"Pursue Your Calling, Not Your Potential."

I've found this incredibly convicting. I have a blarring habit of chasing potential without a clear understanding of my calling.

As with most things, there seem to be two ditches on eithe rside of the road. On one hand, a person can be complacent and lazy and not pursue any sort of distict calling. On the other hand, a person can think they know what their calling is but get wrapped up in and distracted by potential. We need to find the happy medium of understanding our calling, while being able to say, "That's not bad, but that's not me."

"The key is to be fruitful, not just busy."

"And you're doing 10 things poorly, instead of 2 things well."

The "Other Side" of a Tournament

To my dear NCFCA competitors,
A few of you may already have an idea of what "the other side of a tournament" looks like, and for that, be very grateful. To those who don't, let me just say that I was like you, and I now wish I had known four years ago. So, I thought I would do my best to give you at least a snapshot.

To my dear NCFCA leadership, as well as parent and alumni staff,
Thank you for serving the way that you do, especially when the competitors, the ones you serve so selflessly, are never able to see it.

____________________________________________________________

I Thought I Knew It All...
I spent three years in the NCFCA Speech and Debate League, and I felt like I had experienced the full span of the playing field, as it were. By the time I bowed out, I had competed in speech events from all three categories and both forms of debate. I had tournaments where I sucked and tournaments where I rocked. I knew the shocks, disappointments, triumphs, and frustrations. I thought I was fairly well versed in the NCFCA.

Not Even Close...
I was wrong. I knew the competitor's side of the tournament inside-out, upside-down, and back again. However, little did I know that there was an entire side to the tournament to which I was completely oblivious, one that is just as intense and exhausting.

I Never Saw My Mother Again...
I started to realize the existence of the world beyond the No-Competitors-Beyond-This-Point sign when my mom began to work on the administrative staff at tournaments, and I never saw her at tournaments again. Even after the tournament, the happenings within "the world beyond" were not for a competitor to know. What happens in tab stays in tab until the awards ceremony,  and any without actually seeing it happen, I never really understood the other stories. 

Puget Sound...
Suffice it to say, I learned far more than I expected to this year. I arrived at the Puget Sound tournament, found my "Alumni Judge" nametag, and walked cautiously into the judges room. I watched other judges deliberate over their ballots. I spent a lot longer than tab would have liked me to on my ballot, explaining my difficult decision. I watched ballot admin work their magic. I watched ballot check dilligently perform their monotonous job. I sat through orientation thinking, "All of this was happening before, and I had absolutely no clue."

Emerald City...
Then, I worked script submission at Emerald City, and my respect for administrative staff's abilities grew immensely. Not that putting pink and yellow dashes on a cover sheet was really that difficult, but I watched as the script submission director and staff worked around an incredibly tight schedule and through the rather tedious process of script filing, and deliberated over how to get the rest of the students through the system before the first speech round began. They were meticulous, they were diligent, they were dedicated, and they were always smiling.

Regional Invitational...
Finally, at the Regional Invitational Tournament, I was privileged to work as the tournament director's personal assistant, which basically means I was able to watch everything and work in the middle of it. I had one ear tuned "behind the scenes" to the communications team, listening as they kept the event running and on time. I watched the runners blitz (cool and nonchalant) in and out of the judges area, faithfully delivering the ballot packets to tab, who was waiting patiently, in their little room they called home all tournament long, for the next installment of ballots to enter, process, copy, and file (and a lot of other steps that I'm missing). I watched ballot administration graciously deal with judge issues, and round after round panel judges as fairly as they possibly could. I watched judge hospitality work tirelessly and nonstop to provide a wonderful selection of food for our judges. The judge greeters were always smiling, talking, writing, and organizing nametags, ballot check ran as smoothly as ever, and our tournament coordinator kept a helpful eye on every station all at the same time. And competitors are never able to see it happen.

No One Had a Clue...
As the tournament slideshow at the awards ceremony began, the students would plaudit enthusiastically as their fellow competitors appeared on the screen. One by one, each picture was either laughed at or cheered for. Then, a couple pictures that were taken in judge orientation appeared on the screen. I realized that I was one of the very few who were responding, or even knew where those photos had been taken, or what they meant.

The Two Sides of a Tournament Never Meet...

          While the competitors are waiting for postings...
                 ...ballot administration is helping judges find ballots.
         
          While competitors are in round...
                ...runners are headed to tab with the previous round's ballots,
                ...and tab is busy.

          While the competitors are waiting between rounds,
                 ...the tab room is working away processing ballots and filing them.

          While competitors are waiting for the awards ceremony to begin...
                 ...the communications team is resetting rooms,
                 ...the facility team is cleaning up,
                 ...judge orientation is being taken down,
                            ...by parents who are wishing they could be in the sanctuary,
                 ...the the tab room is printing certificates and putting ballots in envelopes,
                 ...the awards ceremony team is poised and ready,
                 ...the tournament director is reviewing her notes,
                 ...and the personal assistant is watching in awe, realizing how much she didn't know.


