Challenge Accepted!

If you are part of the Millennial Generation, like myself, the term, “Challenge Accepted!” is probably part of your everyday vocabulary. The very popular and successful TV Series, How I Met Your Mother, took this saying and turned it into a common catch phrase for my generation. It is used generally in conversation when talking about a difficult task or feat and is often used sarcastically to mock the ease in which the task could be completed.

Here is a “for instance”… Say you are at the gym and the person next to you says, “dude, wouldn’t it be crazy if you could lift, like, 5,000 times your body weight, like an ant, or something?” in the most macho voice imaginable. To which you would respond with, “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!” in the most facetious voice imaginable. This usually ends with the two of you seeing the maximum you both can lift before tearing apart every muscle in your body.

Now, I know this phrase is meant in some part to be thought of as a joke. But what if we started taking this phrase seriously, and instead of accepting stupid challenges like lifting 5,000 times your own body weight, you accept challenges like keeping that resolution you made a couple months ago, or reading more books or volunteering more?!

Or maybe the challenge you need to accept is to read the Bible in a year, or half a year or a month or a week? Where you can read story after story after story about men and women that said “Challenge accepted!” to a God that blew their expectations of what life could be out of the water! Men like Abraham that moved away from everything he knew to chase after a promise he never could be kept. Or Peter who jumped out of a boat in the middle of a storm, hoping for a miracle and through his faith was rewarded.

We all probably have some challenges in our lives that we need to accept. Some are probably pretty obvious, while others we may need to take some time to think about. However, I encourage you that when the right challenges come along, you can reply with a confident and courageous, “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!”

My Challenge right now for myself is to read the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation in 40 days, and allow God to speak to me and through me as I learn new things from His word. I challenge you to join me as I take this journey!

Here is the plan that I will be using to read through the New Testament in 40 Days that I found on catholic-resources.org. You should be able to read each day for about 30 minutes to complete this challenge! Leave some feedback in the comments and let me know if you accept this challenge and if you did, how is it going for you?

Day 1- Mark 1-4
Day 2- Mark 5-8
Day 3- Mark 9-12
Day 4- Mark 13-16
Day 5- 1&2 Thessalonians
Day 6- Galatians
Day 7- Philippians and Colossians
Day 8- Philemon and Ephesians
Day 9- Matthew 1-7
Day 10- Matthew 8-12
Day 11- Matthew 13-18
Day 12- Matthew 19-24
Day 13- Matthew 25-28
Day 14- 1 Corinthians 1-9
Day 15- 1 Corinthians 10-16
Day 16- 2 Corinthians
Day 17- Romans 1-8
Day 19- Luke 1-3
Day 20- Luke 4-7
Day 21- Luke 8-11
Day 22- Luke 12-16
Day 23- Luke 17-21
Day 24- Luke 22-24
Day 25- Acts 1-6
Day 26- Acts 7-10
Day 27- Acts 11-16
Day 28- Acts 17-22
Day 29- Acts 23-28
Day 30- 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus
Day 31- Hebrews 1-10
Day 32- Hebrews 11-13 and James
Day 33- John 1-5
Day 34- John 6-10
Day 35- John 11-16
Day 36- John 17-21
Day 37- 1-3 John and Jude
Day 28- 1 and 2 Peter
Day 39- Revelations 1-11
Day 40- Revelations 12-22