Team Identity.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Team Identity. Today is a big day for folks who are fans of Cabot High School football. Each year the Panthers face off with Jacksonville as the season opener in a little game we like to call the “Back Yard Brawl.” On an average Friday night at a Cabot football game around 10,000 people will fill the stadium to support their team. Tonight, however, you can rest assured there will be substantially more than that.
There’s something fairly ironic about this game, though. You see, our teams have basically the same school colors. So, on both sides of the stadium tonight you will see lots of red and white, regardless of who spectators are actually cheering for. Sure, there are other ways to tell who they’re supporting during the game. However the most noticeable statement of team identity will be slightly confusing.
A clear identity is a huge plus when you’re cheering for or representing someone or something. If you go to sporting events very much at all you no doubt know what your favorite team’s colors are, and you wear them when you go to support them. You want it to be known from the start who it is that you are there to support and shout for. Your “team spirit” leads you to desire “team identity.”
What does your life say about the eternal team you’re on? When people see you reacting to life situations, who do they think you’re cheering for? If they listen to your vocabulary, what side does it seem like you’re on? If they observe the reaction you have to being done wrong or mistreated, what team colors will they see in your life? When they watch for evidence of love or hate in your daily life, what do they find and who does it tell them you're with?
After all, “team spirit” leads you to desire “team identity.” If I’m excited about the team I’m rooting for I want it to be known I’m there with them. I’ll be sure to put on a Panther shirt tonight before going to the game so there will be no mistaking the fact that I’m there with them. I want my life to shout to the world that “I’m here with Him! Don’t mistake me for the other team – I’m on the side that’s winning!”
So today, would you join me in asking God to help us have a strong team identity? Would you join me in asking Him to use our lives, and every aspect and detail of them, to point people to Him, the Captain of the team we're on?
Now get up, put on your team colors, and get with it! We’ve got some living to do! (If you'd like to know more about what it means to know Christ, feel free to email me at pastorblakeman@yahoo.com anytime.)

PS: Continue to pray for baby Morgan Noelle Summers and her mom and dad, Jordan and Marty. They got some tough news last night about her condition, and I hope you’ll join me in asking God to lay His mighty hand on the three of them. Also pray for a friend, Mary Landers, as she continues to battle for her life in ICU right now.



That’s just a thought, and I welcome yours.
Until next time,
blake

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