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"And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:12). "Some people have stopped meeting with the group of Christians. But that is not good. We should all continue to meet together. We need to help one another to be strong and brave. That is now even more important, because the Lord's great day is coming. You know that the Lord will return soon" (Hebrews 10:25 Easy English Bible).

Saturday evening we joined Jim and Joan, newer friends from our ABF class, for a meal near Christiana at their farm in Lancaster County. There's just nothing like a genuine farmhouse meal prepared by the farmer's wife.

It brings childhood memories for both of us. In my case (Stephen) it was the big meals at my aunt and uncle's farmhouse in southern Missouri. I can still hear all my aunts chattering in the kitchen as they prepared fried chicken, mashed potatoes, biscuits and gravy and a host of other good farm food. Then the pies, especially Aunt Dora's famous pecan pie!

For me (Brooksyne) it was my childhood experience since my family of seven grew an extra large garden every summer in Tulsa. From that garden Mom fed our entire family year round. We also raised beef cattle and pork so it was not unusual to enjoy a farmhouse meal on a regular basis, though we had the preparation and clean-up duty daily. Joan did all the work on Saturday so it made the experience even more pleasurable and tasty!

Most of the food we ate Saturday evening was grown right there on the farm including roasted pork, sweet peas, and chow chow. In response to our request Joan sent us some photos of her pantry where the canned goods are stored, always a wholesome sight!

Prior to the meal we loaded into Jim's heavy duty pickup truck so he could take us on a tour of their farm. They raise pork and chickens and farm over 200 acres of crop to feed their animals.

He explained to us how vital a steady power source is in running the farm. If the weather is hot a mere 15 minutes without ventilation in the poultry house can result in the chickens dying. So apart from the utility company line to the farm they have generators as a redundant power source and a second redundancy in having a tractor with PTO ready should the generator malfunction, essentially double redundancy.

In systems, redundancy is the intentional duplication of critical components or functions of a system with the goal of increasing reliability of the system, double redundancy is essentially having a backup to the backup.

Today's text illustrates a vital type of redundancy we all need in our lives. That is, having a deep bench of faithful, God honoring fellow believers who impact our life. "And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken".

The Pulpit commentary offers this explanation, stressing the value of companionship, "If companionship of two is valuable, much more then is the value if others are added".

What a blessing and strength having this network of fellow believers is. At times we can handle a matter on our own, "a man might prevail against one who is alone".

But "two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken". This is double redundancy but we can have more than two layers of backup, we can have many! We sure do and we hope you are also blessed with many layers!

Our second text also teaches this, a familiar one often used by pastors to encourage church attendance! The version used today has an interesting expression whereas most versions read, "encouraging one another". In this one I was blessed by the elaboration, "We need to help one another to be strong and brave". Indeed we do!

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Father, we need You more than anything, but we also need our brothers and sisters to help us bear our load when it gets too heavy to handle alone. One of the ways You extend Your reach to us is through those who walk alongside us and extend themselves to help us or their prayers to sustain us or their wisdom and experience to help guide us when perplexed. We thank You for those who help us to be strong and brave so that we can in turn can also help others in the same way. Help us to be on the look-out for those in need, in Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Note: Redundant can also be used in a negative sense for someone or something not needed. This is not the sense in today's message!