The story is told of a man who pulled up at a large public campsite. His station
wagon was piled high. It looked like the' Beverly Hillbillies on tour. There was
stuff tied on everywhere. When the car stopped at its designated parking space,
a bunch of kids jumped out of the car. They immediately began scurrying around
untying the camping equipment and other things off the car's top. They busied
themselves setting up the tents, gathering wood and throwing it in the fire
ring, lighting the fire and spreading everything out. In less than 45 minutes
the entire campsite was set up and ready to go. They looked to their father and
said, "Is that okay, Dad?" The dad looked around at everything, noting that
indeed everything was in place. He said, "Sure, it's fine." The kids ran as fast
as they could and disappeared from sight, obviously in a hurry to get where they
were going.
The gentleman who was camping next to them-who had after three days finally
gotten his fire right and all his camping equipment set up just like he wanted
it-was intrigued as he sipped his coffee and watched what was happening next
door. When he saw the kids run off, his curiosity got the best of him. He walked
over and said to the father, "How do you do that? When I pull up here, my kids
disappear almost instantly. I'm left trying to set up the tent by myself. I
don't understand. How did you develop such teamwork among your kids? How did you
achieve so much unity that this job gets done so quickly?"
The father smiled and said, "Really, it's easy. I just tell them that no one
gets to go to the restroom until we're completely set up." Sometimes necessity
creates the unity required for teamwork. Paul said, "Necessity is laid upon me."
We must join together. Unity is a powerful thing and it is directly related to
servanthood. If you cannot be a servant, you remain weak and powerless. When you
develop a servant's heart, when you make a commitment to teamwork, when personal
success is set aside for the furtherance of the Kingdom, biblical unity will
bring biblical authority, power and revival. Only servants can create unity. It
is the searching and striving for preeminence among us that creates division. .
Tenney, Tommy. God's Dream Team. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1999, p. 68-69.
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