We All Wear the Same Jersey

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”

I love sports! If I could find a job that paid me to travel and watch and participate in every sport all around the world, I would take it! I feel like Sports and Food have a great thing in common-they bring people together of all backgrounds of life! I feel like life itself is one giant Rugby game...or football game...or track meet. There`s always a champion at the end...but it takes a lot of work to get there. And it takes a good team! Even in track and field, a more individualized sport, nothing brings greater joy then helping score points so your TEAM can bring home the prize. In track, you work hard as a individual to master your race, and reach your greatest potential. But it takes teammates to encourage you, push you, and make up for the times when you don`t hit your goals...

“Individual commitment to a group effort -- that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”

Like every team you have a coach too. The man who you believe has all the answers. The man you trust to teach you all you need to know to be successful. Someone who educated and trained. Someone with experience. Most of the time you have assistant coaches as well. People who will encourage you, and help you specifically with life and your own individual problems. I like to think of my Head Coaches in Life as my Father in Heaven and his Son Jesus Christ. My Assistant Coaches are my parents, good friends, and Leaders of the church including teachers and other organizational leaders who have helped inspire me.

“It doesn't matter who scores the points, it's who can get the ball to the scorer.”

Every team has a playbook and our guidelines to follow to help keep the chaos minimal, and make it organized. There are also rules to follow that help make the game more fun and easier to understand. There are opportunities to cheat...and many times, people do. There are opportunities that we get to make a score...a touchdown, but we are taken down right before the goal line. We know what are playbook is. The Scriptures and the good books of life. We know also the the enemy waits to deceive us. They come in full uniform, with black marks under their eyes, ready to distract us from our ultimate goal and tackle us before we gain any more yards. But we also have been trained on what to do to defend ourselves. If we listen to our coach instead of the voices of the crowd , who really know nothing of the game as they are seeing it from a different point of view...we can find joy at the end result of making score, and helping lead our team to victory.

"If for a while the harder you try, the harder it gets, take heart. So it has been with the best people who ever lived."-Jeffrey R. Holland

There are things to avoid when playing the sport of "life" such as pride, cheating, dishonesty, jealousy, envy, mocking, and forgetting your true potential. I used to love Marion Jones! She was my favorite runner in the Olympics and I had dreams that I ran next to her when I was just barely beginning High School. However, I lost respect for her when I learned more of her lifestyle and her decisions. I realized she had a tough life...And I didn`t know why she resorted to cheating in her race, but  I was very disappointed and let down. Often times, we must deal with the let down of people who we believe to be our heroes, or good friends. My mother always said, "You can love and be kind to everyone...but they do not have to be your best friend". Make sure the team you are a part of and the fans you love are people who will build you up, and not destroy you.

“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.”

Pride, jealousy, mocking, and envy do not create positive team spirit. These things are found not only in the team setting of your own team, but in the spectators. When you go to a football game, you are amongst individuals you may know, and some you will never see again in your life perhaps. Some of the most evident places to find pride and harshness towards other individuals by watching and hearing the fans of each individual team. When I play a sport, I often find myself getting angry or discouraged when my team is loosing. I want to jump in and play the whole game--thinking I`m the only one who could make a difference. Pride comes quickly and consumes me. And even though it should not be, it is easy to try and justify pride. The best cure for pride, is constant prayer and a reminder that in Life-WE all wear the same Jersey! We are all on the same team!

"God expects you to have enough faith and determination and enough trust in Him to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. In fact, He expects you not simply to face the future (that sounds pretty grim and stoic); He expects you to embrace and shape the future--to love it and rejoice in it and delight in your opportunities.

God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can't if you don't pray, and He can't if you don't dream. In short, He can't if you don't believe."
— Jeffrey R. Holland