Too early for the next mourning

This is something I really don't want to talk about. I want to be left alone in my sorrows. After this tragedy, this incident, this mistake, I spent the 20 hours in a dark closet, mouring and weeping over what has happened. 20 hours later, I came out of the closet, just because life called for me to continue on as normal, but inside, I feel like I'm still in the closet, grieving. Louis always said it was good for me to let it out by posting up these blogs/notes on how I am doing in quzzing, and, good or bad, I should inform everyone on what's up. So using the deep philosophy of Kansas (please don't give me lip for finding truth outside the Bible)...

Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to a glimpse beyond this illusion
I was soaring ever higher
But I flew too high

It was going oh so well. For the first time I was striving in the right direction for perfection. True, I came very close the second week, but with help from the Lord and my teammates, I passed that 2nd week. Things went smoothly the 3rd week, only having 1 error. I finally passed the 2-week barrier, not an error in sight. My heart rejoicied to see my name not only perfectly in 1st place, but in that 1st slot. I praised Jesus from the depth of my heart, even to the point you could say I was "dancing" (gasp! a dancing mennonite!). I believed that this was my offering. Jesus gave me the best offering, so I gave it back.

Even at the beginning of Sunday, it seemed so good. Our first match against Bowmansville 2 started out slow, but we caught speed. Tim, Mike and myself quizzed out. Robert got in at some point to give us team bonus. We won the match 135-30. We seemed unstoppable, and actually having a chance against Slate Hill 1.

Though my eyes could see, I still was a blind man
Though my mind could think, I was still a mad man

Until that Sunday, I would have to say my head was still on my shoulders, if you know what I mean. I realized that we were going up against Slate Hill. Now while it wasn't the Slate Hill I have known for the past 3 years, looking at their standings, I knew that this wouldn't be easy. In fact, I knew it was going to be hard. Then I heard stuff that I should have never heard. I heard Slate Hill 1 scored either 65 or 70 points their first match. I heard something like they either lost or came close to losing. I heard something between Slate Hill doing a service project Saturday and being up most of Saturday ngiht. I didn't need to hear the factual story, all I needed to hear was enough to give me a false sense of confidence and security. I was pretty sure that now Spring City could take down Slate Hill 1.

This led my mind to wander into the wrong territory. Not only did I want to quiz out, but I wanted to quiz out first. Not only did I want my team to win, I wanted us to win by more than our average, and them score less than their. My mind had gotten off the true meaning of quizzing. My desire for success in that match was driving me now, almost to the point of driving my mind mad.

I can hear the voices when I'm dreaming,
I can hear them say...

I can't say I slept well on Sunday night. Now the fact I was right on the hard floor did play a piece in that, no lie. But there was something more. There was struggling with my performance, especially after my incident/mistake. All the voices just telling me that I failed. They were all mine. Mr. Deitrick did always say that I myself am my toughest opponenent. But it just kept pressessing against me. Every form of the word fail just rang in my head... "fail"... "failed"... "failure"... "failing"... "epic fail." But out of them all, one voice was telling me, trying to yell over all the other voices......

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

No lie, the tears flowed all night. I am very well aware that this is my last year. Being perfect to this point has been a distraction of that. It wasn't until I finished being perfect that I realized that March starts next Sunday, meaing I only have 1 month of quizzing left. As I mentioned in the beginning of the year, I said that it was "perfect or bust." "The year of 18 BYAH!s, the year of 18 quizouts." It was 18 quiz outs or bust. We'll I busted. I messed up. I screwed up. And I just didn't want to accept this, my last year, not being the perfect year. I went back to the high school freshman version of me, who just wanted to do what he did on his Nintendo: press the reset button until I did it right. But as much as I look for that reset button, it doesn't exist. Life cannot be reset at a certain point to start all over and try again. But I didn't want to accept reality. Another voice in my head: "No, this can't be happening. It can't be real."

Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man
It surely means that I don't know

Sometimes I have a habit of taking the 2004 quizzing parody "Meant to Quiz" a little bit too serious. Sometimes I live life like my sole purpose is to quiz. I was meant to quiz. My performance reflects how well I do my mission. If I succed in quizzing, I am succeeding in life and my mission. If I do poorly in quizzing, my life spirals downward. My actions post-quizzing were not a first. I remember when younger, like my middle school and underclassmen years of high school getting in the same funks for doing poorly. I would become very depressed because I couldn't score any points or because I errored twice in a match or because I fouled. When I got to those upperclassmen years, I would still get upset at poor performances, but the sadness wasn't too deep or long. Why?

