Life Is a Team Sport

     I am not a good blogger. Better, I am not a consistent blogger. Third attempt, if I haven’t blogged since April, am I a blogger at all?
     I use to play basketball every day. I had my own court. I was the best player on my court. Well at least I was when I was the only one playing. Sometimes others played with me and showed me I wasn’t best. But still, I thought I was a player. In my mind I was a good player. I had a dream player I pursued. His name was Larry Bird. But obviously we weren’t in the same league. He had more basketball talent in this pinky toenail than I had wrapped up in all of me. Still I considered myself a basketball player but I was never on a team. Yea pick up games but not on a let’s practice and play together every day kinda team.
     Do we face our Christian life in a similar way? Christianity is a team sport. We aren’t meant to give our lives to God through faith in Jesus and then go it solo the rest of our lives. The Lone Ranger wasn’t alone. He had Tonto. But we compare ourselves to the “super” Christian and then slink down in our misery and say I don’t belong with them. 
     This season is a perfect time to join a team and get in the game. Go caroling. Bake cookies together and deliver to some who can’t get out often. Go to church together. Go out to eat afterwards. Serve together at a food pantry or homeless shelter. Get involved. 
     “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!” Psalms‬ ‭133:1‬ ‭CSB‬‬
     “And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.” Hebrews‬ ‭10:24-25‬ ‭CSB‬‬
     “When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”” Luke‬ ‭2:15‬ ‭CSB‬‬. It’s even part of the Christmas story. The shepherds went together, not individually, into town to search for a baby wrapped in clothes and in a manger. 
    Unoriginal close...get off the bench and get in the game.