I don’t know about you, but I love challenges. Whether it be a football game on a Saturday morning, or a monopoly game every Christmas, I’m there to win. It doesn’t matter who I am playing with, I give it 100% every time.
No. Matter. What.
A few months ago, I heard about a Netflix special called, Queens Gambit. Don’t get me wrong—the show was great. But do you know what was even better? My new desire to beat every single person I knew at chess.
It started rough, but after a few months of practice and a few books later, I did it. None of my friends stood a chance. That’s right—even my dad, the man who taught me the game as a child couldn’t handle my perfectly memorized openings and attack patterns.
I played hundreds of games and lost about 45% of them. These stats made me realize something; when it came to chess, I was willing to dedicate myself to the process time after time, in the midst of significant opposition but for some reason, I don’t approach my faith in the same way.
Have you ever felt like that? That quitting seemed easier?
Maybe you’re reading this, and you’re a guy who used to be really dedicated to Jesus but now you’re just playing the part. Or perhaps you’re a guy just starting out in the faith and people expect you to ride the bike without letting you use training wheels first. We are all somewhere on this journey towards Christ, and all of us are at different places.
Regardless of where you find yourself today, there is hope! The church was founded on hope! I would have never gotten better at chess if I had given up and stopped practicing.
Christianity is hard. Why do you think there are so many references to war, armor, and weapons within Scripture? Christianity is something you must fight for; It’s a challenge.
Here’s my challenge for you: This week, take a walk by yourself.
No dog, no phone, just you and God. He is always wanting to talk to us, however, rarely do we slow down enough to listen. We always have something distracting us — we need to take a step back.
If you can, walk a mile, but do it in 20 minutes or longer. That’s right, 20 minutes or longer.
Slow down. Pray, think, breathe.
I promise that if you practice purposefully slowing, it can change your life.
This type of practice has been around for thousands of years in the Judeo-Christian faith tradition. Silence and Solitude are a pairing of practices that have been done in many different cultures.
It is a time when we intentionally enter a distraction-free environment to seek our heavenly Father.
If you’ve made it all the way to the end of this article, my question for you is, are you going to let something as simple as a 20-minute walking challenge beat you this week? I hope not!
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