Well, for starters, by this time in my career I had gotten so good, I either quizzed out or scored 20 points. No fouls, and I would always slow myself down, even to a stop, after the 2nd error. No longer did I have matches where I scored 10 or less points. So there was less to get angry and/or sad about. But also because I had more developed frontal lobe. For those of you who aren't neurologists or psychologists, the frontal lobe is the part of your brain where your sense of past, present and future are located. Because of this, I realized I had some time to complete my goal of a perfect year. So in my junior year, for example, I would say to myself, "Well, I'm not perfect this year, but I still got 3 more years to try." Well, with every year passing, I started running low on having more "tries." Being the last year, this was the last try. I was not happy at all knowing I blew my last try. There is no more "try again next year." This was suppose my year, but it was mine no longer.


I have to say there's also a little bit more pressure on me. Being the top quizzer on Spring City since 2006, I've been made an official leader of the team. In the past 2 years, my name tag has beared an anchor or a pillar. I'm the anchor of the team, I am the pillar that holds them up. They depend on me to be a leader and set an example. I have seen them countless times, when they are faced with a question they don't know, they put down their buzzers and look at me. I have heard a few times a couple quizzers say, "Well, if Graham doesn't know it, then nobody's gonna get it." I even remember Christine one year straight out telling me, "I pay attention to how well you do. If you're doing well, I know there is hope that I can do well. But if you aren't doing well, I feel hopeless, like I'm not going to be do anything." While no one else has told me this, I can tell some people think this my their reactions. It's pressure on me to do well. It's not like a bad thing. Actually, this pressue actually motivates me to do better. If through my performance I can boost my team's motivation and inspire them to do well, then I want to do my best. I found this especially true the first week of quizzing, when our average was as low as 67.5 to 65. We weren't racking up high points. There was no team bonus, and not too many quizouts...with the exception of one....yeah, that's right - mine. I was able to make sure we at least got 35 point every match. The one match where we got only 30 points was because the team racked up 7 errors, including 2 of mine. They could count on me for points, for motivation, for encouragement. But after that last match, no more. I just praise God that Tim quizzed out. If he didn't, the team would have scored much less than they did have.

And when I had finally gotten to this point, I had finally felt like other people, mainly the quizzers on Spring City, wanted me to be perfect. For the first week, I thought that I was alone in my pursuit to perfection. Truthfully, I thought they might be upset that I was going for my own purpose, not a team purpose. True, my 35 points was helping the team, esepcially making sure that one was a buzz-in for team bonus. But I could see how it appeared that I was selfish by going for an individual goal. But after 4 weeks, especially that 2nd week, I finally felt that my team was on my side. They wanted to see my reach the top of the individual standings. Of course it was easier to say when we were on the bottom. As Tim said, "you're all this team has got now." But when you're higher up, the focus is redrawn back onto team. With our average in the 90s, and Tim and Mike back in the swing of quizzing out, I felt like I needed to compete with them, too.

On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed around I'm like a ship on the ocean


Man, it has been an emotional ride. The opening of the quizzing season I was as animated and charsmatic as I had ever been. I couldn't wait to see what the Lord was going to use me this season. With quizzing out after every match, and finishing perfect after every meet, I was exhuberant. I was extremely happy. Inside and outside, I was jumping up and down. I couldn't stop praising God for lifting me up so high. It was great being on the top. But how fast things can change.


How fast can emotions change, especially within a quizmatch alone. First, you go into it all psyched, ready to go. If you get the first few questions, you feel positive and confident in the rest of the match. You feel relieved and happy when you finally get the quiz out. But things are different if it doesn't go that way. If you buzz in and error, you worry. If you can't get in because the other team is being ridiculously fast, you get frustrated, even upset. Feelings get mixed when your own teammates are stealing your questions. You want them so bad for your own quiz out, yet you're glad at least your team is scoring points. And as question after question goes by, with nothing from you but errors, all those negative feelings pile into one. And with that 3rd error, the one that ends your perfection forever, then comes the depression.


The post-quizzing depression sets in hard. I don't want to talk about what happened. I don't want to talk to anyone about anything. I didn't want to do anything. Hopelessness sets in. I just wanted to be left alone. I just wanted to be in the dark, like I felt. I didn't want to be looked at. I couldn't even look at myself in a mirror. I wore my hood to cover my face and hide it from the world. I wasn't excited about anything. Doubts entered my mind about the future. Would I be able to perform the same? Can I still do better than last year? Will I settle for any less? Then I hear those put-downs on myself again.

I set a course for winds of fortune,
but I hear the voices say...


