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.