November 10, 2009

The Power of Partnership

Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now.

Philippians 1:4-5

     In October seasoned builders from St. Mary's, Georgia joined us in Reynosa to build homes for two precious elderly men.  The team shared the following message in morning devotion with us.  We could not help but think of you.

     .....Partnership is the ability to accomplish more together than apart.  It recognizes that a team is stronger than an individual.  A group committed to each other will help the struggling and the fallen.  Mother Teresa said, "You can do what I cannot do. I can do what you cannot do.  Together, we can do great things."  Andrew Carnegie confessed, "I owe whatever success I have attained, by and large, to my ability to surround myself with people who are smarter than I am."  John Wooden, perhaps the greatest basketball coach of all time, reminded his team, "The man who puts the ball through the hoop has ten hands."

     Call it whatever you want - teamwork, association or synergy.  Partnership is the remarkable ability of two or more people working together to accomplish more than what each could do alone.  This truth is a fit reminder to God's people that when we are working together in harmony, the talents and gifts of the body minimize the weakness and shortcomings of the body, thereby making a stronger unit.  If you take away one musician from an orchestra, the symphony would be incomplete.  So, too, if one member of the family of God is missing, the church is incomplete.  We need each other.  You need someone and someone needs you!.....

     The hurting are everywhere.  Even Jesus had to pause as He looked at the crowd that came to Him.  He had compassion on them because their problems were great. 

The fallen and the struggling are in our families, in our local church, in Reynosa and all around.

      Hunger, joblessness, loneliness, illness, fires and death are realities to the Mexicans in the Colonia.  We see the harshness of life every time we go.  These people are in great need.  The fallen need to be lifted up and the struggling need to have their load lightened.

     For many years, veterans and rookies from all over the United States and Canada have partnered with STRATEGIC ALLIANCE time and time again.  They have come to accomplish one goal.....to be the very hands and feet of the Lord Jesus.

     Thank you for attaching yourselves to us.  Thank you for believing in our purpose.  Thank you for partnering with us. You complete the work the Lord has called us to do. Together we make up the body.  Without your commitment we would be incomplete and unable to help so many.

     For this we say, "We love you!"