After I got over that 2-week hump that usually prevents me from being perfect, and after getting past all those 3-match weeks, another hump that usually stopped me from being perfect, I felt like this was the sign that this was going to be the year of perfection. No longer did I have to concentrate on 3 quiz outs in a single Sunday, but now all I needed to concentrate was 2 a week until the last week, which was then just 1. I was already thinking about how to receive/celebrate my perfect award. Maybe I should do a cartwheel or a summersalt when go up to receive it. Maybe I should just jump up and down, break out in tears, or kiss some random girl. Maybe I'll go down in one knee in prayer. I got too ahead of myself. I thought because I was perfect the first half the season, I could mirror it right into the second half of the season. I was ready to finish perfect. I guarenteed something that could not be guarenteed, and look where I am now. My plan is gone, and so is my dream of finishing perfect. All I want to do is think about that, how my dream are up in smoke. But the voice keeps saying...

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

All this studying, all these feelings, and all this worry has made me weary. Sleeping is harder thinking about what has happened, and wondering where my future will lead me. Will this still be a great year without being the perfect year? Being weary has drained me from studying, from quizzing to schoolwork. I need to get back on track, back to studying, both school and quizzing. That's another thing. I sacrificed a lot of time I should be spending on school for quizzing. It has caused some of my grades to drop as low as a C. It was all worth it for a perfect last year. But now that a perfect year, is it still worth it?

And I can't help but think I might have went a little wayward. Maybe you the reader have caught onto that from what they read already. But this didn't register to me at all. All Sunday night, I just kept crying out, "Why, God, why?" pleaing desperately for an answer. It was like a little kid who didn't get the candybar from the grocery store after begging daddy for it. "Abba, why??" I couldn't understand. I studied harder this week than all the other weeks. I read it a couple more times than I usually do. I listened to it more than I usually do. I even wrote questions, which I only did for weeks 1 and 2, not 3 nor 4. I even was generous by giving Robert my situations questions for once. I even prayed more for the team this past week than the rest. Mr. Deitrick told us in quiz practice that he felt the Lord told him to surrender the quiz team unto Him. So I prayed the same thing, giving up my quizzing teammates as "my team" and handing them over to be "the Lord's team." Lord, have I not found favor in your eyes?

So naturally the next thing that I started thinking about is "What have I done wrong that you have cursed me, O Lord?" After thinking a few minutes, I could not think of anything different that I did that was sinful, negative or hurtful. After several minutes of thinking, I thought of something. On Friday afternoon luch, without even thinking, I had a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwhich, with grape jelly. I had accidently broke my Nazarite vow. But now, here's the thing. I know some theologians say there is no such thing as "accidental sin," for if you do not know it's a sin, how can you be sinning? They say that for something to be considered a sin, it must be done intentionally and purposefully. So go with that thinking. When I was at home during winter break (before the vow), most of the time I ate PB&J sandwiches (I only use grape jelly) because that was the only thing in the house to eat. It became a habit so much that I made one and ate one without even thinking about it. It was such a habit to me, I didn't realize it until I thought hard about it on Sunday night. Would you still say I am guilty of breaking my vow? Because this is the only thing I can think of. The only other thing I can think of goes dangerously into Calvinist territory: God, in his all his foreknowledge, planned for me not to be perfect, for whatever his holy reason might be. It is beyond my question.

Maybe, just like Abraham in Genesis 22, God was testing me with my praise. Did I pass? That is debatable. After my slip-up, Coach Dave just kept telling me that I needed to praise God. In fact, many people are telling me that. As a matter of fact, during worship time we sund "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord", which says that we should praise God in good times and bad times, in blessings and hardships. So I went back to my dorm, to a prayer closet (and that's as literal as it will get), and tried to thank God. I opened my mouth to praise God, but the praises couldn't come out. All that came out was lament. Lament, after lament. The song "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord" kept playing in my head. Did I do as the song said? That's contestable. I bet a lot of you would say no because I couldn't praise God. But I bet a few of you, like me, know that song is out of context. The song is centered around the bridge "You give and take away, yet my heart will choose to say, 'Lord, blessed be your name'." The bridge comes from the Bible, Job 1:21 to be exact. But read the context of the verse. When Job says that line, he's not prasing God, as we do in the song. Rather, Job is lamenting to God! So I was doing the same, lamenting to God, and I think, I hope, I pray that God appreciates that I am honest with my feelings.

A lot of my laments led to questions. Not doubts, just questions. You've heard the most common one: why? Then came accusations. But none of them were legit. I cried out, "But you promised!" but thinking about it, God really didn't promise. I can't claim God's promises when it wasn't a promise by God. I cried out "It's not fair! How can they buzz in early and get it right, while we can't get a buzz in, and when we do, it results in an error!" But God replied, "Fair? What is fair? Is an AIDS epidemic in Africa fair? Is poverty in southeast Asia fair? Is genocide in Rwanda and Sudan fair? And above all, is it really fair to Me, to allow sinners who have turned against me a chance to receive eternal life in heaven?" And after that, I realized that a perfect quizzing year was the least of my worries. The Voice goes on to tell me...

