The last target popped up at the 300 meter mark as I lay prone on a Ft. Wood rifle range. I gently squeezed the trigger on my M-16A1 rifle. It barked out a round and spit the shell casing out with a clang. A few seconds later the target fell. “A perfect score, Jimbo!” I reflected, “You can take care of yourself. Who needs these other guys, anyway?”Sounds pretty smug, doesn't it? Well, it was. I still had a lot of self-centered thinking in me at that time. After all, I grew up having to fend for myself and coming to Ft. Wood for Basic Training was not going to be any different. Or was it?
On the march back to the barracks the thought struck me, “If I can take out a silhouette target that looks like a dot moving on the distant terrain then why can't the enemy do the same to me?” Suddenly the hills of Missouri crowded in on my thoughts. I saw a thousand places where a sniper could lay hidden to bring “me” up in his sights. Now I was not so sure that I could take care of myself without the help of my fellow soldiers to serve as extra eyes and ears.
That trip to the firing range was a turning point in life. I began to notice that each soldier brought a different and valuable set of skills to the unit. In time, we learned to value each other's unique contributions. We worked toward a common goal of following the orders of our commanding officer. Esprit de Corps came to mean more than “spirit of the body.” It meant that we being “many” worked together as “one.” We finally experienced the beauty of “teamwork”
Paul often portrayed Christians as soldiers serving under Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:3). Sometimes, though, we lose sight of our need for each other. Some may even think, “I can take care of myself. Who needs these other guys, anyway?” Well, maybe the community of Christians needs to go through Basic Training. Maybe we need to relearn the value of each other's contributions. Maybe we need to work toward the common goal of following the orders of our commanding officer, Jesus Christ. Then maybe we, being “many,” may learn the secret of working together as “one.” Then we will experience the radiant beauty of “teamwork.”
“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body —whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many . . . If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 26-27).
By Jim Morris
