team player
noun
-
a person who willingly works in cooperation
with others.*
-
a
person who plays or works well as a member of a team or group.**
I always considered myself a team player, but recently I
think I finally learned what being a team player really entails. By recently I mean over the last twelve years
and in particular with my experiences in caring for someone diagnosed with a terminal
disease.
When we were back in Oklahoma, and the symptoms of dementia
were beginning to take center stage with Piper, it was pretty easy to know
whose team we were on. For at that time
we were surrounded by faith-filled Christians at church, school, work and even
in the stores we shopped at!
The confusion started to arise once we moved back home to California. During the first year after our return, I
rapidly found myself in a tailspin as we moved into a new home, I started a new
job that took me out of town for as many as twelve hours a day and went back to
our church that had undergone many changes since we moved away three years
previously to attend Bible school.
After about six months of that we knew that somethings had
to change. It was getting obvious that
Piper couldn’t stay home alone much longer and I felt like I was getting to the
point of a nervous breakdown with the mounting stress, lack of sleep and overwhelming
amount of activities and changes going on all around us. So that’s when we began to pray over, sort
out and make decisions concerning whose team we were wanting to end up on!
I won’t rehash all the decisions and subsequent changes we
made over the next three and a half years, but suffice to say, when we landed
at the Raleigh-Durham Airport in May of 2014, things settled right down and we
found ourselves totally focused and in full participation on God’s team.
What we had learned previous to the move was that there are
many competing voices and or teams out there who will do just about anything they
can in order to get you to sign on with them and their views, their
fears, their expectations, their life experiences and their
distractions… The point being… that they want you to be like them and
do things the way that are comfortable to them. And let me tell you… it took a while for me to figure it out… but trying to make everybody
happy does not work… especially when you
are fighting for the very life of a loved one!
I can clearly remember the day when it finally hit home in
my understanding and I realized that I didn’t want to… nor NEED to play other people’s
games anymore. At that point, for us,
the decision was made! We were going to back
away from anyone and anything else that differed from the direction we felt led
to follow and join what we believed to be the winning team… God’s
faith team… and only play under the coaching of His
plans, His purposes and His pursuits when it came to Piper’s
health.
Philippians 4:6-7 emphatically tells us to, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything
by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to
God. Then God's peace, which goes beyond
anything we can imagine, will guard your thoughts and emotions through Christ
Jesus.” (NASB/Gods Word ©)
We discovered that in order for this verse to work for us, that
we needed to focus our attention TOTALLY on God, His Word and His
leadings and not be distracted by any other “word”
or “advice” or even the false accusations
that someone (almost always) seemed
to have for us all along the way! Joshua,
the great leader of the Jewish people, told the Israelites shortly before his
passing to “choose today whom you will
serve.” (Joshua 24:15 God’s Word ©) And I
think that this is the same question that is relevant for each of us today…
Who are you and I going to serve today? Whose team are we going to play for? I noticed that in professional sports you
very seldom find a player that successfully plays two sports at one time. It is just too hard to excel at either one
with your attention and loyalties split between two teams or two sports. We had to make some hard decisions along the
way, but it was well worth the difficulties we faced in separating ourselves
away from pressure and differing game plans of the other teams.
Our scripture in Philippians 4:7 teaches us that when we fully
focus
on God and His team that He will “GUARD our thoughts and emotions.” I especially like one of the Greek
definitions for the word “GUARD” in
Thayer’s Greek Definitions that likens it to the protection “by military guard either to prevent hostile
invasion, or to keep the inhabitants of a besieged city from escape.” When I read that I had another “WOW!”
moment as I thought of it as the Lord guarding us from the outside attacks
and/or distractions of others who are plying ideas and thoughts contrary to
those that we are standing on in faith, while not allowing our faith to escape
from the safety of our hearts!
When we commit to play on God’s team and not be moved by
other things, then He has always got our backs… just as Piper and I discovered along
our final twelve-year journey together and as I am continuing to trust in during
these awakening hours of this new chapter of my life today!
So, what do you think?
WHO’S TEAM ARE YOU ON?
Have a good rest of the week and as you do, keep saying
with me… “I am wholeheartedly expecting
to play and stay fully committed to God’s team today… and forever!”
*Dictionary.com
**Oxford Online
Dictionaries
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