Carry Each Others Burdens.

Galatians 6:2 (NIV)

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

On July 25, 2002, nine coal miners entered Quecreek Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. About 9 p.m., the miners were drilling nearby 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 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.

To bear one another's burdens simply means to help each other along. If you see your fellow leaning, prop them up; if you see them stumble, help them get their footing; if they fall, pick them up.

Dear Lord, Help us today to be there for somebody that needs to be lifted up. Give us each the strength to help each other when we need it. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.