Holding hands

It doesn’t matter who you are or where you live. Your computer might be parked in Germany or France, New Zealand or Australia, China or Japan, Lithuania or Latvia, Norway or Sweden, Canada or the United States, etc. It really doesn’t matter. If you are a human being, you need other human beings in your life.

I was reminded of this obvious and yet neglected truth after reading Robert Schullers’ account of 75 years of life and ministry in his autobiography entitled My Journey.

Robert Schuller, like Micheal Jackson and Elvis Presley, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, Billy Graham and Mother Teresa, is a household name in many parts of the world. When you think positive thoughts and picture a cathedral in California that looks like crystal…you likely also imagine a small, pudgy, poor, farm boy from Iowa standing on the platform. Or maybe not.

Robert decided to become a preacher even before he started elementary school. He had a plan. He told his family. Made the announcement during breakfast one morning. His uncle Henry, who was visiting from China, saw his future first. But, almost at the same time, Robert caught a clear vision for his life even as a very young boy.

Robin Williams once said that, “No man is an island although some are peninsulas.” But if you read Mr. Schuller’s story, you will soon discover that he was very much connected to the mainland; he was dependent on many other people, throughout his entire life. To point out the obvious, he could not have become the Robert Schuller that you picture him to be today without the encouragement and support of many other people in his life.

Sometimes the assistance that he needed came, just at the right time, without him having to ask. On other occasions he had to take the initiative and occasionally faced a lot of rejection in the process. For example, he had been assigned to start a new church in the Garden Grove area by his denomination. And you can’t have a church without people. But the vast majority of people he personally invited decided that they would much rather stay home.

Growing up in the West, that would be western Canada and the western world, I inherited a cultural tendency to be a tad too individualistic. Maybe you did too. But just try living as if you don’t really need anyone for any significant length of time, and you will soon find out that it doesn’t work very well – at all. You and I will become and accomplish much more with a team than we ever will all on our own.

Who is on your team? Whose team are you on? Maybe it is time to recruit and sign up.