(Carry on!) You will always remember
(Carry on!) Nothing equals the splendor
Now you're life's no longer empty
Surely heaven waits for you

If you follow my blog, the last time I failed out, the song that really helped me was "Save Your Voice (Quiet Down, Boy)" by the ApologetiX, a parody of "Save Your Horse (Ride a Cowboy)" by Big & Rich (thank Mike for that). A line stuck out to me: "And I wouldn't trade my reward up in Heaven's gates for success that fades or some cheap charade..." So here I am, wailing over that I'm not perfect, when there is a better perfection (if that's not a paradox) waiting for me in heaven. The Lord Jesus says to me, "I will make you perfect one day." What a wonderful thing it is to be a child of God, to know that I will one day dwell in the Lord's presence, in heaven, in the room prepared for me, in complete perfection like my Savior Jesus Christ!

That's right, I am a child of the Most High God! Because I am His child, I have been adopted into His family, and I am a co-heir with Christ. My life is truly no longer empty. I have God the Holy Spirit dwelling in me, His chosen temple. That is my reward! Beyond any shiny team trophy or any money given to the top 60 quizzers, or any title, whether it be team or individual. Why settle for less when I can have the best! I think that is what took me so far off. I lost sight of my true identity. My true identity is the one I have in Christ. It is not in myself. Because myself cannot do anything, and I am worthless. At the same time, being in Christ and recognizing that I only can function in Him, gets rid of any reason to be prideful. It's all about being in Christ.

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

And yet, while my mind is concentrated on a glorious future of redemption, I still believe God has something big planned for my final year of quizzing. I don't know what, but we'll find out by the end. For now, I am not leaving the track I oringinally started on, although I might have been de-railed. There's 5 more matches left, and I'm aiming for 5 more quiz outs. While not perfect, I will have still finished the best I ever had, with the most points and most quiz outs in a year. And I pray that God will be pleased with it, my offering back to Him. Then I will be finally at peace, no longer weary, no longer crying. May God be praised.

The appointed time to be back at LMH

On Sunday quizzers were first to get in line for fellowship meal because the quizzers had to prepare for a mock quiz match against the congregation. Before we had those mock quiz matches, we had to do a demonstration by quizzing against each other. The match was close, with few errors, which showed we knew our stuff. Then we had our mock matches. We quizzed against both Mike's parents and Chelsea's and Alyssa's dad, all parents of quizzers. They claimed they all studied, even though some didn't know about the footnotes :-P . I sat across from Steve the first match. I was kind enough to give him a bonus, but still ended up pwning him. Actually, in both matches (we had two, one of Dave questions, the other of Vicki questions) I quizzed out and we won victoriously. As a matter of fact, both of them we scored over 100 points, with team bonus, and the other side I think never got more than 40 points. Even the one match with Coach Dave in, he was unable to help them. We kept the set up on the sanctuary stage for practice, which was good practice for a real sanctuary match. We stumbled on a few questions, but we got most of them. I continued to quiz out. After making sandwiches for the road, we head off to our matches at LMH.

Since the coaches had to be there early for a coaches' meeting, Dave took us to the cafeteria to give questions to me, robert, chelsea, and alyssa. Tim and Mike weren't there for practice. Instead, they amused us much by walking back and forth, hiding themselves behind "moving plants." We did that until the worship time...well, the supposed worship time. It seems like they've done away with worship, and just play Christian music. Yes, much has changed since Zion has changed...especially now that they are no longer producing the quizzing video. It kinda makes me worried to see what different video we'll get. Just hope for the best. After a few anouncements and a joke, we off to quiz.

We were literally off to quiz because we had the first round match. It kind of made me uncomfortable. I didn't get to scout the team we were quizzing against or the quizmaster. All I knew was that Grace Point 1 had a few familiar faces from Paradise, and they had 2 quizzers one short of perfect. I took seat 1, across from one of them. The match was a slow one. Neither team could reach their average. I managed to quiz out, but it didn't happen until question 11. A highlight we did have is that Chelsea got her first points. And her family missed it! :-P. Tim got one right for our final score, a loss 55 to 75. While we lost, Grace Point 1 couldn't get to their average either.

