Rescued!

May 10th, 2025| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

A rather strange thing happened recently in Japan. A guy was rescued off Mt. Fuji, the tallest mountain in the nation (12,400 feet). And people are mad.

Not because of the rescue, of course. But the fact that it happened … twice. To the same person! In the same week!

According to the Associated Press, a 27-year-old Chinese student trying to ascend Fuji-san developed altitude sickness (what the body suffers due to lack of oxygen at higher altitudes before it has had time to acclimatize and adjust: it can be a serious situation that can end in death with high-altitude lung damage and brain edema). That his climbing irons were also damaged didn’t help.

He was airlifted from the slopes.

However, just four days later, the student was back on the Fujinomiya trail again. Apparently, he had returned to the scene to find his phone and other belongings he had left behind during the first rescue!

Wasn’t a good idea. He developed altitude sickness. Again. And was unable to move. He was found by another climber and had to be carried down on a stretcher. Rescued. A second time.

And it all happened off-season, when the trails on Mt. Fuji are officially closed, as also are the medical facilities along the trails. Following the man’s rescue, police in Shizuoka prefecture reiterated its advice against climbing the mountain during off-season as the weather could suddenly change, making it hard for rescuers to respond.

And, of course, rescuees aren’t charged for the rescue service. However, the double rescue prompted some on social media to demand the student pay for the help rendered.

Local police said last year that six climbers had died on Mount Fuji in July 2024 alone, exceeding the total number of fatalities in 2023.

It is unclear whether the guy got his phone back.

I can tell you this, though. One rescue is enough for us. From sin.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8

Yes, he did!

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 3:16

Jesus Christ, God and Savior, paid the full, final, and forever price for sin. Saved!

And now?

Jesus declared:

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish;
and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”
John 10:27–28

Believers in Christ Jesus are saved … forever!

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? …
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing,
will be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:35, 38–39

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again
to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled
and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
who are protected by the power of God through faith
for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3–5

Thank God, no need for a second rescue!

SOURCE: BBC