Month 4: Team

I was sitting around this weekend thinking about some really great ideas for the May installation of Water for Water 2013, when I realized I was a little late in getting the April one out.  Ooops.  I guess belated is better than benever.

I was enamored in April with the concept of a team.  As I researched the subject, I learned that a group of people may not necessarily be a team.  The difference is that a team requires the individual members to have a common purpose.  I watched my oldest son participate in his first organized sport in April, soccer.  He played defender a lot and it was amazing to see him and his co-defender and the goalie raise their hands and jump when the team scored a goal.  He didn't care that he didn't score it.  He wasn't looking off at the trees wondering what was for lunch.  He was zoned in on what the other portion of the team was doing- and the celebration was communal.  

As I thought about the concept of a team, I saw examples popping up all around me.  I saw a church community to come together to pray and celebrate the life of a beautiful baby girl when the first week of her life was filled with unknowns about her future.  I saw a group of people praying and preparing to embark on a mission trip to Ethiopia.  I met a team of citizens that organizes an annual small race to help raise money to fight cancer in a growing midwestern town.  Every example I witnessed was the very definition of a group of people with a common purpose.

If you want a handbook for how a team can be successful, look no further than the second chapter of Paul's letter to the church in Philipi.  He writes:

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

That verse can make any team successful, whether it is a sports team, a community team, a family, and even a marriage.  I've told you how I had reflected on the concept of a team in May, but I haven't told you why.  Water for Water 2013 has now raised $6,526.30 year to date.   Our goal is to reach enough to build a well.  But even if we don't, I am truly humbled by this team.  Family members, people from church, co-workers, anonymous people from the internet who I have never met, clients, even a coffee shop (think about the irony of that...) have all partnered and given their support of this cause-to give clean water to those who don't have it.  Not just financial support, but prayer, encouraging words, even reading this blog-it is all part of the campaign.  Everyone, at least in this limited context, having the same mind, same love and thinking of the interests of others above their own.  I am proud, humbled, excited, grateful and enamored to be a part of this team with all of you.  It is beautiful.  I hope you will all raise your hands with me when we score the goal...