Team

 

God tells me what to write in various ways.  I’ve had words just pop into my head, different things I see, like once a bumper sticker, songs as you’ve no doubt seen if you have read many of these.  This time my wife, a real estate broker/owner, was talking about her team and that word shouted in my head, TEAM!

 

We have heard the cliches about team.  There is no “I” in team, team is an acronym that stands for “Together Everyone Achieves More”.  Most of us have been on some kind of team, sports, academic, hobbies, organizations, and others.  Regardless of what kind of team, there are a few common characteristics: a member has a certain loyalty, emphasizing the whole instead of individual needs or desires, working together to achieve a common goal.  It is all about the team and teamwork.

 

All throughout the bible, we see teams that answered God’s calls and directions. When the Israelites were together and following God, they were successful and victorious.  When they turned their backs on God, disaster struck.  The obvious big example is the trip from Egypt to the Promised Land.  This is at best a walk of three or four weeks.  It took them 40 years.  Time and again they went a different way, sometimes following false gods.  It is hard to imagine a team with 600,000 men of fighting age, but that is what it was. 

 

We as Christians follow the teachings and directions of Jesus Christ and his father.  We are separated into various sects and religions, but the one common link is our following Jesus.  Some of us do so very diligently with daily prayer, reading the bible, and living in such a way that people who see us know which team we are on.  On the opposite end are those who claim to be Christians, but do nothing to follow him.  Most of us are somewhere in between.

 

Which kind are you?  Are you on one end, a loyal follower, or on the other end where people would be surprised to hear your claim to follow Jesus?

 

Take a self-assessment.  Are you doing what you need to do, want to do, to be on his team as a loyal player?  You don’t have to be biblical scholar, or ordained minister.  Or you could say you pray more often.  Does that mean being on your knees for an hour every day?  Or, you could pray for 60 seconds?  It doesn’t have to have a timer, and it doesn’t have to be formal.  It can just be a conversation.  God will listen and he will answer, sometimes as the faintest whisper.  God may send someone else to deliver his part of the conversation.  Do you read the bible?  I saw an article recently which had a program on how to read the bible in a year.  We can go to church regularly, not just to put a checkmark in the box, but to really worship him with others of your team.

 

Whatever you do is personal, it’s up to you.  Just make up your mind to live in such a way that you are the best ever team.

 

P.S. There is another team out there.  It is logical to think that if we are on a team, there is an opposing team.  It is a very strong team, with a very dedicated coach.  He goes by many names, but one we know well is Satan.  Coach Satan is constantly recruiting, no one is immune to his offers.  He believes that if he makes the right offer, the right incentive, he can recruit any one of us.  Our team is stronger, our coach is stronger, but it is up to us to constantly practice what God has taught us.  Satan believes he can win.  We know, and God knows, that the game, the war, never ends.  It is up to each of you to make sure that we always win.  You will be tempted, never doubt it.  If you follow God’s coaching, you, and we, will win.

"I'm Great"

 

Picture yourself in a common situation: you are walking down a hall or somewhere at work and you see someone you know coming towards you.  The resulting conversation would go something like this:

“Hi, good morning, how are you?”

“I’m great.  How about you?”

“I’m great”

and you both continue on your ways.  Did you really care how that person was feeling or doing, or was that just an automatic conversation?  Most likely it was just a rhetorical question.  You didn’t really care how that person felt.  And that person didn’t really care about you, either.  Why didn’t you stop and ask?  That person may have stopped as well.  What if the first response was “lousy” or “frustrated” or “absolutely terrific!”   You may not have really heard it, or you may have responded, “Me, too” without really knowing what your response entailed.   Because neither of you actually cared, it was just a fleeting social moment.  But, if you stopped, then you know, and cared. 

Try this the next time: stop walking and call him or her by name, get the attention, then ask this way: “Good morning, (name), how are you doing this morning?  Maybe add a comment as appropriate, like, “you’re looking good”.  And that person may respond in kind.  A 30 second conversation showing you do care or are interested on some level.  The person may be a total stranger and you may have made his or her day a touch better.

 God cares and God watches over us.  He cares about you as a unique person he knows.  Maybe you will hear his voice in your heart or your soul, like the tiniest whisper.  He wants to know how you are doing in any particular way, although he already knows.  It is just his way of letting you know he cares, even in the smallest way.

 I’m sure you have had the experience of having one of those days, be it great, be it lousy.  Then someone stops and ask you how you are…and listen, perhaps adding feedback or support or just an acknowledgement.  If you ask why the person talked to you, asked about you, the answer will probably be something like, “I just had this impulse when I saw you.”  That impulse is spelled G-O-D.  That person may not realize the real impetus was God, for he doesn’t advertise his presence.  He doesn’t  grab someone and say, “Hey, John, this is God.  Go see how Mike is doing”.  He is just the director, picking out someone to carry his message that he cares.  Most likely, you won’t think about it being a message from God, but it is.

