“If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.” (Ecclesiastes 4:10)
This is a wonderful verse. It is a great reminder that we do not exist alone on this earth, nor should we. When God made Adam he said it wasn’t good for him to be alone. I don’t think that need for companionship was confined to marriage alone.
God gave us a need to have others in our lives. We especially need people when times are hard. The verse above begins with the word if, but it could just as well be the word when because we will all stumble at times and when we stumble we need someone to reach out to.
In Galatians Paul reminds us to “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2) We are told that we need each other and also that we need to be there for each other. We sometimes think we can rely totally on ourselves, but that is seldom true. Often we need to come to the 
rescue of others and often, even though we don’t like to admit it, we ourselves need rescuing by others. Although our best friend and rescuer is God Himself, He gives us each other because sometimes it is good to lean on someone with skin on.
Jackie Robinson, the first black to play major league baseball, ran into some very tough situations while breaking baseball’s color barrier. He faced jeering and antagonistic crowds in every stadium. 
While playing one day in his home stadium in Brooklyn, he committed an error. The fans began to ridicule him. He stood at second base, humiliated, while the fans jeered. Then, shortstop Pee Wee Reese came over and stood next to him. He put his arm around Jackie Robinson and faced the crowd. He stood like that until fans grew quiet. Robinson later said that arm around his shoulder saved his career.
We will all run into times when we need someone to stand with us. When we need an arm around us. There may be times when we need to be that pillar of strength to someone else. 
We should constantly work on our relationships with others to prepare for those times, especially those closest to us. Whether it’s a friend, neighbor, sibling, child, parent or spouse, investing time in these relationships will help us and them get through difficult times. Once we have these friendships we need not be too proud to lean on each other when tough times come.
We had one of those exact situations two weeks ago. Due to a malfunction when charging a battery operated rodent alarm we had a fire in our home. 
It destroyed about a quarter of our mobile while smoke damaging the rest. It was quite traumatic, especially for Elaine who discovered the fire and had to save our lab pup Cody while she was calling 911. Since that time there has been an outpouring of support from family, friends, and even strangers. Encouraging notes, texts, calls, and hugs have come in from all directions. Many donations been given (much of it anonymously) to help offset the unexpected costs of replacing much of our clothing and all of our food supply.
It was not necessary that such a major event needed to happen to remind me of how precious family and friends are, But it did reinforce what I already knew…people are 
kind. The comfort and support that so many have shared with us has been almost overwhelming. I will never again take a warm bed, a functioning kitchen, and beautiful friends for granted again. I think some things that are always there can sometimes lose specialness. I won’t ever lose sight of that again.
This event was a rather large inconvenience, but not a tragedy. We are all safe. Many are not so fortunate and think about that when I look at so many things we did not lose to the flames. Others have lost so much more. I know God will use this for good and we will keep our eyes out for it.
The body of Christ is a family. Like our worldly family, no member of our spiritual family should ever have to bear grief, or pain, or problems alone. As the Word tells us in detail and infers from cover to cover, we should “Love our neighbor as we love ourselves.” Through Christ’s sacrifice we are to bear one another’s burdens. We are able to encourage others through the power of Christ. Let’s not walk this world’s rocky path alone. A friend in need is a friend indeed. Sometimes we meet the need for others; sometimes we have the need ourselves. 
John Wesley once said, “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.” Bearing each other’s burdens is part of that good. It doesn’t take a fire to realize that.