February 28, 2005

[Rev. Doc]

We Are Here For One Another

"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."
Galatians 6:2

On July 25, 2002, nine coal miners entered Quecreek Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. About 9 p.m., the miners were drilling the nearby abandoned Saxman Mine and when 50 million gallons of water released into their own shaft, cutting them off from the surface.
In a desperate race against time, more than 200 rescuers worked to save the trapped miners. The men were trapped in a small chamber just over four feet high and 18ft wide, in frigid 55 degree water. The area of entrapment was approximately 240 feet underground and about one and a half miles from the mine entrance. The miners "decided early on they were either going to live or die as a group." They were all rescued as a group some 77 hours after being trapped in the mine.

The 55 degree (Fahrenheit) water threatened to kill them slowly by hypothermia, so according to one news report "When one would get cold, the other eight would huddle around the person and warm that person, and when another person got cold, the favor was returned."

"Everybody had strong moments," miner Harry B. Mayhugh told reporters after being released from Somerset Hospital in Somerset. "But any certain time maybe one guy got down, and then the rest pulled together. And then that guy would get back up, and maybe someone else would feel a little weaker, but it was a team effort. That's the only way it could have been."

In everyday life, we as Christians need to decide to live or die as a group and to carry other's burdens when they become too heavy to bear. Today in prayer, thank Christ for other believers and seek to build up other believers when their load becomes too heavy.

Prayer: Thank Christ for other believers and seek to build up other believers when their load becomes too heavy.

"The practice of patience toward one another, the overlooking of one another's defects, and the bearing of one another's burdens is the most elementary condition of all human and social activity in the family, in the professions, and in society."
~Lawrence G. Lovasik