Leaving the ninety and nine

I recently read the book “All Thirteen,” by Christina Soontornvat. She details the true story of the near-impossible rescue of twelve boys and their soccer coach trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand in 2018. I found it fascinating and difficult to put down, as it mapped the many ways the Thai government, the Navy SEALS, engineers, professional divers, and regular citizens did all they could to save the boys.

The problem was immense: a literal mountain, filled with water, holding the boys captive two-and-a-half miles within and at least half a mile underground. There were so many obstacles to their rescue that for several days, the Thai government’s best plan was to bring food to the boys but to leave them living in the cave until the dry season came, some six months later.

The impending death of these boys posed a highly visible tragedy. But according to worldpopulationreview.com, 1,532 people die in Thailand every single day. If the soccer team had ultimately died, they would have represented only 0.85% of the deaths of the day.

And yet, the country of Thailand and many people all over the world dropped everything in order to save them. Professional cave divers flew in from Britain, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark and Ukraine. More than 10,000 people were involved directly in the rescue effort. Two men lost their lives trying to save the boys: one while diving with supplies, the other a year later as a result of a blood infection contracted during the rescue operation.

Engineers pumped more than a billion liters of water from the cave, and diverted waterfalls and streams from the cave to the rice paddies of local farmers, who willingly allowed their crops to be destroyed in the process. When drones couldn’t locate thin areas of the mountain to drill through, Thai people tramped through the jungle on foot, looking for an alternate cave exit that legend said might exist.

Even those without specialized rescue skills contributed, cooking thousands of meals each day to feed the volunteers, doing laundry, and helping in any way they could whether that was shuttling someone to a hotel, or knocking on doors at 2 AM to track down a hair dryer to dry epoxy glue.

I was stunned and inspired by the efforts of people around the world to bring “all thirteen” home safely. It was truly miraculous that every member of the soccer team, after being trapped for 18 days, emerged from the cave alive.

In Luke, chapter 15, Christ relays to his disciples the parable of the lost sheep. “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost, until he find it?” (KJV, verse 4).

Typically, this parable is interpreted as a call to missionary work—to leave the ninety-nine faithful followers and go “save” the one that has strayed. But as I’ve thought of the cave rescue, I’ve interpreted it differently.

The soccer team represents, almost literally, the one percent of “sheep.” And the other ninety-nine represent the rescue teams’ “business as usual”: their jobs, their families, their day-to-day lives. All of those things were, figuratively, left behind in the wilderness, while for nearly three weeks the attention was shifted to saving what had strayed.

What does this mean in my life? It means that, in big ways and small, I need to put aside my routine and go after the lost sheep. Sometimes that means I’m twenty minutes late for my gym class, because my four-year-old needs me to “save” her by talking her through her big emotions…or in other words, hold her while she cries because we forgot to bring snacks. Other times, it means I open my home to my friend’s kids for the day, because she needs a break…even if that means more messes for me to clean up. Sometimes, it means I shoulder more of the childcare or housework burden when my spouse is having a rough day.

It means we reach out to those in our community who are struggling in any way—emotionally, physically, spiritually—especially when it’s hard. It means we give until it’s disruptive, and it hurts, and we keep on giving until we’ve saved that one percent.

And when the lamb is back in the fold, then we return to our flock, as Jesus said, “rejoicing.”

Rachel Kenley Fry is a stay-at-home mom to four awesome kids, a writer, a reader, and a lover of music and musicals. She is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.