Always Connected In Him

Always Connected in Him

I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

When I was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, we started a staff Bible study. We met weekly because we knew we needed to support each other and provide a time to be accountable and in fellowship with the Lord. We also needed to continue to build the foundations in our lives that would help us withstand the storms we knew would come as the season wore on. And those of us who began the study and encouraged participation realized that to be productive in this world—despite this world—we would need to be more closely attached to and growing in our relationships with the Lord Jesus Christ.

As you can imagine, the group was fairly fluid in its membership as coaches came from and went to other teams and opportunities. But we continued with the Bible study and prayer times, and when we added new coaches to our staff, we’d invite them to join us. The coaches and other staff members who had gone to other teams would check in from time to time with specific questions about something we had talked about in those weekly sessions. In 2002, when a large group of us moved together from Tampa to Indianapolis, we started our weekly Bible study again with the Colts and pressed on.

Even though there has been a constant flow of changes in our lives, we have remained committed to what we started. To this day a group of us continue to get together by phone on Tuesday mornings during the season and have been getting together once a year in Minnesota to fish and fellowship and continue to grow together.

Jesus is right. He is the vine, and we are His branches, wherever we happen to be located. In order to be healthy and produce fruit, we must be attached to Him. I have also learned through the help and encouragement of many others, and especially through that growing and diverse group started from a Bible study in Tampa, that it helps us stay connected to the Vine when we stay in fellowship with fellow “branches.”

Uncommon Key > Encouraging each other and lifting each other up together always helps to point you back to the Vine from which you receive what you need to grow. Stay in fellowship with fellow “branches.”