hostages in the Columbian jungle has been an amazing story. There were three American men in the group. According to a CNN report on July 11, “The men carried with them a metal lock, a bullet and a chess board made of cardboard — small items that are reminders of the years they spent away from their families, cut off from the world outside the jungle, seeing only fellow hostages and their captors, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

I am so intrigued with what they chose to carry with them. The metal lock represents the horrendous days and weeks of being chained by the neck to a tree. The bullet came from a FARC guard who had threatened to kill them. The cardboard chess board represents the only time that they felt “free”.

Another group of hostages were the Israelites that were held in captivity by the Egyptians ages ago. In the most dramatic rescue in history, God delivered them in the Exodus to take them to the Promised Land, which was an eleven day journey by foot. Due to their doubt and disobedience, their journey turned into a forty-year night mare.

After forty years of wandering in the desert, they were finally in view of the Promise Land. The Jordan River was at flood stage. God provided another dramatic rescue by stopping the flow of the river in both directions.

As the large crowd was crossing the river on dry ground, God gave them very strange instructions. He said, ““Now choose twelve men, one from each tribe. Tell them, ‘Take twelve stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at the place where you will camp tonight. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.” Joshua 4:2, 6

What are your mementoes that remind you of what God has done in setting you free from the captivity of Satan? Do your children know of your days in captivity and about your dramatic rescue?

Mike