Everything That's On My Mind

I just love watching these guys play basketball. It's a thing of beauty. I've been a Pistons fan all my life. I remember going down to Cobo Hall to watch them back in the dark days of Dick Vitale and "Thunder and Lightning", aka Terry Tyler and John Long. I remember going to see them play at the Silverdome with 60,000+ of my closest friends back in the heydays of the late '80s. I've tried to forget the days of teal uniforms.

The thing I love the most about the current Pistons is how they win. The Pistons of the late '80s won through intimidation and brute force. This Pistons team wins through unselfishness and willpower. They rely on each other's strengths, support each other's weaknesses, they don't care about personal recognition, and they never quit. Basketball is the ultimate team sport when it's played properly. The NBA had forgotten that for the last decade, thanks in no small part to Michael Jordan. The Pistons have reminded the league what basketball should look like.

There's a reminder there for churches, because a church should work that way as well. Too often, we wait for a spiritual "Michael Jordan" to come along and make things happen, but God intends for the church to be the ultimate team activity. When we rely on each other and the power of Christ, forget about personal recognition, and press on (Philippians 3:12,17) relentlessly toward the goal to which He has called us, we cannot be defeated.