Happy One year! My family and I have officially been here in
Casper one year as June 9th. Wow, this
has been a full year!
One of my first
experiences with the church was participating in the Riverside Triathlon last
June. For the past five years our church
has heavily supported this event and last year, my first week on the job, I was
sucked into competing in the triathlon without any prior training. Well to be honest, I was not really sucked in;
my own competitive nature drove me to it.
Needless to say, as I was competing I realized I was not prepared for
the task. I did complete the triathlon,
but it was a lackluster finish to say the least, and I am really thankful that
I didn’t hurt myself.
Last week I had
the opportunity to compete in the Riverside Tri again. This time I decided to train (a little) and
instead of doing the whole triathlon myself I decided to participate in a team
relay. This turned out to have much
better results! Instead of completing
all three legs of the race, the swim, the bike and the run, I only did the cycling
portion.
One of the
difficult aspects of a triathlon is that there are three very different competitions
crammed into one race. Swimming is much
different than cycling, and cycling is much different than running. A person can be a great runner, but if she is
not a good swimmer then she probably will be extremely exhausted and won’t finish
very well overall. On the other hand, if
this same person who is a great runner partners with someone who is a gifted swimmer
and someone who is gifted in cycling, then they could have a winning team. Within a team, each teammate will be working
in the areas of their strengths, thus being able to compete longer, faster, and
stronger than they ever could on their own.
I believe this
concept of team work is what God intended to happen in the church. We are urged by the apostle Paul to join him
in the triathlon of the Christian life.
Paul tells us, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be
mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please
his sinful nature, from that nature will
reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit,
from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not
give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:7-10, NIV). Throughout the Bible we are called to persevere
not growing weary in our Christian life and in the work of the Lord (See also,
1 Corinthians 15:58; 2 Corinthians 4:1; Hebrews 12:3).
If a few people
try to do all the good work God has planned for our church, they will grow
weary. But when all parts of the body
work together, each exhibiting their strengths, lots of good will get
done! It was awesome to see so many
people working together at the Riverside Triathlon. And I had a great time serving along-side
some of the students and other adults during vacation Bible school. With fall approaching, we’re drawing nearer
to the kick-off of another season of Sunday school, Awana, and many other
ministries of this church. Let’s choose
to step up and serve. Rather than
standing on the side lines watching a few folks work hard (and probably grow weary
in the process), let’s all participate in the work God wants to do in and
through His Church. “For just
as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same
function, so we, who are many, are one
body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to
the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy,
according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who
teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives,
with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with
cheerfulness” (Romans 12:4-8, NIV).
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