Team

“Teamwork is less me and more we.” – Anonymous

In June, Ryan Joseph “Scooter” Gennett became the seventeenth player in major league baseball history to notch four home runs in a single game. His other at-bat was a single, for a five-for-five outing with ten RBIs. Pretty impressive stuff. Who’d a-thunk it?

Gennett is twenty-seven years old, 5’10” tall and weighs 185 pounds.  The Cincinnati Reds picked him up in March after the Brewers put him on waivers. The most homers he’s ever hit in a single season is fourteen. He’s bounced from team to team, up from the minors, back down to the minors, and back up to the majors again. He’s a journeyman.

When asked about his stunning accomplishment, Gennett credited his teammates and coaches. He said, “My teammates were awesome the whole time, letting me know exactly what I needed to do.” He acknowledged Reds hitting coach, Don Long, for fine tuning his swing. Certainly, Gennett deserves some of the credit! His perseverance in the league, alone, is something to be commended. But, when the time came for him to excel, he pointed to those around him for their support and encouragement.

Teammates, friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, fellow Christ-followers. We all need others in order to do our best in whatever endeavor we pursue. The church is designed to be a family of missionary servants, a group of people working together to accomplish the mission of God in the power of the Spirit of God. None of us are loners. We need each other. In what ways are you depending on others? How are others depending on you?