Teamwork

I have been working in St. Maries, ID for the last couple of years overseeing a environmental clean-up of creosote impacted soils and river sediment. There are many aspects to this project. Today I watched the installation of a sheet pile enclosure (YouTube it, it is exciting stuff!). To install it there is a 200 ton crane 3 barges, a vibrating massive hammer, tug boats and 8-10 workers. These men amaze me! They have to wear hearing protection because of the equipment noise. So because they can't hear each other they use hand signals. They HAVE to work together perfectly in order to be safe and to get the work done. It doesn't matter if they had a fight, or were tired or problems at home - they show up as a team and work together. It is courageous to me the work they do on open water!

It got me thinking how hard life can be to work as a team. I touched on it about family and home. But being on a team outside of the ones you love can be difficult. Some have difficult co-workers, or micromanaging bosses, or employees who don't show up. When one part of that team fails it can be disastrous to the group. 

The same goes for the body of Christ. Now, we live in a broken world. A world with sin, pain, fear, and darkness. But, when we brothers and sisters work together as a team we heal, bring joy and peace and most importantly light to cast out the darkness. When one of our teammates doesn't show up it leaves a gap. Sometimes it can't be helped so the other members have to fill in. Sometimes we lose a member to the fallen world and we have to reorganize. It is hard to be on a team. We don't want to fail or to have others let us down. But with Christs help we can see past these faults. So what if you don't like how someone prays, or how every group has an over and under talker, or that you don't like doing communion every week or not at all. That's not what the church is meant to be! We have to put aside our differences and serve as a team - Christ's team.

Remember brothers and sisters - we were chosen by God to be His children. For scriptures say:

“But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.”

1 Peter 2:9 NLT

Be His priests to the people. Work together for God! Be His team in everything you do. Remember you are lives and you will always be Held by His Boundless Grace.