After pushing through the last two challenges in this Flinch experiment, I figured the next ones couldn’t be that bad. When I read the next one, I felt like that suspicion had been confirmed. The next challenge said to signup the next time someone asks for any volunteer.
I made a mental note of that, and then brushed it off. I knew I couldn’t purposely go out and ask someone to ask me to signup. I had to wait for someone else to complete this one. Plus, how much could someone ask?
But then I checked my email. This happened within just a few minutes of finishing the book, if I remember correctly. I checked my email and found a request.
“Do you want to lead invocation on the first of January?” it said.
Ah, shoot, I thought. Why did I sign up for this challenge?
Any other Sunday would have been fine. I’d done it before. It’s just a matter of getting up in front of everyone at church and opening the service. No big deal, right? Welcome everyone, read some Scripture, pray – nothing to worry about.
Well, except the date: the first of January. Who wants to signup for an early morning the day after New Year’s Eve? I didn’t, that’s for sure.
The hardest part about this challenge wasn’t the effort involved. Like the others before it, it wasn’t the pain involved but rather the questioning, the “Why am I doing this again?” questioning. With each challenge, that question landed with more force.
I tried to push it out of my mind. I knew I needed to act fast, not put off the decision. I knew what I should do, even if it wasn’t what I really wanted at the moment. I typed up a quick response and hit send.
“Yes,” it said, with maybe a few other words added for fluff.
As I did it, I felt like I’d made a good decision. But the moments following the initial send grated on me. It sounds so lame, but the more I thought of what I’d signup up for, the more I realized I really didn’t want to do it.
I didn’t want the responsibility to have to do it anyway.
Turns out, another guy, a friend of mine, replied sooner. So I got an email back later in the day saying I didn’t need to do it after all. Pretty sweet how that works out. All that concern for nothing.
Challenge #3? Check.
