Saturday, March 5, 2011

Team Sports

I've never been one for participating in team sports.  Not much for participating in sports in general, but if I'm going to do something, I prefer the individual practice (shocker, huh?). 

Well, in January, I joined a team. I don't even remember where I read about it, but someone mentioned it on their blog and it just sounded like such a good thing.  Individual effort, but with the support of a team...

I've joined the Siesta Sisters Memory Verse Team.  Beth at Living Proof Ministries is the team leader(?).  This is not the first year, but it is the first year that I have participated. 


On the 1st and the 15th of each month, the whole team (over 5,000 on March 1st) converges on Beth's blog and enters the bible verse that we will be memorizing for the next couple of weeks.  Then we spend the next two weeks trying to commit it to memory.  That's it.  Apparently there is a conference at the end of the year where many of the team gets together, but that's not the point. 

I don't know many  any bible verses, so I just thought this would be a good exercise.  Not only would I learn a few, but just the effort of choosing which ones I want to focus on would force me to read and know more of the bible.  It's also one of the things I'm doing to work on my word for this year. 

This is a completely non-denominational exercise - anyone can participate and you can select verses from any part of the bible.  You can choose any verse you want - I'm sure there is some duplication, but mostly everybody selects something different.


The recommendation is that you get a spiral-bound set of index cards that you can carry around with you.  Whenever you have a free minute, you can pull it out and work on your memorization.  Also, if you go to the conference at the end of the year, these cards are your admission ticket.  These are my last four verses.  (You don't have to decorate them, but I like thinking about it while I paint a page.) 

What have I learned so far: 
  1.  I'm much more successful when I choose a shorter verse, and 
  2.  For me this isn't about the memorization, it's about contemplating the message and all the blessings that I have received. 

So, does this really qualify as a team sport? I don't know, but I think we're all rooting for each other to win.  :)