Set Free

SET FREE

It all began on Sunday, December 11, 2005, when a fisherman spotted a 50-ton humpback whale tangled up in crab trap lines off the coast in northern California. His call for help was answered by a group of Coast Guard divers and whale experts.

The rescue operation was both difficult and dangerous. Crew members found the whale entwined in some 20 ropes, each 240 feet long and wrapped so tight they were slicing into its flesh. The lines had to be cut by hand, which required diving perilously close to the whale and its powerful tail.

It took about an hour, and no one was injured. In interviews with reporters, some of the divers remarked on the whale's "affectionate" behavior. One said the creature watched and seemed to wink at him as he was cutting a line that went through its mouth. Once freed, the whale began circling and approached the divers one by one to "nuzzle" them. Mick Menigoz told the San Francisco Chronicle, "The whale was doing little dives and the guys were rubbing shoulders with it. It's something that I will always remember. It was just too cool."

Something cool has happened to us as Christians. Galatians 5 tells us that Christ has set us free. Set us free from what? Romans 6 tells us it is sin. If we get entangled in sin again, how effectively can we run the Christian life? Not very well