{"id":8720,"date":"2015-09-22T22:17:47","date_gmt":"2015-09-23T03:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/?p=8720"},"modified":"2017-03-05T22:23:03","modified_gmt":"2017-03-06T03:23:03","slug":"the-rule-of-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2015\/09\/22\/the-rule-of-two\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rule of Two"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><h1 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net\/starwars\/images\/3\/38\/Bane_Zannah_DoE.jpg\/revision\/latest?cb=20090418194430\" alt=\"The Rule of Two\" width=\"200\" height=\"144\"><\/h1>\n<h1 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\">The Rule of Two<\/h1>\n<p class=\"p1\">September 22, 2015 Year B<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Ecclesiastes 4:9-16<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In the <i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2015\/11\/27\/star-wars-episode-iv-a-new-hope-1977\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\">Star Wars<\/a><\/i> movies, the evil Sith have a rule: there can only be two rulers at a time \u2013 a leader and an apprentice. It is actually a very good rule. You can train the younger person to learn how to lead and when the other is old, the younger one can take over. But taking over is the problem. As the younger one gets older, he wants to take over \u2013 and sooner than the older wants him to. This is what Ecclesiastes 4:13-16<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>describes. The people are never satisfied with just one ruler. They want change. The younger succeeds the older. While Solomon explains that wise, poor, and young is better than old, rich, and foolish, the implicit instruction is that two are needed. One to rule and one to take over.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">This is why two are better than one. There are advantages (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12). Alone, they can accomplish only so much. Together, they can accomplish so much more. When one falls, the other is there to lift him up. If they lie together, they can keep each other warm. If an enemy comes to overpower them, two can defeat one. Strength is in numbers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">There is power in numbers. Leadership does not have to be a lonely endeavor. One can learn to pass along the wisdom to a younger generation. The rule of two is a great idea \u2013 when it is done right.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Prayer: Help me God to see another person as a mentor and as an apprentice. Help me not become conceited in my leadership.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Rule of Two September 22, 2015 Year B Ecclesiastes 4:9-16 In the Star Wars movies, the evil Sith have a rule: there can only be two rulers at a time \u2013 a leader and an apprentice. It is actually a very good rule. You can train the younger person to learn how to lead [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2886,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,5,6],"tags":[703,8,2301,10,1921],"class_list":["post-8720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ecclesiastes","category-lectionary","category-simple-thoughts","tag-ecclesiastes","tag-lectionary","tag-rule-of-two","tag-simple-thoughts","tag-star-wars"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Rule of Two<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Rule of Two is a simple thought Lectionary reflection from Ecclesiastes 4:9-16 about the importance of two people who can help each other.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2015\/09\/22\/the-rule-of-two\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Rule of Two\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Rule of Two is a simple thought Lectionary reflection from Ecclesiastes 4:9-16 about the importance of two people who can help each other.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2015\/09\/22\/the-rule-of-two\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jim Erwin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/revjimerwin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-09-23T03:17:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-06T03:23:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net\/starwars\/images\/3\/38\/Bane_Zannah_DoE.jpg\/revision\/latest?cb=20090418194430\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim Erwin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@revjimerwin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim Erwin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2015\/09\/22\/the-rule-of-two\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2015\/09\/22\/the-rule-of-two\/\",\"name\":\"The Rule of Two\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-09-23T03:17:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-06T03:23:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/#\/schema\/person\/d60794d59235a0279dec26398d994dcb\"},\"description\":\"The Rule of Two is a simple thought Lectionary reflection from Ecclesiastes 4:9-16 about the importance of two people who can help each other.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2015\/09\/22\/the-rule-of-two\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2015\/09\/22\/the-rule-of-two\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/2015\/09\/22\/the-rule-of-two\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Rule of Two\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/\",\"name\":\"Jim Erwin\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/#\/schema\/person\/d60794d59235a0279dec26398d994dcb\",\"name\":\"Jim Erwin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jimerwin\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70772a6e533e4bcbd0ac0e0af2d62ff1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70772a6e533e4bcbd0ac0e0af2d62ff1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jim Erwin\"},\"description\":\"My name is Jim Erwin. 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