Stronger Together

I was sweaty and exhausted as I plopped down into a chair next to my wife. She looked almost as rough as me (don’t tell her I said that) as she sipped on a bottle of water. We had both just finished running a 5k race at Pleasant View Community Church to help raise funds for their youth group. With red faces and matted hair, we congratulated each other on a job well done.

Just before we left that day, something caught my eye. A couple members of the youth group were moving their portable basketball goals back into position in the family life center as the 5k event wrapped up. For several years now, we’ve needed to replace a couple of the goals in our gym that are bent and crooked. Although they looked more expensive than what we could afford, I sought out their youth director, Preston, to see if he could tell me where they had purchased them.

He informed me that they were actually going to replace the portable goals with permanently-mounted goals. He added that, if we were interested, we could buy those goals at a very affordable cost. I was excited to hear this and asked him to let me know when they were ready to sell them.

Then, last month, Preston brought his youth here for their annual winter retreat. Everything seemed to go smoothly, and afterwards I was talking with him on the phone when he brought up the subject of the basketball goals.

He said their new goals had been installed and asked if I was still interested in their portable goals. When I said yes, Preston replied, “Good because we’ve decided that we’d like to donate the goals to the camp.”

I couldn’t believe it! This will be a tremendous blessing for thousands of summer campers for years to come.

It’s a great example of the Kingdom of God working together. If Jen and I had not been there to support their youth group that day, we would never have known about the goals. And the church, rather than trying to make money from the sale of the goals, decided to donate them to God’s work here at camp.

When we are focused on promoting God's Kingdom, rather than our own micro-kingdoms, synergy takes place. We are stronger together than the sum total of our strength individually.

You are a vital part of God's Kingdom too. When you partner with others to build up the Kingdom of God, you'll find that your gifts, talents, and abilities can be used to accomplish more than you ever could on your own.

#summercamp #basketball #church #kingdomofGod #donation #support #synergy