The Challenge Was On!

“Hey, teacher! Do you want to do a Bible challenge with me?” said one of my eleven-year-old students, with a smile on his face. He was shifting his body from one foot to another, anxiously awaiting my answer. I could not help but chuckle a little. Usually it was I who was presenting the challenges to my students. It did this teacher’s heart good to see the roles reversed for a change.

“Hmm,” I replied as I gave him a quizzical glance, “what do you have in mind?”

“Well, I really want to read through the entire book of Psalms. Do you know that it has the most chapters of any book in the Bible? I was wondering if you would like to do it with me. You could make sure that I read it from the beginning to the end, all one hundred and fifty chapters.”

While I was delighted at seeing his enthusiasm to read a portion of the Bible, as his teacher, I was just a little curious as to what led this young student to want to read the entire book of Psalms. He normally was not a keen reader at all. In fact, I had noticed the struggle he often had just to find his way around the various pages of his Bible. I clearly saw a teaching moment standing right here in front of me.

“You know what? I would love to accept your challenge!” Instantly I saw a smile break out on his face that rocked my heart as a teacher. “But, if it is okay with you, I would like to add something extra to your challenge to help make reading God’s Word a little more exciting for both of us.”

“Okay!” he said. His feet were practically dancing as his level of excitement went up a few notches. “What? What do you want to add?”

“Do you know what a scavenger hunt is?” I asked.

“Oh, yes, I love doing scavenger hunts!” His excitement level went up a few more notches. “With scavenger hunts you have a list of objects to find, and if you find them all, then you win the hunt and you get a prize.”

I gave a thumbs-up to his explanation. And before I could say anything, he quickly piped in.

“But I don’t know how to play a scavenger hunt using the Bible. I’ve never done that before.”

“Well…

…To be continued…in my soon-to-be-released published book!

And, my dear blog readers, I have to let you in on a little secret!

Some of my new book you have already read in my blog!

Over the past two years, I have already been sharing some of my “teacher discoveries” from the scavenger hunt that I shared with my eleven-year-old student. Perhaps you’ve already read some of them.

When my student and I finished our “scavenger hunt” through the book of Psalms, I began writing a blog, sharing with readers, from around the world, various things that I had learned through this challenge with one of my students. I have to tell you that both student and teacher are still learning from our fun way of reading the book of Psalms.

Then my student challenged me even further. “Ms. Kathy, I have been reading all your blog entries. Now I want to challenge you again. I want to see you turn your blog into a book. Can you do that?”

Hmm, a blog into a book? Can I do that? The challenge was on! Again!

What is that old saying, “Where there is a will, there is a way!”

For the past year and a bit, I have been working with WestBow Press to turn the will into a way! They are helping me turn my blog into a book! I picked out twenty-one of my favorite blog entries to include in my published edition. Don’t you wonder which ones I might have picked? Would you like to know if, perhaps, I picked one of your favorite blog entries? I invite you to tell me what your favorite blog entry is that I wrote, and then I will tell you if it’s included in my soon-to-be-released book. Feel free to leave me a comment in the appropriate section; I would love to hear from you!

Need I tell you just how excited I am over this challenge?

I can hardly keep my dancing feet still as the excitement level just went up a few more notches!

A newly written, soon-to-be-released book, by Kathy O’Brien, will be coming your way!

Watch my blog for further details!