It's All Fun and Games Till Things Fail to Work

Last week, I was getting this continual message on my phone, indicating I had problems. I recently acquired a new phone that has so many bells and whistles that it could whistle Dixie and have a church bell sound at the same time. Ok, maybe that was a bit of an extreme, but it does have a lot of features. I am still learning the features, that even for a tech savvy guy, it takes a while.

I called up Tech Support and they told me one thing. I tried it and it didn’t work. Before getting off the phone the guy said he would call me. Well, with the problems that were happening, I couldn’t receive anything - phone calls, texts, e-mail, etc. So, he called and had to leave a voicemail. I couldn’t call him directly, but I had to call back anyway, since that proposed solution didn’t fix the problem.

When I called back I was able to find out what the problem was and get it taken care of. Something on the company’s end was adjusted causing all the problems. They reconfigured the settings and the phone worked well.

Life can be like that. I recently experienced the need to replace my car battery. Not a fun time either.

Anything that works correctly is a blessing. However, when things start working incorrectly, then we have a problem. This brings to mind the famous Apollo 13 line…“Houston, we have problem”.

We can apply this to Jesus’ church. There are so many working parts that are moving this way and that. So, we’re bound to run into each other from time to time. Sometimes that “bump” may hurt someone. However, to be the body that Christ designed, we need to work and be together.

We may work together for a while and things will seem “fun”, but then when something goes out of whack or fails to work, the fun ceases. I need to be continually reminded of this so that I can be praying and be active in doing my part.

Let’s do all we can to try to keep the “fun” alive and be able to use the features that His Body is designed to have - fellowship, teammwork, unification, etc.

Finding a Team's Identity

Recently, I was watching a segment of an interview consisting of Kirk Herbstreit (ESPN Announcer/Commentator) and Sam Bradford (OU Quarterback). Sam Bradford just finished his sophomore year of eligibility playing football for the University of Oklahoma. He won the Heisman Trophy last fall, being only the second sophomore to win college football's most prestigious award.

Kirk was asking Sam what it was like to come onto campus a couple of years ago and be a "nobody" and now, be more than a "somebody". He was asking him what changed in the past couple of years. Then Kirk asked Sam how his leadership changes or is going to change this coming fall. Sam said a quote from NFL Redskin's quarterback great, Joe Theisman that really impacted me. Here it is...

Every team has to find its own identity. ~Joe Theisman

Sam was saying this because Kirk and him were discussing the difference between this year's team and last year's. Sam elaborated to say that it didn't matter if you had all the same guys back from last year, your team still changes, and even at that, the team must find its own identity.

As I was thinking about ministry, so often we want to have things be pretty much the same. All of us have our comfort spots and will resist change of one form or another. However, as a church, we/you may start to develop some camaraderie but then something may change. People may move in or out or an issue may rock the boat. Then, we must find our identity again, as our team develops. Other small factors can include a season, a recession, a drought, a new staff member, a death, etc. All these things are factors which a team is going to have to find its identity to "click" and be the best organism it can be to accomplish its purposes.

A football team consists of about 55-60 guys, total. But within those groups are offense, defense, and special teams. Each of those groups must also form their own identity. Within a church body, there may be times which mini teams are found (like in ours). Each of those are going to develop their own identity, but that identity will change as time goes on.

Regardless of the size of team or the purpose of the team, we must find our own identity to make sure we know what we're doing and how we're doing it so that we can work together to be the best we can be!

Finding our identity...

E-mail Encouragement: Reaching the Peak

Did you make a New Year's Resolution this year? Have you kept with it? I didn't make one, which is the normalcy for me. Tangible resolutions are too easily broken. Maybe an intangible resolution like being willing to talk to people about Christ could be something we "make". This way it is always out there, rather than meeting a "resolution" then backing off from the attempts to continue with it. A former Presidential candidate has this week's quote...

Something in human nature causes us to start slacking off at our moment of greatest accomplishment. As you become successful, you will need a great deal of self-discipline not to lose your sense of balance, humility and commitment." ~ H. Ross Perot

Teams find it difficult to maintain a certain success height once they've obtained it. I've known of high school sports teams that have won state titles for several years in a row. That is good, but there is a point which the town can't win - and possibly the first loss resulted because they were used to winning. They had accomplished so much, there wasn't much more to look forward to - they had lost their "sense of balance, humility, and commitment".

Have you reached your peak? If you have, there is only a downward trend left on the other side. I hope this is not the case, may you continue to (or include) a life filled with "self-discipline" so that you may not lose your "sense of balance, humility, and commitment" which might cause you to only go down.

May your 2008 be a year that you strive to do big things for God by heading for the peak - knowing that it is a goal and not a destination!

Serving Him ~

E-mail Encouragement: Don't Give Up

Teamwork can happen whenever two or more people work on accomplishing a known task. I was more than pleased tonight when people worked together to accomplish more than one task. Some gathered things together for the Thursday School tent (and then went to set it up), while others folded a total of 300 flyers. I applaud all these efforts which caused both tasks to be completed in a reasonably short amount of time! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

The thought of teamwork brings me to this weeks quote of encouragement...

“Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it
together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true
strength.” ~ Unknown

It is easy to give up. I cannot say that I've never given up. With that said, I can easily relate to this quote. However, there is a lot of strength that is gained through working through self, adversity, compromise, doubt, and a host of other "things" you could name. I have been on that side of the coin, too. It allows you to see that it was worth persevering!

May we be a people of perseverance who show others that the "joy of the Lord is your strength" and not be ones who "give up" on God, Jesus, our church, ourselves, etc., no matter what life hands us!

Pressing on ~