The Beginning from the End

I was reading a book on chess and came across a very interesting statement. The discussion was about ‘forking’, that is, attacking two pieces with a single piece. Such an attack means that one or the other of the attacked pieces can be saved and the other is captured. He stated, “In cases like this one you might compare a chess player to the author of a whodunit who starts his work by figuring out the solution which will come at the end of his book…the Knight’s forking check is the ‘solution’. Black’s task, once he sees this check is to search for the moves that make the check meaningful.” 1

It occurred to me that this same process is applicable to us in the church. First, it is a clear way to structure our spiritual life. What is our goal in our spiritual life? Every Christian should strive to become more Christlike disciples, to be closer to God. You know where you want to go, and where you are now, so how is that reasonably accomplished? Daily Bible reading and prayer, finding an accountability partner, finding and using your spiritual gifts are all excellent paths to this goal.

Secondly, we can apply this to other areas of our lives. If you want to achieve certain things in your life, then what do you need to do to get there? For instance, if you want to write a fiction novel, you need to sit down and start writing. If you want to get a Doctorate, then you need to work on your Master's degree. If you want to be a motorcycle mechanic, then you need to buy a 'beater' and enroll in a course or buy some books.

Finally, in the collective church we have goals as well. The high-falutin’ church language calls this “casting a vision” and there are entire seminars and college classes about it, but it’s really simple. The first question should be, “What is our vision for this church?” Where do we want to end up? What do we see this church being or doing in five years, or ten years? So many times we go along with no goal, and then wonder why we don’t seem to get anywhere. There’s an old story about a flight of military planes flying through overcast skies just after World War 2. Their navigational instruments were out when the controller radioed them and asked where they were. The pilot in the lead plane answered, “Well, I really don’t know, but we’re making good time!”.

If we want to be known as a “Praying Church”, do we have prayer meetings and activities? If we want to be known as “Friendly”, how do we support that goal? If we want to be known as the church that has its hands in the local community, how are we striving to get there?

Don't just dream about it and think God is going to drop things in your lap. Make a conscious choice to pray about where God wants you to go and what He wants you to do, then follow Him!




1 “How to be a winner at chess” by Fred Reinfeld: Fawcett, c1954, p65

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Lessons over the board

Recently during one of our potluck lunches I had the chance to play chess with one of our church members. I’ve played chess since I was about 12 years old, usually playing best two of three games with my father almost every night for most of my teen years. I’ve played off and on since then, and although I’ve never played in a tournament I considered myself a decent player. During the four games that I played with Tayo I learned differently; he beat me three times in ten minutes, although it took him ten minutes to beat me the fourth time. It turns out Tayo has been playing since he was 9, and growing up in New York he played chess in the parks with some of the best.

There are several things I have gotten from this experience that I would like to pass along, as much for my benefit as for anyone who might read this, lessons that Tayo and chess have recently taught me.

The first lesson is to have a right opinion of yourself. The Bible says in Romans 12:3, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” Now, it is important that you don’t have an exalted opinion of yourself, but it is also important that your opinion should not be lower than it ought to, either. Sober judgment is called for, to assess yourself correctly.

The second lesson is like the first. Have a right opinion of others. As the saying goes, don’t judge a book by its cover. You would probably not take Tayo for being the “chess shark” that he can be. He looks much too genial. It’s like assuming that the soft-spoken gentleman you are talking to is a push-over only to find out he has a black belt in karate. Tayo also happens to be a very good teacher; as he is making his moves and watching yours, he is asking 'leading' questions and showing you ways to improve your game.

Another very valuable lesson that this has taught me is that I need to have persistence of action. It would have been very easy for me to simply shrug it all off and say, “Tayo is the better player” and never play him again. I could have said, “Chess at this level is beyond me”. What I did was load up a chess program on my PC, start playing and got some books from the town library on chess. I played Tayo two weeks after that first round of games. And the result? I lost again! My goal is to improve my game, not to beat Tayo. And my game is improving, so I’ve been successful.

I’ve learned some very valuable lessons along the way here from the game itself, which I will write about in another blog. In the meantime I’m having fun, and there is ministry going on, so what more could I ask for? So here’s to Tayo (Thanks!) and to chess, and to a great God who made it possible by putting it all together exactly when I needed it.