After a one-round break, we had our second match against Weaverland 1. With Weaverland 1 lower than us, we were expecting ourselves to have the upper hand, but even we surprised ourselves. History was about to repeat itself. Last year when we were at the midpoint at LMH, we won a match 170-0 with me, Tim, Mike and Robert quizzing out, plus team bonus. It was about to happen again. I quizzed out, and Tim followed me the next question. Mike picked up the third quiz out of the match. Robert buzzed in to get us team bonus, but it didn't stop there! He must like the midway matches at LMH, for he got his first quizout of the year, second in his career (both at LMH halfway through)! Both Mike and Robert got to sit back in the seats and just watch. Robert was confused when the person across from him errored, and he got the bonus question. It allowed him to score extra points for the team. We won 170 to 10. This is the 2nd greatest match I've ever been in.

We hurried downstairs for our last match because it was a back-to-back match. We quizzed against Maple Grove 2. Both teams' top quizzer sat in seat 1. It wasn't as glorius as the last match, but it had to be the 6th best match my team has ever quizzed. Once again, Tim and I quizzed out early. This also means I would finish the first half the season perfect :) . With me out, the team needed someone else to answer the situation question. So when the situation question came up, Robert decided to take a whack at it. Good thing he did. After thinking about it, he got it right! Now all we need was Mike to get in for team bonus. But all he tried, he could not get in. After 12 questions, still no avail. Now, Chelsea was able to get another bonus, giving herself 20 points for the meet and the year, and we were all happy for her, but we still needed another buzz in for team bonus. With the last 3 questions being review, would we be able to do it? Well, we know Mike did. On the last 3, Mike got them all, buzzing in, not only getting team bonus, but also getting himself a quiz out. Of course, with all 3 of the questions, Mike had to babel his full 30 seconds. This was the first time Mike got 2 quiz outs in one meet. We won 145 to 35.

I stuck around for the last two matches, mostly for scouting reasons. Both matches were interesting. The first match was Blainsport vs. Bowmansville 2. Bowmansville 2 seemed to be struggling as they had 2 fouls. The second foul was very interesting. On the question, Jordan buzzed in. Seth, however, thought it was his light. So sure he knew the answers, he said it right away (it was the right answer, by the way). But then Seth realized it wasn't his, and let out a weak "oh." Jordan then went in with his audible word "ok," thought about it, and then said, the exact answer Seth did, the right answer. The quizmaster went into the ruling of the judges. When he came out, the quizmaster announced that Bowmansville 2 was right, but needed to be fouled again. A Blainsport quizzer contested that it wasn't fair that Seth could blurt out the answer when it wasn't him and Jordan could easily pick it up. The quizmaster went back to the judges. Together they decided that while Seth messed up and deserved to get the foul, Jordan still had the choice to decide whether or not Seth's answer was right (he did not know, nor was told, that answer was right), and also the choice to choose that answer or another answer. So they got the 10 points for Jordan answering right, but lost 5 for Seth's foul, resulting in a net 5 points. I thought it was a good call. I don't know the official ruling on that.

The last match I watched for the night was Slate Hill 1 vs. Ridgeview 3. Ridgeview 3 was able to sneak a few points in, but Slate Hill 1 owned the match. Mike Good had problems with the first situation question (who to whom and about whom. ouch.), but got the second one. One by one, I saw each one quiz out. Slate Hill 1 knew their stuff. Despite hearing "list the 6..." they knew it was "50, 45, 40, 30, 20, 10." They will be a worth adversay for next week.

So in 1 week, we raised our point average by 10. We were hoping it would raise our average 4 or 5 places, but if you see our standings, it only raised us one place. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who had a good week. And it seems like the top 4 is pushing farther away. Top 5 would be a good aim. As for the individual standings, it's good to see Tim is in the top 60 finally, even though I'd like to see him in the top 50. It's also good to see Chelsea on the paper, even though I'm not sure why she is 4 slots lower than her sister, who is on the same team and shares the same last name with her. But above all, and in all humbleness, it's great to see my name is slot 1. Yes, I know I'm tied for first, one among eight. But to see my name in that first slot is so sweet. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your help.

REFLECTIONS:
This past fall semester, a very proud Pittsburg Steelers would always tell me how great his team is in all of history and how they haven't had a bad season and let him down. He couldn't understand why I would be an Eagles fan, when they can be a disappointment. So one time when he asked me, I simply replied, "But that's what exactly makes it so fun to watch. Nothing is guarenteed with the Eagles. It doesn't matter if they are the favorite team, they could either win or lose. They could be the underdog, and either win or lose. It can't be called. They can do as expected or completely suprised us. They can win or lose, by a lot or a little. It's always suprising and exciting."

