Eat: Read It, Read It Again, Tell It Back

The first move is Eat. Before you ask a single question, you have to be holding the story.

So: read Mark 2:1–12 out loud. Then read it out loud again. The first read is for what happens. The second read is for the bits you flew past the first time — that the house was so full there was no room near the door, that the four friends didn’t ask permission before they started pulling a roof apart, that Jesus says something about forgiving before He says anything about walking.

Then close the Bible and tell the story back in your own words. Out loud, to somebody, or to the wall if nobody is around.

Reading it twice is the chewing. Telling it back is the swallow. If you can’t tell it without looking, it hasn’t gone in yet — so read it one more time and try again. That is not you failing. That’s the whole method working exactly the way it’s supposed to.

The telling back is the swallow.

Try it: Read Mark 2:1–12 twice out loud, close the Bible, and tell it back. Left something out? Read it again and tell it again.