So, I'm not sure how many of you are Redskins fans but I've been one all my life. My Grandfather taught me what it meant to be loyal to them when I was just a little guy. We would watch them faithfully after the Sunday dinner. Needless to say all us guys would hurry through dinner so we wouldn't miss a play. I've been a fan during the drought of the 70's and during the amazing 80's and during the current drought of the 90's and 00's. It's frustrating. Each pre-season I think that this is going to be the break out season and they will go to the NFC championship game and then the super bowl but there is always something that holds them back. How can such a talented team never seem to get it all together? Dan Snyder has proved one thing since acquiring the team that even when money is no object and you purchase some of the most expensive talent in the land, it's still not enough.

So, what's the missing ingredient? There's a lack of team unity. Back in the glorious 80's we weren't that talented of a football team if you compare them to the current team but they all united together. When they played together and sacrificed for each other and for Coach Gibbs as a whole they were simply unstoppable.

I know that there have been a million comparisons between church and football over the years but here goes. The church has many talents. They have a depth of leadership potential than any other place on earth. But unless we all learn to work together we will go nowhere. It says in the Bible when two or three are gathered in my name I am there also. We have to see that it takes more than one star it takes a group of "heroes" that are putting others above themselves to make Christ known.

Have you ever felt like you are being tumbled around by life and you are totally out of control? This summer while on the Brazil Missions Trip we took the kids on a White Water Rafting Trip. The conditions on the river were optimum as we just had six inches of rain the night before and the water level had risen causing the rapids to be, well, "more rapid"! (see picture)

There was a section of rapids where all of the boats waited in a line to go down a huge waterfall. We all waited patiently and watched the other boats go over the edge. During this part I began thinking about once that boat is launched there is no turning back. Once you get into the current it is almost impossible to go backwards.

Last week I was at a pastor's conference and there was so much information coming at me it was like a fire hose that was turned on full blast. I was trying to digest as much as I could but it was overwhelming. God totally wrecked me in many areas of my life that I thought were under control. It was as if that raft had just been released and I had fallen over the edge. Now what? God requires more from me? The one thing that stuck in my mind after I came back that God wants all of us not just part of us. Just when I think I have a handle on things God reminds me that I don't have it all together. He has the handle on the river of life. On each of the boats was a world class oarsman who had many hours on the river and knew how to steer around the rocks. We need people in our lives that have been over the edge and lived to tell about it and now can give us advice on how to trust in God.

We were next in line and about to go over the edge and although it was a pure adrenaline rush going down I remember thinking that it wasn't as bad as what I had imagined. Having the expert in the boat totally put my mind at ease and knowing that the other boats ahead of me made without losing a passenger made me feel better too. I looked back at the next boat and cheered them on.

That's how it is in Life. We have those that are ahead of us who are blazing the trail and we have those that are beside us walking through our everyday life with us and then there are those that are behind us that we can encourage. Where are you in your relationship with Christ and others? Do you have a mentor or coach in your life that is a seasoned Christian that can help you out? Do you have peers that are beside you that you can lean on as you go through life? Finally, do you have those that are baby Christians that you are cheering on and discipling them? Having all three of these types of relationships give us the balance that we need. Have a great week!

I'm sitting here at the boys bus stop waiting for them to get picked up. They have to drive all over the neighborhood and thirty minutes later they get to school. If they walked they could be there in ten minutes! Crazy how that works.

This Wednesday Jay, Jim and I are going to a conference in Atlanta, GA. The conference is called the Catalyst Conference. It will be a time for us to listen to amazing speakers, get new ideas for our ministry and just reconnect as a team. Pray for us as we travel and more importantly pray for our families while we are gone.

See you Sunday!

-andy