I can't help but believe the same is true for Spring City quizzing. Ok, yes, last week we did lose to the the team above us, and won against the teams below us, but still, we're the same way. We began this season, guessing that we'd start near the top as we usually do. Instead, our average ended up being 67.5 We hoped and prayed that our average and placing would go up, but instead our average dropped to 65, and we fell to as low as 20th. Things looked hopeless, and it seemed like Spring City would be trampled on for the rest of the season. But didn't happen like that. The next week, when we had to quiz 3 teams tougher than us, including the team in 3rd place, and we won them all. We have our ups and downs. We have our wins and losses. We score lots, we score little. You can never tell. All the more reason to come and watch how Spring City does in a quiz match. It's exciting.

P.S.
Let me explain the past few weeks. Some have you might have seen me wear apparel from back in my Ark Bible days. Do not get the wrong message. You might have taken it as showing rebellion against Spring City, missing and wishing to return to my Ark Bible days. This is the wrong picture because it is not true at all. I am very happy with my team. This is one of the best...no, this IS the best team I ever had. Let me explain properly. It's a two-part response. First of all, being my last year, I have made this a year of rememberance to reflect on how the Lord has used me in quizzing. But the second reason might more of the reason.

Some you may know this, and for those of you who don't, this might be a confession for you. I did not voluntarily leave Ark Bible. I had to leave because Ark Bible did not have a team. Why did they not have a team? The reasons are too complicated to explain in a short time, but I will say that is was not on a happy premesis. I left that team broken, angry, depressed, not trusting nor wanting any peer fellowship. I was so upset that I didn't want anything to do with anybody from Ark. I was unforgiving and prideful. I thought i was better than all of them. But during the rest of my quizzing years, the Lord started to move me and change all that. This is also too long to explain, too. Let me just say part of it was the mentoring of the Deitricks, another part was having Tim Moss back on the team with me, along with a few other smaller pieces. But let me say that those feelings are all past and gone. I have forgiven Ark of any wrongs against me, whether they are sorry or not. The hard feelings are gone. The Lord had to move me to continue my spiritual growth, and I realize that is is now good that I am on Spring City. But I forgive Ark Bible and all their quizzers, holding nothing against them. They are reconciled with me. That is why I dedicated my matches last week to them. I will never forget them and how they have impacted my life. God bless Ark Bible and its quizzers from the 2004 team.

At that time Spring City went to Starsburg to quiz against E-Town 1, Strasburg 4, and Zion 1

Sunday afternoon practice started a little due to a meal hosted by the youth group. The meal was delicious, and during the whole thing, I was able to run through the material with Tim. Tim wasn't joking. He knew his stuff. He got every question I gave him right. As they cleaned up, I got into costume as a quizzing si...jedi with my black si...jedi robe and green lightsaber. Although practice was late, it was fast. Why? Because we were getting in smart buzzes, answering them all correctly, with few errors or bonuses. We went so fast, we got through 4 matches, had time for a fifth, had a fifth, took a break, and still had time for a sixth! We all knew our stuff. Break was fun too. We started out playing Lightning Reaction Xtreme, a fun game which helps practice buzzing. Once the light turns green, you better be the first one to buzz in, or get shocked! While many were cautious to play, we got a few in to play, and the shock came to be a surprise. And just before dinner, Mike, Alyssa and Tim had fun withe chair cart. After dinner, we headed off to Strasburg for our matches.


As we entered the building, we had flashbacks of the last year we were up there in week 2 of the 2008 season. We sat in the sanctuary, where Tim errored out in 2008 (lol), sat in the same exact pew, and worshipped with the praise band (which I am sure were the same people). We had to wait a match, so we watched our next opponent E-Town 1 quiz against Strasburg 2. The match started off slow, but eventually picked up pace. Jordan Keener quizzed out, keeping his perfection. Aaron Gish followed by a quiz out too. E-Town 1 won, but did not get up to their average.

E-Town 1 had a back-to-back match as their next opponent was...Spring City! I took seat 1 across from Jordan Keener. It was perfect quizzer against perfect quizzer. I put my si...jedi robe hood up and got into the game. The match started slow, but the pace picked up. First to quiz out was Jordan Keener on E-Town 1's side. The second quiz out was...me! Tim got the third quiz out. Then Aaron Gish on E-Town 1 got the fourth quiz out. With two quiz outs on each side, you can tell it was a close one. But with help from Mike and Robert, we were able to take the lead and win against E-Town 1 90 to 70. We didn't get team bonus, but more surprisingly, we didn't have a single error the whole match! :-)

Our team had to wait another match in between until we got to our next one, so I stayed in the classroom to watch Slate Hill 1 vs. Forest Hills. Slate Hill 1 brought their first place A-game has one quizzer after another, each one quizzed out, until Brady was sitting up there all by himself. He got them the team bonus, giving them 135 points. It was apparent Slate Hill 1 was in the right placing in the standings.

