Beck column: A cord of three strands

“A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

— Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

For some reason while thinking about electrical cords, the above scripture came to my mind. When I think of “a cord of three strands,” I am reminded of trying to learn to braid my daughter’s beautiful thick hair when she was a little girl and now seeing the results when she braids my granddaughter’s long hair.

But there are some electrical cords that have three braided sections and these rarely separate. In our homes today, it seems like we have electrical cords lying around everywhere. Sometimes there are more cords than plugs. And if we don’t have enough plugs in the wall to receive them, then the cord will prove useless. However, now we have “power strips” to add extra plugs that will still only need one wall receptacle.

You may be wondering from where this story came. Watching some movies and reading about The Amish reminded me that some people live without electricity by choice. Then there are others who live without electrical power because they are unable to pay the power bill, or perhaps wasted the money on something else like drugs or alcohol.

And we have homeless people who live out in the cold either by choice, or circumstance. I thank God every cold morning when I can flip the remote switch and watch my gas logs light up. In a short period of time, the temperature will go from 68 degrees up to 72 and climbing. The house gets toasty warm and I’ve found sitting by the fireplace has become one of my favorite places to recline back in my power wheelchair while talking to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

That is when I think about the real source of power in the lives of Christians. We don’t have to worry about the number of cords or the amount of receptacles in our home.

Each person only has to make one commitment to receive Christ as our Lord and Savior and we don’t have to worry about a monthly bill that we can’t afford to pay.

Our relationship with Jesus can be like that “cord that can’t quickly be broken.”

It will be intertwined like those long braids that don’t come loose very easily. In Ecclesiastics 4:9-10, the Bible tells us “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their works.” Another verse reads: “If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!” Most folks think of this as a friendship of two earthly beings, but this time I thought of it as my relationship with my Lord. If I fall emotionally, he picks me up. Unfortunately, one who does not know the Lord as his/her personal savior may have no one to help him up! He or she might also not have the help needed to stay heart warm.

There was a night many years ago when a teenager tried to steal my purse. I was angry and determined not to turn loose. Ecclesiastics 4:12 reads “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.” That young man thought this disabled woman would be an easy target, but my God reached down to help me defend myself. God knew ahead of time what was fixing to happen, but he was in control. He may have used that episode to teach the young boy a lesson that kept him from later ending up in prison for something much worse than what happened that night. And he taught me a lesson about determination and then forgiveness.

I just remembered this story started out about how some of us have an abundance of electrical cords in our homes, but I think I wrote something about this in BC days (that is not before Christ, but before computer ownership.) We may all have too many electrical cords, but none of us can have too much of God; not too much love, faith, grace, or hope. Invite Jesus into your heart and enjoy the results!

Linda Beck lives in Woodleaf.