Christian Living

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Tug of War is one of my favorite sports. Growing up in Asia, when I attend in 5-year business college (3 years high school and 2 years college). There were about 2000 students, 400 students for each grade and were grouped into 8 classes, 50 students in each class. Some classes have a different amount of boys and girls. It depends on the subjects whether there are boys or not in the class.

Every year, the school had a Tug of War. The game combined all different ages. Each class tugged 2 times to determine the winner. So if each team won once, they would have to tug the 3rd time. So you could see who would be the winner. Usually a 5th-year's class would be the winner and among them, the class that have the most boys would win.

I was in 4th-year and there were only 4 boys in my class. We never dreamed that we would win over 5th-year classes, and would be proud of ourselves if we could beat the other 4th year classes. In the past, our class lost right away--even to the first-year teams. During my 4th-year, our young English teacher decided to teach us how to play Tug of War. Instead of teaching us English, most of the time he would coach us how to position ourselves, how to move, when to shout, when to pull, how to hold on.....etc.

Amazingly, following our teacher's instructions, we kept winning....1st-year teams, 2nd-year teams, 3rd-year, 4th-year(By the way, remember that many of the classes have more boys than girls). That year our team became famous in the school. Everyone talked about us and wondered how we could win. We were just girls with only 4 boys. Our class was so ordinary. Yet, we continually won over among 5th-year classes.

At the last battle, we finally faced the "giant" team---more than half were boys and they were tall and looked strong to us. We were not sure that we could make it, but we had no fear about the giant team. This was a very interesting moment: Usually, it was a 5th-year team against 5th-year team. But this time it was like a "Giant" vs a "David". If the other team won, that was what everyone would expect. But if they lost, shame to them because they were so strong. The 5th-year team thought that they would win for sure, yet you could feel that their hearts were "melted" because of our "miracle records".

Just like yesterday, I still remember that moment when the judge shot the gun to start. All of us used all our strength that we could! Almost everyone(teachers, school staff, students) in the school was watching who would win. Really, at that moment, no one, including us, knew the result. We tugged very very hard. Overall, the boys were strong. We really did not know how long we could make it. It was a long time and we would lose the battle right away if we lost our focus. Thankfully, our teacher was beside us and gave us clear orders, so we held, and constantly kept ourselves in pace. Finally, we prevailed and we won the first turn!!

The other team was shocked! The battle was not over yet. We had a second turn. No one smiled. We kept our focus. But the other team started to lose hearts, and there was confusion among themselves, not knowing why they lost...They lost their focus......So our second turn, surprisingly, was easier and faster to win. We won first place.

Reflecting back, I realized it was the power of unity!

Unity works in the natural realm and the spiritual realm. We won not by our strength but by our unity. Everyone of us cared, everyone moved together, everyone wanted to win, and everyone obeyed. We used our strength, all at the same time, so no one's strength was wasted. Think about it...40 students were in the team. Not everyone liked this sport, not everyone cared, not everyone was competitive, and not everyone has strength....And this is just among the students' activities. Other teachers didn't care to be involved, but our teacher did. So every team was on their own to do the job with their strength. But, luckily, our teacher cared and knew how to train us. Seeing the result inspired our whole team and gave us courage.

The most precious part was that we loved one another. Our heart was connected to each other. The impact was so positive and so lasting that until today, most of our friendships from this class still remains.

We desperately need unity among Christians! We need to know how to work together. We have the Holy Spirit as our best coach. We need to know how to co-operate. Often times, we see our problems and our enemies are "taller" and "stronger" than us. It may be a fact, but it is not true! We can be overcomers!

Unity has to be everywhere in our prayer meeting, ministries, discussion, fellowship, evangelism...etc. It releases not only God's power, but also produces love in one another. Then the glory of God come from our unity.

Let us be united in ourselves--the unity of our spirit, soul, and body. Our mind and our heart often goes in different directions. Either our spirits are weak or our mind is not transformed and not able to contain the things of God.

Let us be united in the family---the unity of husband, wife, and the children.

Let us be united among the church---the unity of pastors, congregation, and intercessor.

Let us be united in the nation.

And God is our captain; no matter how small we are, we will win!!!

ps. I don't have a private message. Please contact me at [email protected] if you have any question.

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