Note: This is a bit last minute, but we wanted to make sure all our family and friends were aware that registration is underway for the 2nd annual Bible Bee. Joe and Lissie participated last year and found the experience life-changing! Even more of the family will be participating this year. We hope many of you will read Joe and Lissie's impressions below and check out the website for yourselves (link below). But hurry! Registration for the National Bible Bee ends June 1, 2010.
The Bible Bee scripture memory competition profoundly impacted my sister and me when we participated last year. Now we hope many will take advantage of the same wonderful opportunity this year. There are numerous good reasons people should compete in the Bible Bee, and here are two reasons that were especially important to me.
First, the selected scriptures for the competition proved to be very helpful. Prior to the competition, I had been memorizing chapters of Scripture. However, the passage length for the Bible Bee ranged from one verse to twenty verses, and this variety allowed me to call them to mind in more situations than if I only knew chapters. Also, the Bible Bee coordinators selected from many different books of the Bible, keeping my interest in memorizing God's Word high.
Second, the Bible Bee study materials taught me a method for studying the Bible that has allowed me to mine it for greater treasures. Before I participated in the Bible Bee, I would read a passage of Scripture and see the main point it conveyed, but after that my time spent with God would tend to stagnate. Now that I learned this method for Bible study, my time in God's Word is filled with interest, discovery, and most importantly, greater intimacy with God.
I have only mentioned two of the many reasons I enjoyed and benefited from the Bible Bee. Now that the Bible Bee is open for registration again this year, I hope many people will take this chance to deepen their relationship with God!
-Joe
As soon as I heard about the Bible Bee, I knew I wanted to participate. I had no idea what a blessing the Bible Bee would prove to be!
1) The Bible Bee showed me I had not been as diligent as I could have been in Scripture Memory. It pushed me to new levels of memorizing and meditating on God's word.
2) The significant amount of time studying Scripture forced me to think less of my own thoughts and more of God's. I realized how much I had allowed my mind to wander in selfish directions.
3) Both at the Local and National levels, Joe and I had the opportunity to fellowship with likeminded families and specifically with people our age who passionately loved God's Word. I was challenged and encouraged by these people.
4) I was often convicted. The Holy Spirit used the memory passages to show me my feeble love for God and His perfect and holy Scripture. Also, these passages often confronted me in time of tempation and pricked me when I was ready to sin. I was also confronted with the reality that I was prone to memorizing without applying it to my life (major ouch!), and reminded that I need to be a doer of the Word, and not just a hearer. Although painful, this conviction has drawn me closer to my Savior, and I am grateful that God used the Bible Bee in that way.
5) Most importantly, the challenge that this competition presented forced me to examine my motivation behind why I memorized Scripture and also reminded me of the right motivation to write His word on my heart. I want to treasure, thirst, and pant after the Bible as a way to know God better.
~ Lissie
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