The power of a promise can be absolutely amazing!

It's probably impossible to overestimate the effect that a promise can have on us and on the ones to whom the promise is made. Sometimes a promise can have such incredible impact, so much meaning, that a person is able to survive on little more than the strength that a promise provides.

In 1989 an 8.2 earthquake rocked the country of Armenia and almost flattened it, killing over 30,000 people in less than four minutes. In the midst of this utter devastation and chaos, a father left his wife securely at home and rushed to the school where his son was supposed to be, only to discover that the building was as flat as a pancake. After the traumatic shock, he remembered the promise he had made to his son: "No matter what, I'll always be there for you." Tears began to fill his eyes. As he looked at the pile of debris that once was the school, it looked hopeless, but he kept remembering his commitment to his son. He began to concentrate on where he walked his son to class each morning. Remembering his son's classroom would be in the right back corner of the building, he rushed there and began digging through the rubble. As he was digging, other brokenhearted parents arrived, clutching their hearts, saying, "My Son". "My daughter". Other well meaning parents tried to pull him off of what was left of the school, saying, "It's too late." "They're dead." "You can't help." "Go home." "Come on, face reality, there is nothing you can do!" "You are just going to make things worse." To each parent he responded with one line, "Are you going to help me now?". And then he proceeded to continue to dig for his son, stone by stone.

The fire chief showed up and tried to pull him off of the school's debris, saying, "Fires are breaking out, explosions are happening everywhere, you are in danger. Go home, we'll take care of it." To which this loving Armenian father asked, "Are you going to help me now?".

Soon after the police came and said, "You're angry and distraught. You're endangering others. Go home. We'll handle it." Again, he responded by saying, "Are you going to help me now?". No one helped.

Courageously he proceeded alone because he had to know for himself: "Is my boy alive or is he dead?". He dug for eight hours...twelve hours...twenty-four hours...thirty-six hours...then, in the thirty-eighth hour, he pulled back a boulder and heard his son's voice. He screamed his son's name, "Armand!". He heard back, "Dad! It's me, Dad! I told the other kids not to worry, I told them if you were alive, you'd save me, and when you saved me, they'd be saved. You promised, 'No matter what, I'll always be there for you.' You did it, Dad!"

Armand's father made him a promise that became, literally, his lifeline. Not even being buried beneath tons of stone and debris for almost two full days could eradicate the father's promise.

" God the Father has promised that He will always be there for us.

According to Galatians 3:22 we are all "confined", literally shut up under the rocks and debris of sin. We are eternally trapped underneath the rubble and ruin of our own sin, with no hope of digging ourselves out. But, for those who admit their sinfulness, and place their faith in Jesus Christ, "the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe". Paul understood this glorious promise when in Titus 1:2 he wrote, "In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began." Armand knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that what his dad said he would do. Armand knew his father was completely reliable. For those who are not relying on themselves, but in Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of their sin, God, too, will do exactly what He said He would do...give eternal life to those who believe in His Son. The power of a promise truly is incredible!