It was our annual children’s Day at church and as part of the program we have a competition dubbed Sword drill and Quote I Quote. This is how it goes. A bible verse will be quoted and then the last two children to open it will battle it out with quoting the to determine who leaves the competition. It’s not easy as I have described it here. To stay in the competition and to win, you need to know the books of the bible and where to find them, you need to be fast at opening the bible to find the scripture quoted, you need to have a retentive memory to keep the verse to be opened as it will be said 3 times and not repeated again. Finally, you need to know more than 30 scriptures off head should you be among the last two to get to the scripture in order to stay in the competition.
Getting the girls to take part in the competition was easy. They volunteered on their own. Prepared for the competition and showed up for it. We all know how most girls are. I wish I could say the same for the boys. No guy was willing to be part of the competition. Except for the boy who won last year, he had to defend his championship so yes he was willing but apart from him, no other guy wanted to be part. It meant I had to force some boys to take part in the competition. It wasn’t an easy task. They will hide from me, pretend to be sick, will find any means possible not to take part in the competition. As hard as they are, I try to match up, so I got 6 guys to take part in the competition. We were now ready, six girls and six boys. That’s what I thought till we had 5 minutes to go on stage. Some of the boys had run away. Eiii. I went around looking for them and found 5. It was left with one guy, Joel. I was informed he was hiding in the washroom. So I went there for him. He kept saying, Auntie, I can’t do it. Auntie, I have not learnt a lot of memory verses. I told him, Joel, you can do this and you are going to do it.
On stage, we gave them the Bible, but we needed one more for one person, Joel. He went like “Auntie you see let me go and sit down”. Hahahaha. Out of nowhere, we got him another bible and the competition started. People left the competition one after the other, some were disqualified for breach of various competition rules and we were left with the final three, one girl and two boys. “Revelation 3:20, Revelation 3:20, Revelations 3:20 Draw your sword. Charge!!!” Went the competition moderator. The first to get there was a boy. So the last two, a boy and a girl battled it out with quoting the scriptures till the girl lost. Yes. The boys who were running from the competition were the final two. The final two no longer needs to draw their swords, they only battle it out with quoting the scriptures till one runs out of scripture to quote. The church was quiet as they quoted the scriptures. It went on for like 3 minutes. Everyone was waiting to see who will run out of scriptures. The boys were determined. They all wanted to win at this stage. They kept on quoting, now the congregation was cheering them on. The boys kept on going and then one guy finally run out of scriptures, the counting begun 1 2 3 and he quoted scripture. The next guy also quoted his and again he run out of a scripture and we started the counting again 1 2 3 4 5. Over!!!
That was how Joel won the competition that day. He took the title from the reigning champion Samuel. I hope you remember Joel, the boy who run to hide in the washroom because he felt he wasn’t ready. The same guy who didn’t get a bible and told me, Auntie, you see, let me go and sit down. I looked at him and smiled at the end of it all, he smiled back. No one understood the reason behind our smiles except us.
The things we fear the most. The situations we feel are too much for us to face. The hurdles we feel we can’t overcome. The opportunities we let go because we feel we are not prepared to handle. I can go on and on. But all I want to tell us is that maybe just maybe we should give it a try. Let’s learn to face our fears. Let’s encourage ourselves. Enough of the pity parties. Enough of looking down on ourselves. Enough!!!
You might not be lucky like Joel to have someone push you beyond your limit. You might not have someone to encourage you and tell you, you can do it but I believe you have it in you. You have the Yes I Can spirit. Just search a bit deeper in you and you’ll find it. And when it still looks impossible for you to remember this scripture, Philippians 4:13 I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME.
lowcostboy On The Low
28 May 2020This is inspiring. I love this
Akua Black
28 May 2020Thanks dear
Samuel
28 May 2020Simple and you connected every paragraph well to the end. It was worth my time. Thank you
Akua Black
28 May 2020Thank you too Samuel
KojoNyed
24 May 2020I’m very touched by this story. I’ve been inspired to share my story of fear on my blog soon
Akua Black
27 May 2020That’s great to hear Kojo. Kindly share with me when you do.
Kharisa Nyantie Agyemang
24 May 2020Lovely and very encouraging.
Akua Black
24 May 2020?
Christabel Adei Hammond
23 May 2020Bam! Just what i needed to hear!
Great write up!
Akua Black
24 May 2020Thanks Adei
Afariwa
23 May 2020It’s good to be back, to read your beautiful stories. Thumbs up. Keep up the good works my dear melaningirl. I love Joel’s story. The catch phrase is “always be up for a try” no matter what. I am glad you were in the position to bring him to unearthing his potentials and winning the ultimate. God bless you richly❤️
Akua Black
24 May 2020Amen. Thanks Afariwa
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Akua Black
18 Feb 2019Thanks EdPaul?
Opesika
18 Feb 2019A great piece …?
EdPaul
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