Next round we had our match against Strasburg 4. If it wasn't for Strasburg 3 having their match in the sanctuary, we'd be there, but instead we were in the fellowship hall. I sat in seat 1 against Strasburg 4's top quizzer Deanna Good. Now were in this match. Spring City owned the first few questions. Later on, I got the first Tim and I continued our quizzing out. Robert and Mike joined in the fun by lining us up for team bonus. Then each of them got another one in, making them both available for a quiz out! While close, neither of them got the quiz out. I think both of them were frustrated because both wanted their first quizout of the year. The final score was Spring City 130, Strasburg 55.

We closed the night with the last match against Zion 1. Ever since Ark Bible shut down, the Spring City "rivalry" (friendly rivalry, of course) was against Zion. I started my match sitting against Hannah Gehman, Zion 1 quizzer. After she quizzed out and Zion did the Zion shuffle, I found myself sitting across from Hannah Christophel, another quizzer I was familar with. I wasn't in for much longer, as I answer my third question right on question 9 and got my third quiz out for the night. I couldn't believe it! For once in my career, I was perfect 3 weeks in! I was so excited I let a loud BYAH! The Lord had me perfect for 3 weeks! :) Through my Savior's perfection he made me perfect! :D The team also had a good match, too. Tim, Mike and Robert got us team bonus. Tim and Mike proceeded to get another one right, making both of them available for a team bonus. Then Mike got his third right, giving him his first quiz out of the season! Tim was unable to get that last question right, but he still got 20 points. Spring City won 120 to 65.

REFLECTIONS:
Now usually in my prayer and meditation time, I usually keep to myself, unless I think it will edify someone else or a larger group. I'll admit somewhat that I sometimes keep to myself because I'm afraid I'm wrong or misunderstand something. But when Alyssa revealed on Sunday the same thing I was hearing, I figure maybe I should share it too.

After a wretched first week, when we got nowhere near where we thought we be, I really struggled with this. I prayed so much for a blessing on the team, but it seemed like we got cursed. I couldn't help but cry out to God, "Why?!"He answered to me through our chapel speaker at college during the week. The chapel speaker spoke on Gideon, and it lingered in my head. For those of you who are not too familiar with the Gideon story, or the quizzers who forgot quizzing 2005 material, let me review using a Graham Holcomb paraphrase...

Once the Lord had finally convinced Gideon that Gideon was chosen to be Israel's next judge and he needed to obey God, Gideon goes and rounds up men for the fight. and he gathers 32,000. So the Lord takes a look at the men and decides there's too many men. Why? Judges 7:2b says [and I will quote this], "In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her..." God didn't want Israel to think they won because they were strong enough. So God tells Gideon to send those who are afraid home. Why is that? Maybe it was just because God was being nice to scared men, but I sometimes thing that maybe it's because God wants soldier than fear Him more than any human. Only the ones who feared God were fit to be in Gideon's army. So 22,000 depart, and Gideon is left to a mere 10,000. So Gideon thinks that these 10,000 will be his army, but the Lord has news for him. He tells him bring the men down for a water break, and watch how they drink. Those who kneeled to drink were sent home, while those who brought the water to themselves. Why? A warrior of God must be head up and alert, always keeping careful attention. The one who dives face forward into the action is foolish and not fit to be a warror. There were only 300 men who brought the water to themselves, and with those 300, roughly a little less than 1% of the original army, defeated their tough enemy.

And the Lord said to me, "I must make you weak before I make you strong, so you and others may know that it is by My Strength, not yours, that you have been blessed and given victory."

So that's my best explanation to what happened these past 3 week. God first had to make us weak before we were made strong. I had to watch 2 of my teammates error out, 3 losses, a match scoring a low 30 points because of 7 errors and me get 2 errors in 2 matches so I (and hopefully my team) could recognize that age, experience, previous standings or hours of practice alone could not lift us up to the top. God was making us weak first. So after being in 20th place with an average of 65 points, God, in His might, lifted the humbled team up. God was preparing a team fit for the top. He gave us the fear of God, greater than fearing a stronger team or a quizmaster, so that we look towards the Lord for favor. Before we were diving head first into questions, not waiting long enough to buzz. Now we were alert. We brought the question to us before we buzzed in. With the fear of God and smart buzzing, this team was lifted up in one week. In that one week, when the opponenets were hard and the material harder, we got 2 quizouts in every match and in two of them we got team bonus. For the second and third time, we scored in the triple digits. Through God's strength, we were made strong.

