by Fr. John A. Peck
We are counting down the final days leading up to the Old Testament Challenge. We’ve fielded questions from folks on email, Facebook, our Facebook group, The Old Testament Challenge Warrior Saints Collective (Best Facebook Group name ever! Thanks Jonathan McCormack), and even from other Social media sites and outlets. So far, so good!
A quick reminder of a few things;
1 – Please join the Facebook group. I encourage questions and helps on this group site. It will be the official forum of this Challenge. In other words, we will be fielding questions and comments there so that we have a single location to act as a question clearinghouse.
2 – Please get a paper notebook, and prepare to keep handwritten notes. Use a highlighter in your Bible if you wish, underline if you wish, but keep track of your thoughts, questions, comments, or commentary as you are reading it. It’s okay – it will all have value. Don’t get it right – get it written.
3 – Please encourage others who are joining you in this effort DAILY. There are several points at which it is common to get bogged down or overwhelmed with busy life – this is a spiritual exericse, and those who take the Challenge will come under spiritual attack. Just walk through it together, and it will disipate like smoke. Stay in touch with your spiritual father as you do this, and stay in touch with all of us.
4 – Please get a blessing from your priest this Sunday. In beginning any good work, I truly believe that unexpected blessings and protection come from having the blessing of Christ through the Church before any good work. This is a good work. The benefits will be many. It will be hard – harder in some places than in others. We are going to dig in and dig deep whenever we need to, and get through this Challenge together. Don’t fade off. We all need each other.
5 – Finally, please help us spread the word. A great deal of interest has been shown by folks who just found out about the Challenge. Share pictures on Pinterest from our articles (here is the archive), share bites and challenges on Twitter, get the word out. Let others have the chance to join us in this worthy challenge. This is 85% of the Bible – and most of it hasn’t been read by most everyone you know. That’s worth the effort to get the word out.
Tomorrow, you will have access to the Old Testament Challenge reading schedule. Make sure you are set with everything else.
Remember, we begin officially on Tuesday, Sept. 15th!
