Adding Up the Cost

As I've posted on Facebook recently, we went to Pittsburgh this past weekend for a Bible quizzing tournament. As we unloaded, we discovered that one of the Kindles, my old one, had been damaged beyond repair when the driver's seat had been moved back on it. I reflected with grim amusement that it was a rather costly addition to the total cost of our trip, which, while not outrageous, was nothing to sneeze at. And then - because I do this when it comes to money - I started to ponder the total cost for our whole team.

Four cars made the four hour trip from the Dayton area to Pittsburgh.
One car made an eight hour trip from South Carolina!
Nine or ten hotel rooms were secured.
Our church paid the cost of registration for three teams.
23 Chick-fil-A catered lunches were purchased, plus numerous snacks and drinks for quizzers throughout the weekend.
Twenty-two of us splurged on dinner at Buca di Beppo following the tournament.
And, of course, the smashed up Kindle.

Adding up the actual dollars would make me anxious, so I'm not going to do that. And I haven't even begun to talk about the hours that went into planning, preparing, driving, herding kids, encouraging and exhorting kids, comforting kids, celebrating with kids, going back and forth between buildings - and up and down three flights of stairs - where quizzes were held. so we could check in on all three teams...

Was it worth it?

I mean, really, it's not like there are career opportunities in quizzing (if there were, I know I'm not the only former quizzer who would have been ALL over that!). There aren't even big scholarships to be had for these kids. Even in the most immediate sense of reward, everyone has a good time, but, truthfully, it's not a high-energy funfest. It involves mostly work - studying in the weeks and months beforehand, and participating in quiz after quiz after quiz during the tournament. A few of them get ribbons or trophies in the end - most go home just with memories. Almost all of them want to go back, and almost all the parents and grandparents are willing to pour all that money and all those man-hours in again the next year.

Why?

Because, as I've said before and will say again and again, there's nothing like quizzing for filling kids with pure, unfiltered, and uncensored Scripture. Nothing. I repeat - nothing. That's not to say all this expense is necessary for getting kids to memorize large portions of Scripture. But...are they actually doing it it elsewhere? And I'm not being insulting, I promise. I put a high value on memorization, but it's hard to do and to get kids to do, I know. But quizzing provides a means to that end, and in no other program that I know of do kids get the amount of Scripture that they do in quizzing - and in a form that gives them the whole picture. I think that is vital, by the way. The danger in memory verses, in my humble opinion, is that they can give people incomplete and ineffective information. How many people have heard, "All things work together for good?" And how many of those people are bewildered and assailed with doubt when circumstances don't really come together for any kind of good whatsoever? It's not the whole picture, people - read the the whole book. And here, this very year, we have 3rd through 12th graders doing just that, reading, listening to, and memorizing the entire book of Romans -and not just once, but over and over. Then they come together with kids from other towns and other churches, and they share that knowledge.

In one of the quizzes, our team of 3rd grade boys was competing, and they were having some trouble keeping still enough to keep their lights off. (Junior quizzers are generally smaller than who the lights and benches were designed for). So on one question, the quizmaster began, "Put..." and Ryan's light went off by mistake. But at that point, mistake or no, quizzers have to try to answer. So he got up, thought about it for a few seconds, then shrugged and guessed, "Put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness?" The quizmaster said, "Correct," and the room erupted in cheers. What a fun moment! And how wonderful. I rather doubt this would be passed out as a memory verse anywhere else - it's not very pretty. But the rest of it is "...and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls."

The Word is truly being planted in their hearts - and in a way that will empower them to choose, to defend, and to grow. It's the Word that is able to save their souls. So yes, that's worth it.