My race is early tomorrow morning so I'm here in a Wake Forest hotel watching last year's Super Bowl on YouTube.
Running is not a team sport. But football most definitely is. This is one reason I love that sport so much. It's the concept of team. In the National Football League, you've got 53 men on a team. They come from different backgrounds. Off the field, they might not have very much in common. But every year they come together and set aside their own personal goals and ambitions in order to put the team first. It reminds me so much of my days playing basketball. A team has a common goal. It's the job of every player to strive for it. Success requires not only hard work but team work. A team will always be more successful when all their players are in agreement and focused on achieving the same goal.
All of this can be applied to the day to day life of a player. I think Paul had this concept of team work in mind when he wrote the book of Philippians. "Be of the same mind in the Lord." "Stop looking out for your own interests but also look out for the interests of others." "Struggling together for the faith of the gospel."
How will I feel years from now if I look back on my life and and find out that I was not a team player? Oh Lord, please give me a renewed appreciation of just how powerful the platform of sports can be when put to good use.