And it was a hard day. She was a rookie in the senior division, quizzing with kids who had quizzed in a District tryout setting and some who had been to Internationals before. I had tried to encourage her in the weeks leading up to it, that she had already done well throughout the year, that whatever happened at Districts would be just fine, that she had many years to try out again, so there was no pressure. But of course, there was pressure, and that's difficult to explain to people who don't know about Bible quizzing, or who have never seen it before. There's so much involved - learning the material, of course, then applying it to situations in which quizzers must "jump" off seats in order to trigger a light and be the first to answer a question that hasn't been completed, in all likelihood, then recalling what they've memorized and answering the question in thirty seconds. There's the joy and excitement of pulling information of the air, it seems like, and getting a question right. There's the disappointment of jumping too fast and knowing you don't have enough information, or of knowing that you know it...but just not being able to get it all together in time. There's the excitement for some of adding to a score that will eventually propel them above the rest, that will secure a place on the team. And there's the bitterness for others, of watching a chance grow less and less likely with each passing question. That was what happened to Aimee, who had had an exciting year throughout the regular quizzing season, but saw her hopes for Internationals dim as the day progressed. It was hard for me, both as a former quizzer very familiar with those high-stakes quiz meets and pressure situations, and as a parent, who could see frustration and disappointment building in her but couldn't do much about it!
So when we drove back home that afternoon, it wasn't on a wave of elation. But it wasn't in utter despair, either, and we even made some references to next year...because there will be a next year. Bible quizzing is near and dear to our hearts, and we'll do whatever we can to make it happen for our family, and we'll encourage and cajole (and sometimes beg!) others to do it with us. Even our not-so-happy day on Saturday left us with examples of why we'll continue to pour time and effort into it.
1. Aimee didn't make the team, but she's left with an absolute wealth of knowledge, having most of the book of Matthew tucked away. She won't always remember it word for word, but it will come to her when she needs it, and when she reads Matthew in the future, it will be illuminated for her in way it wouldn't otherwise be, and her understanding of it will be magnified. In fact, that's the case for all the kids who studied it. Our quizzers this year joked that they would never, ever forget Matthew chapter 3, because they all enjoyed listening to a dramatic reading of it on CD. Every single one of them, down to our second graders could quote that chapter with great gusto. They shared laughs over their dramatization of it, and of other passages and verses, and we all had a great time in general...but they'll never forget it! It's seared into their minds forever.
2. Not only do our quizzers know the Scripture, but they know the pure, unaltered, no-frills version of it. The questions on Saturday, just like the ones for the whole year, are directly from the Scripture - no lessons or interpretations required. Some they have to answer in word-perfect form, others just have to be close, but still, it's just the Scripture. I don't really have a problem with Sunday School lessons taught around a Bible verse or two - unless it's some really awful application, such as what one of my kids came home with a long time ago, about the story of Joseph being about not lying - but I think people sometimes underestimate what kids can understand about the Bible. It doesn't have to be packaged in a fun, exciting form where adults tell kids what it's really about. Quizzing gives kids the opportunity to see and hear large portions of Scripture, to hide it in their hearts, and to decide for themselves whether they want to choose the path it describes. And I firmly believe that "the Word of God is living and active, " so that even if their motives in studying now aren't entirely spiritual, God's Word will in fact work in them.
3. Quizzing teaches discipline and character in a way that few other programs do. There are no immediate rewards. (There's no candy, thank goodness!) It does take some work. They have to study in some way - some listen, some read, some of combination of both. Not everyone memorizes it, but in order to be able to answer questions at a meet, kids do have to learn at least some of it and hang on to what they've learned. Quiz meets themselves require some discipline and good sportsmanship, and the result is that, for the most part, quizzers are a group of kids who are kind and encouraging toward each other. Quizzing can be good to kids or teach them hard lessons (such as on Saturday), but more often than not, I have seen quizzers help each other deal with those joys and sorrows. On Saturday after a particularly hard quiz was over, Aimee was rather upset. Some quizzers from our area came over to her, spoke words of encouragement to her and then offered to pray for her. And those kids, those teenage kids, sat there on the floor with her and prayed with her. That was worth the whole year! Afterwards, her quizzing didn't improve, but her spirits and countenance did, and that will last with her always, I think.
4. Quizzing is for everyone. The kids who met together Saturday were a collection of the best quizzers from Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky, but there was no one type of person represented. There were boys and girls, introverts and extroverts, athletic types, and brainy types. This was my experience in quizzing, and I still see it today. I know that people express doubt whether their kids could memorize or would be the type to enjoy it, and I always wonder if those people, and those kids who doubt themselves, would be rather surprised! In the first place, just about anyone can memorize (did they learn the English language? do they know about things that interest them? then they can memorize!), and since there's no one way of doing it for quizzing, there's undoubtedly a way for them to memorize Scripture and to apply it in a quizzing situation. Sometimes its obvious who will do well in quizzing, and many more times, it's surprising how things turn out. In any case, quizzing is full of a lot of neat young people who get together and share God's Word.
"Full" might be the wrong word, however, because the numbers in the quizzing world are dwindling, and that saddens me. I know that Bible quizzing isn't the only way to memorize Scripture, certainly, but I wonder if kids are actually learning it quite so well in any other venue. We put a high value on memorization, but without the added motivation of Bible quizzing, I really doubt even we would be learning such large quantities of Scripture. (AWANA is great, too, by the way - we've done it, and I'm certainly not knocking it!) It's hard to "sell" quizzing these days, because life is so busy, and it seems like "one more thing" to add to those busy schedules. But for us, it's one thing that's high on the list, and I wish more people could know it and know its value. (So that's my shameless plug for quizzing - look into it! Do it!)So we'll take a rest for a couple months and get back into it in the summer. They'll be diving into Romans and James next school year, which probably seems intimidating to most adults! But the kids will do it without blinking an eye. And without even realizing it, they'll be gaining knowledge and skills that will last them a lifetime and beyond.
