It's nearing the end of the Grow team meeting when the celebration of 170 years is brought to the table.
"What can we do to add to the celebration?" our leader asks.
It just pops out of my mouth... "Let's challenge our church family to read scripture for 170 days!"
The idea begins to take form and a plan takes shape. Not my plan, because if you know me you know I often have an idea without much thought to the time and energy it will take to get it going. I love new ideas. Those in the meeting could probably feel my EXCITEMENT!
My sweet team member gets out her calendar... tells me that this challenge will take around six months. Six months... WOW... wow... oh wow. For me beginnings aren't that difficult but finishing... now that's a different story. I'm not great at it... better than I used to be... but not great. Hence the challenge. Don't get me wrong, I study scripture almost daily. But following a prescribed plan for six months will definitely be a challenge. It scares me a little, no... a LOT. What if I miss a day... or a week? What if I get half way through and just give up? The truth is I can't do it in my own strength or willpower. I need Jesus plain and simple.
Tomorrow the challenge begins and I am "all in". I keep thinking about the sermon our pastor gave on fishing. He reminded us that fishing looks a lot like following Jesus. One of the points he gave was "Know your knots". He challenged us to know what we believe... why we believe it. What better way to know than to dive into scripture and wrestle with the things we know or want to know.
Won't you join us in the challenge? Reading through the Gospels in 170 days. We might miss a day... even forget at times... His grace will cover us. Let's get started and dive into the deep!
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Stacy Boyer
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