I have always loved participating in different physical competitions including sports, books, dancing e.t.c even if I wasn't good at it. The most memorable contest I participated in was years back in my final year, in high school (SS3). A circular was passed on to my branch from the headquarters of my church to train every class category ranging from primary to adult on Bible quizzes and recitation. It was a competition among diverse churches in the Benin metropolis.
I was one of the participants for my branch, we have lots of branches and divisions. We were given some books in the Bible to memorize, the book of Ruth, 1 and 2 Timothy, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and Malachi. We hadn't participated in any competition before we didn't know what to expect so I went ahead to learn just 2 books in the Bible and I was fluent in them. I passed the first screening which was within my division I was so happy.
It came time for my church in Benin City to pick the best that would represent them in the final competition with other churches. When I got there I saw people practicing I started to doubt myself if I could win hearing them so fluent when they were reciting. The screening started I flopped like I was fluent but all of a sudden I couldn't remember some verse I almost cried that day but I still had hope seeing other performances. At the end of the screening they picked the 1,2 and 3 positions and I came out 3rd position for my category.
Immediately I got home I picked my Bible and started memorizing more. I wasn't happy with how I flopped and I made sure to memorize the remaining Bible books though I wasn't too fluent and this happened within the space of two weeks before the real and final competition. I wasn't one to feel relaxed I pushed myself during this period and prayed also.
Finally, the competition day arrived and all the churches battled for who was the best and winner of the Bible quiz and recitation competition in Benin metropolis. We got to the venue and we were told by the organizers that only one person was to represent each category for both quiz and competition. Our coordinators started asking us how many Bible books we could recite. The girl that came First said just 3 books and I said 6 books but I wasn't fluent in just 2 books and that was how I was chosen to represent my church all over Benin City.
During the recitation the kind of tension that gripped me when I heard other church representatives recite, I started to doubt myself if I could come out well. It got to my turn and I was so focused not looking at anyone just doing my thing, I flopped a little but I still did justice to the Bible books. After the competition was finally over I came Second in my category(Senior secondary school) and my church came out Second after summing up the scores for each category.
We were called upon to receive our prices and our gifts. I was so happy, honored, and blessed to stand amid multitudes. Aside from the competition we had fun also and learned new things from the organizers. It was an experience I would never forget. I learned to press on and not to accept defeat when it wasn't over, I worked on myself instead of giving up because anything can happen, and I was optimistic. A minute can turn things around and if caught unprepared opportunities would have passed me by. In this life, one is capable of achieving great things with hard work and persistence.
All images used in this blog are mine
Thanks you all for reading to the end. I appreciate
