When it comes to life’s great achievers, the apostle Paul is in a league of his own. But he takes one entire chapter of the Bible, Romans 16, to acknowledge all the people who helped him to succeed in his calling. The chapter could be captioned ‘I couldn’t have done it without you!’ He starts by talking about Phoebe, ‘who is worthy of honour…for she has been helpful to many, and especially to me’ (vv. 1-2 NLT). President Lyndon Johnson said, ‘There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves.’ When God created Adam, He said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper’ (Genesis 2:18 NKJV). And He created Eve. From the beginning of time, God teaches us that very little of significance is ever accomplished by an individual acting alone. Look below the surface, and you will invariably find that all the single-handed feats are really team efforts. Daniel Boone had at his disposal companions from the Transylvania Company while blazing the Wilderness Road. Wyatt Earp’s two brothers and Doc Holliday assisted him. Charles Lindbergh had the finances of nine businessmen from St Louis and the expertise of Ryan Aeronautical Company, which built his plane. Even Albert Einstein acknowledged: ‘Many times a day I realise how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labours of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.’ The secret to success in any endeavour can be summed up in these three words: connect…commit…communicate.
