A Sense of Belonging

There are some days I really miss basketball. I played all 4 years in high school. I lettered all 4 years. And those 4 years with that team were, to this day, some of the best years of the short 21 I have lived.

Every time I watch a girl's basketball game, I think of the old days. I remember what it felt like to be apart of the team. We practiced together. We lifted weights together. We played games together. We ran lines together.... SO many lines....

That togetherness you feel with those girls is unmatched. When you go through defense week, or as we affectionately called it "Hell Week", and losses and wins, and Coach Steers' anger, happiness, disappointment, and joy, conditioning, traveling, playoffs, pre-game rituals.... There is a bond that is created that never goes away. The girls I played basketball with are the only ones from high school that I really speak to anymore.

And I haven't had that sense of belonging since then. I have never been apart of anything like that since those days at Silverton High.

And it saddens me. Because shouldn't this be how the church is?

Shouldn't we, as the body of Christ, as like believers, be running this race together, training together, helping each other through all the emotions and trials and good and blessings? Instead, we have turned into individuals who happen to kind of doing the same thing. Would that ever work on a basketball court?

Not a chance.

So why do we do it with the gospel?