 God cares about all of his creatures, from the smallest to his greatest creation, us.  Since that is true, then perhaps the next time you talk to someone, asking about them, you may be doing God’s work, delivering his message that he sees us, knows us, loves us unconditionally.

 God doesn’t have to tell us he is great.  He has countless messengers – and a big book for a reference.

The Gravest Hurt

 

In 1944, a group known forever as the Mills Brother recorded a song for which they became famous, a song that has endured for decades, “You Always Hurt The One You Love.”  Here is the start:

You always hurt the one you love,

The one you shouldn’t hurt at all.

 

Although this is written and sung as a love song, the theme can stretch well beyond that.  The people we love include not just lovers, spouses, but also parents, siblings, dear friends and others who step in and out of our lives throughout the years.

 

The second verse starts with this:

You always break the kindest heart

With a hasty word you can’t recall.

 

Recall is not about remembering, it is about not being able to call or take it back.

 

As I said above, we hurt those we love, whether we mean to do so or inadvertently by a careless or thoughtless word or act.

 

Who else do we hurt?  That would be the most precious of all, God.  And the way we do that is through sin.  Every time we sin, in whatever matter or means, we hurt God.  We may do or say something to someone.  Remember Christ told us the least we do to a child, we also do it to him.  Expanding on that, the least we do to someone else, we are also doing it to God.  He feels our joys and our pains, so he knows and feels whatever we did, and that someone else feels.

 

The gravest hurt we can do to God is to turn our backs on him, to deny him, to spurn his love of us.  Whether it is a matter of denying him or turning instead to the Prime Enemy, Satan.

 

Just as God tells us to forgive those who harm us, so too will he forgive us when we hurt him.  The best news is his arms are always open to welcome us back.  His forgiveness is infinite, all we have to do is ask.

 

So take a good look at your dealings with God.  Have you hurt him through some sin, grave or small?  You don’t have to go to church to ask him to forgive you, you just have to ask.  If you are more comfortable confessing to a minister, priest, or rabbi, to be told how God loves you and forgives you, then absolutely do so.

 

Remember this:

God waits

Just ask

Legacy

 

We have all heard the word “legacy” and it is used to describe various things or people.  Webster’s Dictionary says:

1.      Something that is willed to someone by a person who has died.

2.      Something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past.

3.      A candidate for membership in an organization who is given special status because of a familial relationship to a member.

 

All of these are focused on something given or received, whether it is money, property, membership sponsorship.  A legacy can also be the person who came before, who left the legacy behind.

 

If you have read any of previous writings, you have seen how I sometimes draw on songs that have words or thoughts that incorporate into them.  This is one of those:  Randy Travis, the country singer, titled “Three Wooden Crosses”, which was released in 2002 and rose to number one.  This is part of the chorus:

“It’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you, it’s what you leave behind you when you go.”

 

Jesus Christ came into the world like the rest of us as a newborn baby.  The last three years of the 33 he was here formed his ministry.  When he left and returned to his father in heaven, he left behind a fledgling legacy, a small movement with the 12 members.  These 12 men took this legacy and carried it out into the whole world, named after its founder, Christianity.

 

Over the next 20 centuries, it grew into a movement that spanned the entire world.  It grew and shrunk, its members were glorified and persecuted, but his legacy lives on and continues to grow.  There are variations of it, but the one bottom line is they all praise and glorify Jesus Christ.

 

Enough of history.   Everyone is a candidate for membership.  We are all related to Jesus Christ, we all have the same father.  That gives us all that special status.  Those of us who are his followers, Christians all, come from all walks of life, every ethnic group.  Some of us practice our belief daily, some only weekly, and some have lapsed in following his legacy.  He welcomes all of us regardless of our level of dedication.  He loves us all.

 

Go back and read that part of Randy Travis’ song.  You are going to leave your legacy to those who come after you.  What is that going to be?  Is it something that will grow his legacy even more?  Like the last line goes, “It’s what you leave behind you when you go.”

 

What are you going to leave behind, what will be your legacy?

 

 

The Scavenger Hunt

 Several years ago when our two local grandsons were little, we came up with an idea to add a little fun to Christmas. We called it “The Scavenger Hunt”. Basically, we gave one of them a piece of paper with a clue to go somewhere in the house. Once there, he would find another clue to go to another place. The last clue took him to where his present was hidden. Then we did the same to the other one. We did this every year since then and each year they, now grown adults, ask if there is going to be another scavenger hunt. 

I am in charge of creating these clues for the hunt and I use a simple poetic format for each one. Here is a sample taken from one of the sets of clues: 

So there’s no need to grumble and shout, 

Nor to race and run to the place. 

Go take a chance, 

With more than a glance, 

To the cooker that slides in and out. 

