Training camps are starting back up - as strange as that sounds for this time of year - for pretty much all four sports. And, when you think about training camp, or even school sports, where students are in that same preparation time for an upcoming season, they're trying out to make the team. And with pro training camps, a lot of times, if you think of NHL or MLB, it's, Who's going to make the big league roster, versus, who's going to get sent down. In the NFL you hear about undrafted free agents, you hear about training camp invitees, and, those are guys that pretty much are trying to make the team.
The good news is that we don't have to try out to be on God's team. We don't have to try out to be part of His church. No one is going to get cut from that team.
In sports there are leagues, like in MLB there's the American League and the National League. In the NBA, the NFL, and NHL there are conferences and divisions and those conferences, those divisions, all fall under that one common umbrella that is the league. But the teams *compete* against each other still.
Fortunately, with the church, we aren't competing. We all have the same goal. And it's not going to be a case of one person gets it and another doesn't, like only one champion in the league for that sport for that season.
We might have different "divisions," there might be Catholic church or Presbyterian church or Methodist church and so on, but we are ALL one body, we are all in community with one another under God. And so, we are all winners.
Bruce Wawrzyniak is the host and creator of "Catholic Sports Radio," a weekly podcast that helps listeners find the right balance and priority when it comes to their faith life versus their sports life. Interviews are done with guests who are Catholics in sports -- current or former athletes, coaches, referees/umpires, clergy, administrators, and more from the pro, amateur, and scholastic ranks. The show can be heard at www.CatholicSportsRadio.net or via links there for most podcast apps/platforms.