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This is a note of encouragement to my fellow Bible Quizzers.
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Bible Quizzing is a passion of mine, anyone who knows me can attest to this. I love it. I think there are few better ways for a young person to spend their time.
Passion is a funny thing. At the beginning of the season, there's excitement and anticipation. As you learn and "master" those first few verses of the material, the future simply stretches before you like a beautiful shining sea with endless possibilities on the horizon and fathomless potential hidden in the depths! But then, life happens. Now, I may be speaking for myself at this point. I may be the only Bible Quizzer in the entire world who feels this way, but I don't think so. Passion can wear thin. I know what it's like to wake up in the morning, have a long list of things to do, look at that stack of cards (which is way over half of your material but not quite all of it), and groan. You see, at times, passion can evaporate altogether.
The daily stuff is really what gets me. Quoting. Day after day. Every day. And that's only the bare minimum! Spending time charting, understanding the verses, writing questions, aaaahhhhgggg!! I just don't have time for it all! While on vacation last week, I felt like I was doing the world such a favor by taking an hour to quote every day. I'm in that low-passion phase: finals is almost a month away, I still have material to memorize, there's quite a bit of charting to do, and the tole of dedicating time to quizzing was eroding away my gusto.
And then, I was pricked in my reigns.
During the two-day drive home from our lovely vacation to SC, I was reading a book called The Circle Maker. I had been promised that it would change the way I pray and I was reading it to that end. Little did I know that it would challenge my current view of not only quizzing, but, well, living.
Mark Batterson was talking about mastery. He referenced a study that had taken place back in the 1990s of violinists. Elite performers had, by age 20, more than 10,000 hours of practice under their belts. Let me say that again: TEN-THOUSAND!! That is the number of hours it takes to not only master the violin, but to master nearly any subject (Google it, it's fascinating). Even with all the years I have been in Bible Quizzing, I'm pretty sure they don't add up to 10,000. I firmly believe that no time spent in the Word of God is wasted… yet I felt like I was wasting time. I was convicted, because, if people can spend 10,000 hours practicing the violin, how much more should I pour myself over the Word of God? If they can give their lives for something that has only an earthly reward, how much more can I give my life for something that has eternal ramifications?
I said all that, to say this: Quizzing is tough. It requires consistency and discipline, but don't give up; pour yourself into it. It's May and there is still work to do. Teammates may be dropping like flies in the South Carolina sun, but stick with it. Strive for mastery.
