It isn't hard to conclude that the strength of a collective group is going to out perform any effort from an individual. Teams are created in an effort to bring the best of the best together from each individual's strength so that the best outcomes can be reached. Throughout history great significance has been given to the idea of having a united front stemming back to the words of Jesus, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand." Matthew 12:25. One of our future founding fathers John Dickinson referred to this presumption of unity as a rebellious group of colonists gathered to decide whether a fight for independence from their mother country of England would be possible only to conclude that it would be an all or none proposal for their bid to succeed. Before the Civil War began, it appears Abraham Lincoln spent considerable time in the Holy Book as he is recorded as having said "a house divided cannot stand". The words of President John F. Kennedy echo this sentiment in his "ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country" speech which resonate the ideal of the collective efforts of us all for the betterment of the whole. Today's Flat Tire is not political, although we do face obvious and glaring divisions in our country. One perspective would tell you it is the Democrats that are dividing our country, another person will ultimately tell you it is the Republicans that are slicing the knife right down the middle of our country. I stand today as a member of the "United" States of America and I will tell you that we are only as "united" as the proverbial weakest link in our chain.
The notion of a chain's strength only being as strong as its weakest link fits appropriately in our topic of unity. Whether we are having a discussion about the fight against the novel COVID-19 virus, the stain of slavery and racial injustice, or who will be the president that leads our country for the next four years, our success with any of those topics all corrals around the idea of "us" fighting together rather than each of us falling alone. Mask or no mask, Black Lives Matter and all lives matter, the left, the right, the ultra-left or the ultra-right, we no longer stand as a nation, we stand as a multitude of weak links in our collective country's chain. We must turn our minds from the thought that it is "us" against "them" to a mindset of how "we" can overcome the obstacles that lie in our paths together.
Looking back at Jesus' comment that a house divided cannot stand the context in which He spoke those words is important and relevant. Jesus was being accused of working as an agent of Satan by casting out demons. His wise response was, why would the devil be working against himself by removing demons from individuals? Sound reasoning in my opinion. In much the same way in the minds of most people in America today the belief they have isn't necessarily bad or evil, but as Americans we have forgotten the collectiveness of our individualism and thus we are creating a chain that is weak in each of its links. Have we as a nation forgotten that the uniqueness of this great country is that it was founded on the belief that men and women are all created equal and all men and women should be born free to choose what they believe?
That doesn't mean that we have to agree with each other all the time, we just have to be willing to accept different viewpoints for what they are, someone else's view, and then respect that person and their view just like you believe they should respect you and your view. It works both ways you know. As I was finishing up this week's thought a daily scripture app I have on my phone dinged today's verse, a very fitting verse to conclude today's message: "so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 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." I Corinthians 12:25-27.
Read it and interpret it the way you want to, my mind reads it and hears no division, equal, and caring for all parts equally, because we are all part of the whole! May we as a whole nation not worry about how great we are as a nation, but instead how we as a nation can move forward together as a nation "linked" to one another with love and concern for our fellow man, woman, and child regardless of race, religion, or where we stand on the scale of liberal or conservative politics.
I will Pray for peace across our country and around this world!
Coach Carter
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