Staring the 4th In the Face

It's hard to believe that the 4th of July is already here! I made the decision several months ago to take my oldest son, Daniel, and travel down to Orlando for a Bible Quiz tournament. For those unacquainted with Bible Quiz, it is a competition where you are asked very specific questions about a selected passage of scripture and the first person to stand up gets to answer the question. This is a very simplistic definition, but suffice it to say, that to be successful, you need to have the entire passage committed to memory as well as be able to pinpoint material to specific verses.

This weekend Daniel and I will be competing against teams from all over the Southeast in a two person team competition. We are quizzing over 2 & 3 John and Jude. I finished my memorization of these passages a couple days ago and have now moved to review and strengthening my verse recall. Daniel has been working diligently too, but I'm not quite sure where he is at. This will be his first quiz at this level and should be a great learning experience.

We leave tomorrow and I am extremely excited about our trip. For multiple reasons, but primarily because of the opportunity to quiz again. In high school, I would always be distracted with other things (sports, dating, etc.) and often would only put forth the minimal amount of effort to be successful. This time, I feel I am extremely prepared and ready for a fun time.

It is difficult to describe the feeling of putting a large portion of scripture to memory. It takes a lot of work but it gives me a perspective on God's Word that is difficult to come by any other way. It is also very easy to focus on the words and lose sight of the God behind the words. I believe strongly that scripture memory impacts you tremendously whether you know it or not, but your heart's attitude to the scriptures also affects the amount of impact the Spirit can have on you as well. I hope in the days ahead to really meditate on these passages and give God a greater opportunity to impact my soul. Frankly, I really need that right now.