One of my favorite memories this past month revolved around playing chess. On our 2nd day of ministry I asked they boys if they wanted to play chess. A couple of them decided to play against me. As soon as we started playing I realized that some of the boys (they teamed up against me) didn’t remember how the game was played. So after a quick refresher mostly by demonstrating and saying “sí” or “no” whenever they moved a piece, we continued. Most of the boys couldn’t remember the game, but Miguel, a former Light and Salt student, stepped in and played. After that initial day our host told me that Miguel would be back every day to play chess with me. I couldn’t wait to play chess with Miguel.
Miguel returned to the center almost every day to play chess against me. We would play 3 or 4 games every day. When I first played Miguel I underestimated his ability and almost lost several games, however I only managed to lose 2 total. But winning and losing didn’t matter; I would have kept playing chess with Miguel even if he won every game. Miguel didn’t care either, he continued playing and he greatly improved over our two weeks of chess. If I had had a couple more weeks, Miguel would have beaten me a lot more often.
Playing chess with Miguel got me thinking about how we are to encourage and disciple one another in our areas of weakness. How can you get better if you don’t play someone better than you?
“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”
—Proverbs 27:17
