Competing with a purpose!

   Since last week at Nationals, I have been thinking about the true gift we have in competing.  It's so easy to think of NCFCA as merely fun tournaments, where we have a great time performing speeches and watching others do so.  But we really have been entrusted with a platform that can reach so many people - truly a gift, but also something we can't just accept and move on.  It's something we have to learn how to use!
   Last year at Nationals, Laurel had a difficult experience that made her rely on God even more when faced with stress and hardships.  Instead of keeping it to herself, later that day she chose the Impromptu topic "Anxious" and used that morning's experience as an example.  It might seem like a small thing, but last week a judge approached Laurel, saying that she had judged that speech, and that it had touched her. What we say in our speeches has the possibility of being remembered for a long time; it really made me think, what kind of impact or memory will my speeches be looked back on?  Am I using the platform I have been given to touch people and leave a godly impact on them?
    A friend of ours did a speech this year about a Muslim terrorist who became a Christian - it was phenomenally done, and made a huge impression on me each time I watched it.  He made it to semifinals at Nationals, during which a Hindu lady judged him.  It affected her so deeply that she ended up talking with our friend's mother for a couple hours about Christianity!  The way God works is incredible...and how neat to know that in the last performance of your speech, you were able to witness to someone!
    I was already thinking about the enormity of how we can impact people through our performances, when at the awards ceremony, the NCFCA President, Mrs. Hudson, gave an important and sobering reminder that life is frail, and to seize the moments we have now.  So many people say that NCFCA is preparing them for the real world, but (as Laurel explained in her senior speech) this is the real world! In other words - don't wait to have an impact!
   Next season, I will be doing Apologetics for the first time, and while it is somewhat intimidating, I'm looking forward to the opportunities it will bring to impact others. A judge may never get saved through a speech of mine, but someone might be encouraged or uplifted, and that can be my goal. I pray that I will keep in mind the gift each NCFCA competitor has been given - the platform to reach, affect, impact, and change the world around us, whether it is merely brightening someone's day or sparking someone's interest in Christ.