The breeze was calm out of the northeast. The wide river in upstate New York glistened in the morning sun. The gently sloping grassy banks were gradually filling with people among the scattered oaks and maples. Light laughter cracked the air as groups of spectators chatted together in anticipation of the day's events.

Precision Teamwork

Attention suddenly focused on a sleek needlelike vessel as its crew rowed with precision on a practice run up the river before the beginning of the annual regatta.

Actually, though, practice began many months before this particular day. Oarsmen began learning the art of precision teamwork through what seemed like countless hours of exercise and daily drills in the long rowing vessels called shells. The crews would row for hours until their backs and arms ached with pain from the strenuous drills. Many of the crew hopefuls couldn't take the exhausting pace and gave up the goal of making one of the seats on the crew. Others who lacked the ability and the inexhaustible physical endurance that were necessary were eventually eliminated until a final crew was chosen.

The final crew would then work out daily to develop precision speed and teamwork. Teamwork is essential for a championship crew, and the effectiveness of the crew is directly dependent upon the cooperation and the skill of each member. If one member lets down and gets distracted, the effectiveness of the entire crew will be reduced. Everyone counts!

The banks were now crowded with spectators as the 12 crews lined their shells up and cruised smoothly toward the starting line. The course was a straight run down river. All conditions were perfect for the day's race as the starter raised his arm. The staccato crack of the gun broke the anticipating silence of the crowd.

At once the powerful crews began to stroke together with precision toward the goal. The helmsmen shouted commands to increase or decrease the number of strokes per minute depending on conditions. Now all the long hours of drill were paying off for some as the shells began to separate and vie for the first position.

As the pack approached the final quarter mile, two shells pulled into the lead. They moved together, matching each other stroke for stroke. The oars moved with precision up, back, down, through the water and up again.

They were neck and neck with one hundred yards to go, when one member of a leading crew got distracted and broke the pace. This caused his crew to falter and lose speed because of the broken cadence. The other shell then moved out in front and stroked its way to the finish line to win the race.

The cup and all the glory rightly went to them. Their hours of backbreaking drill had now paid off. They were the champions.

The crowd applauded them and the local newspapers printed the story of the race featuring their pictures and names. The other 11 crews were not mentioned in the same light because they had lost. Their chance at this year's trophy was behind. Their long hours of drilling and aching would not be rewarded this time. Maybe their turn would come next year or the next. That remained to be seen. Of course it would directly depend upon their pulling together as a team, never breaking the pace or getting distracted from their purpose and goal.

However, this year's winners put it all together well. They will be even harder to beat next year if they keep up the winning pace. But they are not unbeatable. They can let down. They can glory in winning and slack off. If they do, the chances are that the other crew who broke the pace this year will not break the pace next year. They may win next year's race and become the new champions. Only time and hard work will tell.

What Kind of Team Member Are You?

As members of God's team, we must all be pulling together daily now. Wherever we live and whatever our circumstances, we are all a very necessary part of God's team. We are all a necessary part of doing His work. Just as the members of the rowing crew's total effort was necessary for them to become champions, we too must put forth our total effort daily to be God's championship team.

What does pulling together mean for us?

We all must pull together in a unified manner on our knees, prayerfully and obediently doing what we can, as we are able, to accomplish the purpose of our calling and fulfill the role God has given us within the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12).

The apostle Paul instructs us about this in Ephesians 4:16: "From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."

We as team members must remember and understand that the chief sin of Israel in the past and in the present is the sin of idolatry.

Idolatry is allowing anything—our problems, our job, our family, our finances, our social life, our anything—to diminish or come between us and our relationship with God.

Distraction: A Wile of the Devil

Distraction is one of the wiles of the devil. Satan will use whatever it takes to distract us away from growing in our close personal relationship with God.

The apostle Paul again tells us in 2 Corinthians 11:2-3, "For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."

And in 1 Peter 5:8-9 we are further instructed, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world."

As team members, we must not allow ourselves to be distracted from our purpose and responsibility of daily prayer and Bible study, meditation and fasting as often as is necessary for our spiritual growth so we can do our part in accomplishing God's purpose today.

There is only one sure way to guard against being distracted by Satan the devil so we do not miss a stroke and veer off course, and that is by realizing that we are defenseless by ourselves. We need to put on something that comes only from God.

Ephesians 6:10-13 tells us: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."

As team members in the Church of God, our strength comes from our total reliance and dependence on our Chief Helmsman, Jesus Christ, the Captain of our Salvation (Hebrews 2:10). If we are not praying to God the Father, studying His Word, practicing and applying God's ways daily, we will become distracted and miss the mark. We will not reach the goal.

We must not become distracted by anything. We must not get out of cadence with God's purpose, God's work and our calling. Let's grow daily to be the championship team members God wants us to become as members of His family team. UN