Often a “sword drill” happens in a community of Christians with “Bible” in their moniker. (Like “community bible church”, or in the case of my church that had a corner on spiritual knowledge “Bible Truth Chapel”. Yes, I’m totally serious.)
Drillers race to see who can be the first to find, and read the Bible verse, that has been called out. It can sort of be like a modified cage fight for chess players, complete with mild, trash talking.
“II John, as if! You’d better hope, Pizza Joe doesn’t pick one of the minor prophets again, or you’re done for!”
I remember the sweaty palms, the pulse pumping in my ears, the thick anticipation hanging in the air. I held my hard backed Bible up, and always knew I was at a distinct disadvantage at the onset. Obviously, a flexible leather binding allowed a driller to shave valuable seconds off the hardback kids. My knowledge of bible book order helped me out a lot, but those with thumb tabs? Well, to me that was the equivalent of using steroids. Completely wrong–a cheaters way to win. Plus, I was jealous. When I would win, and it wasn’t often, I felt like I won one for the little guy.
Do you have any memories like this?