The cooker is a drawer microwave. If you aren’t familiar with it, it is a microwave mounted in a drawer and slides out and in with a button on the front. I am up to putting seven clues in each set and create three or four sets each year. In addition to the two guys, we also include a girlfriend or wife in the game. Some people hunt for God the same way. They may go to one person who has a message, but not a complete one. So they go to someone else or to one church and another church and still another. Perhaps each stop points the way to the next, or it is frustration at not finding God yet. Finally, they receive the whole message and find God and his loving message. It may have been a minister, a priest, a rabbi, a friend, a church, or the bible. However they did it and not how long or difficult the search, they now have the ultimate prize, the ultimate gift, God’s love. God’s love was always there, as it is for all of us, but he or she had to find him and let him into their lives. How about you? Have you found God and are living in his love? Or, are you still searching, bouncing from one clue to another? Don’t quit! God is leading you down the path you need to walk. He is not going to give up or quit on you, so don’t you quit either. The ultimate prize is worth the struggle.

Twinkle, Twinkle ...

We have all heard that nursery rhyme, that one that goes, “Twinkle, twinkle, little star…” And those of us who have kids have most likely repeated it to them. Did you ever stop and realize that this is the first astronomy lesson? It’s true. Remember that stars twinkle and planets do not because they are reflecting the light from the sun. the same as the moon’s light is a reflection of sun light. I am writing this in Dallas, Texas and it is mid-November. Once the sun has set and it is dark, there are these planets visible without a telescope: Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. Venus is a mere 25 million miles away from us, Jupiter 360 million miles, and Saturn 800 million miles from Earth. Now think about this: the distance from the sun to Saturn and back to Earth is only 1.7 billion miles. And yet we ca still see it unaided. It takes a total of two hours, 22 minutes for the light to make that journey! That is how bright our sun is. 

God created the planets, stars, and other things that are out there … and he is still doing it. The age of the universe is about 10 billion years old, but new stars and planets are being born and old ones die. Maybe this is how the supreme being has fun. And they are all different sizes. There is a red dwarf star that is 1/7th the size of our sun. The largest known star is UY Scuti. It is so large that you could take our solar system almost to Saturn, just about a 100 million miles less than its distance from the sun, and put it inside UY Scuti. It has a radius of 738 million miles. And God created both, the dwarf and the largest. 

Some night walk out and away from surrounding lights and look up and reflect on the wonder and glory of all of the stars and planets you can see unaided. There are about 5,000 stars visible. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, has about 400 billion stars, and there are about 170 million galaxies … and God created all of it, and is still doing so. 

The next time you read about creation in the bible, that God created the heavens and the earth, try to wrap your head around just how enormous is all you can see and can’t see and stand there in total awe of God and all he has created, far beyond the limits of what we can imagine. It the words of that old hymn, “Out God is an awesome God.” Truly he is.

The Silence

 Silence: the opposite of sound, or the lack of it. Silence is present in word and action throughout our lives, in song and entertainment and life. We hear that “Silence is golden” and songs like “The Sounds of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel from 1967, the movie “Silence of the Lambs”, a cliché tells us the silence was deafening. Then there are people who live in silence. I’m not talking about dead people here. In the Catholic Church, the Trappist Monks live in silence and prayer and contemplation of God.

We have all, at one time or another, experienced God’s silence. We know that when we pray to God, whether in praise or the request something, he hears us. It is a tenet of our faith that God answers all of our prayers, sometimes with a “yes” and sometimes with a “no”. But how about all of the other times when all we get from God in answer to our prayers is … nothing. Silence. We pray, we make offerings, sometimes we try to make a deal with him. And more nothing, more silence.

 I wrote a piece a few years back titled “God’s Good Time”. And that is sometimes how it is when we pray. We just aren’t ready for the answer yet.

Maybe sometimes God has a different motive for being silent. Think back to the story of Job in the Old Testament. He lost it all: family, crops, animals, buildings, health. Three of his friends insisted he must have done something really wrong to make God so angry that he visited all of these things on Job. We know that the purpose was to show Satan that Job’s faith was strong, that regardless of what befell him, he did not break faith with God. Surely, Job wondered why God was silent, not answering his prayers for relief and deliverance. In the end, Job was richly rewarded by God for his unwavering faith. 

How about us? Do you think that maybe God is giving us an opportunity to show our faith? It would certainly be easy to turn our back on God when we aren’t getting any response from him. Some may even go to the point of questioning God’s very existence. There is another cliché, “Keep the faith, baby”. That is what it is all about, staying faithful regardless of what happens to us, in that silence period. And when it is done, when God responds once again, what has happened to your faith? It has gotten stronger. You have added to the strength of your faith and are more able to resist the attacks of the Enemy. Remember, that in order for a muscle to get stronger, it must be damaged first and the healing gives it strength. The point where a bone breaks is stronger there after it heals than the rest of the bone. So, it is with our faith in that when we have come through a period of trial, our faith is even stronger than before. 

So, why does God do these things or allow them to happen? It could be that we need to discover just how strong we really are. Perhaps God knows we are going to come to a period of trial that tests our faith, and he is preparing us by making us stronger. 

How about you? Is God answering your prayers? If so, great. Are you experiencing God’s gift of silence? Also great! We may see his purpose then or it may be off in our future. It is a gift and you have the chance to use it wisely. So just accept it, just do it.