The Knock No One Expected

In 2010, thirty-three Chilean miners were trapped 2,300 feet underground in the San José copper mine near Copiapó. For seventeen days, no one on the surface knew if they were alive. Families gathered at the mine entrance around the clock, holding vigils, praying, refusing to leave. The Chilean government drilled exploratory boreholes into the earth — narrow shafts barely eight inches wide — hoping against hope to reach the refuge chamber.

When the eighth probe finally broke through, the drill bit came back with a scrap of paper wrapped around it in red marker: "Estamos bien en el refugio, los 33." We are fine in the shelter, all 33 of us.

The families screamed. They wept. They couldn't believe it. Even with the note in their hands, it felt like a dream.

That is exactly what happened to the early church in Jerusalem. They packed into Mary's house and prayed fervently for Peter, chained between two soldiers in Herod's prison. They begged God for a miracle. And when the Almighty sent an angel to shatter Peter's chains and walk him past every guard and iron gate — when Peter actually stood knocking at their door — they told the servant girl she was out of her mind.