Thoughts on Team

Just to assure all you faithful blog readers that Michelle has not disappeared! I usually don't go this long between entries, but this past month has been one constant transition after another. I just wrote and sent another newsletter to the press, which means I am in writing mode, so I write. There's also the point that there is so much going on that I don't know where to start or what you would be interested in. To me it just seems like a regular day in China. However, I'm realizing that the fact that I'm in China doesn't make it regular at all :).

After five weeks in south China and four weeks helping out in Beijing, me and my team of 13 boarded the train and ventured back to Siping to begin a new semester. The first week back was devoted to team building activities and now we are in our second week of classes. I have not updated pictures on my flickr site because my camera died this summer and I'm in the process of looking for a new one :). The team picture here is from my teammate Kat :).

When I joined this team in February, I was simply doing just that- joining something that had already been established. I was just going with what was already going on and that was fine for me. Last semester was a time of transition and learning the ropes of living life in this place. Now, however, I want to help shape this team and put in my two cents worth. I want to be part of developing strategies that align with where our Father wants us to go. I've been on several very different kinds of teams and each one has had its advantages and disadvantages. There are aspects of my old teams that I really miss, and yet at the same time there are other aspects I don't miss at all. However, even with several years of experience under my belt, I know I have to approach life with a great deal of humility. Humility has never been one of my stronger virtues. :) Adding new team members in the mix calls for even more adjusting. Bless their hearts because being completely new to China has them adjusting more to life in Siping than I ever had to. Being on a large team of 13 means that everyone wants to find their place, to bring value to the larger whole. It is sometimes (okay, a lot) frustrating when somebody else has the "greater" gifts and I'm simply trying to keep up. I find myself (and I say this as a personal problem and not necessarily reflective of my team members) becoming (dare I say?) competitive in some regards and sometimes forget who we really are and Who we are representing. Who can be the best language learner or best lesson planner or best study leader or who can come up with the best thought and praise time? Who is the busiest or having the most meaningful conversations with students? We want to be the best we can be for Him, but end up stepping on each other in the process rather than building each other up. Is that really what we want to be? We really don't know what the Father is doing with us here, but that's not really our job to figure out. We need to be constantly reminded that our role is, by loving each other, to demonstrate His love to the community at large. Out of relationship with the Body comes relationship with others.

I have a great team, I really do. I have been genuinely impressed by the leadership of Jon and Rachel, our team leaders. They bring people out in a way that is honoring to our Father. Having been in leadership positions before, I know that this is not always an easy place to be. They both honor Him with their lives and love for each other and for this family here in Siping. I am incredibly blessed to work alongside them (and not just Jon and Rachel- ALL of them).

It is neat to see how various gifts on the team are played out, even in the mundane. The mundane is a glorious place to be sometimes. :). And yet, at the end of the day, we are still human and our natures take captive on what should be right and pure. Perhaps that is what makes grace all the more amazing! :)

The other night my team was listening to a teaching about our friend Joseph at the beginning of our favorite book. The speaker was emphasizing how Joseph's Father was with him even when he didn't know the story (didn't even know there WAS a story, as there was no book at the time, and his great grandfather was just an ordinary man to him who had a promise of being the father of many, but only had one son, and his own brothers were messed up people in themselves- there's a story, what story? :)). In the dark places in the dungeon, befriending the prison warden, Joseph had no clue how his life would play in the bigger story. He just acted as one confident that his Father was with him. The question the speaker continually challenged us with was, "what would somebody who is just like me with my exact circumstances do who is absolutely confident that the Father is with him?" How do my decisions and actions hang on the balance of the Great Story of which we have no specific idea about the part we are playing? :)).

At the end of the day, what brings honor to Him? At the end of the day, we are reminded that this is His team, this is His campus, and this is His story. We are humbled that we have been asked to play such a role. One day it'll make sense, but our aim is not to search for that day, but to simply BE in the here and now and hope for better things. :)

By the way, Happy Teacher's Day to all of you in China! :)