David Letterman recently quipped, “People say New Yorkers can’t get along. Not true. I saw two New Yorkers, complete strangers, sharing a cab. One guy too the tires and the radio; the other guy took the engine.

People who normally won’t work together will, if they have a common goal. We cooperate best, when everyone involved agrees on the desired outcome.

Proverbs 29:18 NLT “When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is happy.”

The independent commission investigating the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack reported that the rescue efforts were hampered by a “Rivalry between New York's police and fire departments.” Their report said, "This rivalry has been acknowledged by every witness we have asked about it.”

—http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&u=/nm/20040518/ts_nm/security_commission_dc_4 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson

Cooperation, not competition is what was needed on that gloomy day. We are at our best, when we set aside our own ambitions and throw all our efforts into the common good, instead of putting energy into unhealthy rivalries.

1 Cor. 1:10 (NASB) “Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

When country music performing artists Brooks and Dunn announced they were ending a 20 year association, most fans thought there must be some hidden conflict to blame. The duo quelled those rumors when they spoke to Country Music Channel’s Katie Cook. Brooks told her, “We’ve had this process of making records and getting ready for tours year after year…When we were going through, trying to get an album together this year, putting songs back and forth and the push and pulling, it hit us both—We’ve done all kinds of music you can think of, done every way we could think of doing it for 20 years…We’ve worn this thing every way we know how to wear it!”

Both men say they decide to wrap up this stage of their lives and move on. Though they say they are two very different people, Ronnie Dunn added, “Differences over the long run are what make it work. You’ve got to have that room. Neither one of us are breathing the other’s air.” Neither man was ready to use the word legacy when referring to their impact on country music.

--Brooks and Dunn Open UP About Split, http://www.theboot.com/2009/08/13/brooks-and-dunn-open-up-about-split/, August 13, 2009, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

1 Corinthians 12:10-12 (CEV) “or the power to work mighty miracles. Some of us are prophets, and some of us recognize when God's Spirit is present. Others can speak different kinds of languages, and still others can tell what these languages mean. (11) But it is the Spirit who does all this and decides which gifts to give to each of us. (12) The body of Christ has many different parts, just as any other body does.”

It took online gamers to achieve a breakthrough that had eluded scientists for a decade. In a recently published article, gamers and researchers announced they have deciphered a key structure of an AIDS-like virus. They claim understanding the structure of an enzyme will help scientists understand the case of various diseases and develop new drugs to block the viruses. Researchers said the main problem was microscopes could only provide a flat image that makes the virus look like a one-dimensional picture of plate of spaghetti. They needed a way to examine the virus in three dimensions.

In 2008, a team from the University of Washington developed a video game which was fun, and served a purpose, called FoldIt. The game put video gamers divided into competing groups to work on unfolding chains of amino acids using a set of online tools. The gamer’s ingenuity and unique viewpoint took them beyond the limits of conventional computing and research. It only took three weeks to produce an accurate model of the enzyme. One of FoldIt’s creators Seth Cooper explained why gamers succeed when others had struggled saying,”Games provide a framework for bringing together the strengths of computers and humans. The results in this week’s paper show that gaming, science, and computation can be combined to make advances that were not possible before.” He added, “People have spatial reasoning skills, something computers are not yet good at.”

--Online gamers crack AIDS enzyme puzzle, http://news.yahoo.com/online-gamers-crack-aids-enzyme-puzzle-175427367.html ; September18, 2011, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

Ecclesiastes 4:9 (HCSB) Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts.

Recently, there was a picture in the newspaper of a three-wheeled tractor, with the following editorial comment, “The old farmer in his 50s or 60s sits on a tractor, driving it down a street, perhaps on his way to get it repaired. There is a major problem: he is missing the front left wheel. Not a flat tire, but the entire wheel is gone - just the axle spindle is showing. Obviously, it needs repair. Perhaps there was a major farm accident, a wheel broke off, and only the axle remains, leaving it impossible to drive into town to repair. The farm couple used their ingenuity and all the resources available to them. They needed to find a way to find balance in their life. They needed to raise the front of the tractor so it could be driven.

The farm wife stands on the back of the tractor, opposite the missing wheel. Her weight (she is a large lady) works as a counterbalance – and the tractor is lifted upright and can be driven.”

--Merced Sun Star, Merced, California November 26, 2011, B2 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and John Bohrer

Sometimes we get to drive, but sometimes we just stand in the right place, regardless, teams never get anywhere that don’t work together.

Acts 4:32 (HCSB) Now the large group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common.

During the rush hour just outside Tokyo, Japan, a woman slipped into an 8-inch gap between a commuter train and the station platform. An announcement was made asking for help and scores of passengers responded. All together they pushed and lifted the 32-ton car enough that the woman could be dragged uninjured from harm’s way.

When we all work together we can accomplish great things. Paul calls the church to work together in the gospel. --Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

Philippians 1:5 (CEV) This is because you have taken part with me in spreading the good news from the first day you heard about it.