How fitting that a 2005 quizzing story reminded me of this, for we had a Gideon experience then, during the ACC Tournament. We were made weak through our errors, all 36 of them. There were a couple matches where we lost points because of our errors. We did not control our own fate going into the playoffs. But God did. He put us in the playoffs, he gave us wins in the playoffs (despite errors again), and we won the championship. And so it will be again. We are fully dependant on God to lift us up and bring us further. Praise be to God Most High, Creator of Heaven and Earth, wherever He puts us.

This is the written account of week 2 at Blainsport

Last Sunday was the opening of the quizzing season. We had 4 weeks to prepare for it, and after 4 Thursdays and 1 Sunday preparation, all we got was 1-1 record, 67.5 point average, 10 errors and 2 error outs. Now that we are fully underway into the quizzing season, we now only have 1 Thursday and 1 Sunday to prepare. This Sunday was special because it was Super Bowl Sunday. The Super Bowl pushes quizzing to 2 p.m. and that gives us only the Sunday School hour and whatever little time before the match to study. So that means we only had 1 Thursday and 1/2 Sunday to quiz our best. Let's see what it produced.

Our first match was against the home team Blainsport right in their home sanctuary. I saw Blainsport quiz earlier, and saw their perfect quizzer fall. Since he sat in seat 4, I decided I would also sit in seat 4. The best way to describe the match would be "sloppy." By question 10, I had gotten 2 buzz in correct and 2 errors. My teammates weren't doing any better, getting lots of errors. Luckily Blainsport didn't pick many of them out. By the team we got to review material, I still hadn't quizzed out. On my first match of the second week, my perfection flashed before my eyes. But after our timeout between questions 13 and 14, Tim and Mike asked, "You want this next question?" Of course I said yes. They replied, "This next questions is yours." Question 14 was "What produced..." and not wanting to give up, I buzzed in. At that time, all I could think was how the question would end: "What produced vegetation..." or "What produced living creatures..." I knew I was going to either quiz out or error out. Then it hit me, "either way the question ends, the answer is still the same!" So I answered, "the land" and I got it right! (This is not true because of verb tense changing, and you'll see the irony about that later.) Quizzed out question 14 on full count. Couldn't have pulled it any closer. Sadly that was the highlight of the match. We got 7 errors and lost points, but more greatly lost the match 30 to 60.

We had back-to-back matches, so we had to hurry downstairs to our match with Living Rock 3. I sat in seat 3 this time. This time I had totally changed. I buzzed in on questions 5, 6, and 7, and got them all right. I quizzed out on 3 consecutive right buzz ins! While I was able to turn my game around, the team performed did the same. Tim got 2 errors, and we took him out to increase our change for team bonus. On the brighter side alyssa picked up a bonus, getting her second score for the year. We still came short for team bonus. Another loss, 55 to 75.

Then the next match I went back to as I did the next match, but my team took off. The match was against Emmanuel, and as I usually like sitting across from the top/perfect quizzers, I sat across from Emily Timberlake, perfect Emmanuel quizzer. I started our match off with an error. Tim, probably frustrated because he hadn't quizzed out since the first match (lol), went full throtle into 3 questions, buzzing in on each of them, answering each right, and quizzing out. He was the second Spring City quizzer to do this on Sunday. Two-thirds through the match, I found myself at full count again. But this time, my 2 right was 1 buzz in and 1 bonus. Emily and I at this point had been helping each other by sharing bonuses. On question 12, she quizzed out, keeping her perfect record (Congratulations emily!!). Once again, my perfect record flashed before my eyes. Question 13 was, "What produced thorns..." and I buzzed in. I knew I was either going to quiz out or error out. But I knew this one, and then realized how much blessing I got on the first one. I answered "the ground" and got it right for the quiz out. The following question Mike made the match better by getting us team bonus. This match we won 105-55. This was the first match we got team bonus, first match we scored in the triple digits, and only the second match we won all season so far.

So I guess the best way to describe the whole day was sloppy. I know that a lot of it is my fault. I take full responsibility and apologize to my team. After an errorless week, I got 4 this week. That is unacceptable from me. I should be able to do better than that. As the team's leading quizzer, I feel responsible to not only quiz out, but quiz out as fast as I can to give me subbing teammates an equal oppurtunity. My late quiz outs have denied that oppurtunity for the subs to get in early. I am sorry for that. I cannot be a good example or good leader if I myself keep getting errors. Even though I only average 2 errors a week, I will do my best to decrease these errors. I also want to be able to help my teammates do their best. Any way I can help, just tell me. Let us unite as a team under God to do better and grow in the Lord.