Friends, this is what goes on beyond the "No Competitors Beyond This Point" sign. I just thought you should know.

Leadership, parents, and alumni, "thank you" doesn't say enough.

A Praying Pedagogy

I treasure the privilege of being a teacher. Nothing is quite like it and it's not quite like anything else. Kind of like broccoli.

Unlike broccoli, teaching should be taken very seriously.

A teacher who doesn't pray is like a four-year-old jumping into the ocean without a life vest.
However, there are numerous times when you have life-impacting truth to offer your students and there are those select few whose eyes look like marbles.

So I pray, and I work harder. Find yet another way to wrap the content, expand my vocabulary, analyze and remove barriers, vary the atmosphere, create a shock. And those marbles continue to stare back at me.

At this point, I have to realize that unresponsive students are my responsibility, but they're not necessarily my fault. I never stop trying to reach those students, but I can't allow their attitude to be a cause of constant discouragement or self-bashing. Rather, I have to keep praying.

I sit in my room at night, at the end of everything I know to do ...and I pray. If I give up on prayer, I've given up on my students.

Motivation Issues: For Those Who Struggle Like Me

So often the completion of my to-do list is determined by the degree of motivation that I have to get it done. A long to-do list filled with things I don't want to do is incredibly paralyzing. And I'm darn good at justifying myself when I don't want to do whatever it is that I have to do. I'm a pro at justifying procrastination and thinking hopefully about tomorrow's supposed ease. This, friends, is an awful thing to be a pro at.

When faced with a homework assignment, a class, or a project that I don't want to do, here are some practical pointers to get us past the initial "Oh gosh, this is really the last thing I want to do right now." (Which it's not, but we like to think that.)

1. Spiritually resolve to do what God's called you to.
Obviously if the project you need to do, then God's calling you to it. And it's your responsibility to respond with obedience. As a child of God, this should be the most convicting motivation on the planet.

2. Mentally resolve to do what needs to be done.
Simply buckle down to reality, friends. You need to write the paper, you need to read the book, you need to do the project, you need to do the research, you need to write the program, you need to study for the test, you need to memorize those definitions, and you need to do it well.

3. Mentally resolve to not fall for any supposed reason to not do it.
Self-explanatory. Don't let yourself fool yourself.

4. Work out or do something athletic.
This sounds stupid, but it actually does help. Do some push-ups, pull-ups, stretch, superman, butterfly, round-off, back flip, running, jump rope, whatever. But only for about ten minutes because you need to get to work. If working out is something you like to do, make sure to keep pointer #3 in mind when implementing pointer #4.

5. The Promodoro Technique
This is something my mom taught me. The entire technique is more involved than this, but this is part of it. FOCUS and work HARD for 50 minutes, and then take a 10 minute break. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. It works if you keep yourself on schedule, always keeping pointer #3 in mind.


Conclusion: Know what God's calling you to. Don't fool yourself. View your lack of motivation as being in competition with yourself, and you have to win. If you lose, you both lose. If you win, you beat yourself, and that's much more fulfilling and a whole lot more fun.

Nursing School vs. Bible College: The Ultimate Faceoff (Part 1)

Sarah: And this week we're doing oncology.

Lauren: ::blank stare::

Sarah: Cancer and Chemo.

Lauren: Oh.... my turn... Pneumatology! Bet you don't know what that means!

Sarah: Pneumatology... it sounds like a disease.

Lauren: It means the study of the Holy Spirit!

::we bust up laughing::

Sarah: Seriously, though! Pneumonia, Pneumothorax, Pneumocystis Pneumonia...

Lauren: Pneumo-Sarah-knows-too-many-words...

::we bust up laughing all over again::

Puget Sounds Tournament Update #3 - Debate Semis and Speech Finals

RAINMAKERS

Debate Semifinals

Bell/Bell (non-Rainmakers) aff vs. Cooper/South neg

Aldrich/Bennett aff vs. Janzen/Wolcott neg

Speech Finals!

Humorus - Isaac Harris

Impromptu - Isaac Harris

Duo - Aldrich/Bennett, Patrick/Young, Miller/Miller

Apologetics - Rachel Aldrich, Shelby Bennett

IO and TI - Macaela Bennett

Persuasive - Shelby Bennett

Original Oratory - Sarah Aldrich, Shelby Bennett, Aundra Miller, Anicia Miller

Puget Sound Update #2 - Breaks

RAINMAKERS

Debate Octa-Finals: Qualifying to Regionals

Armstead/Hayes

Aldrich/Bennett

Hostetler/McDaniels

Edmonds/Harris

Janzen/Wolcott

Debate Quarter-Finals

Janzen/Wolcott

Aldrich/Bennett

Speech Semi Finals: Qualifying to Regionals

Duo:

Aldrich/Bennett

Miller/Miller
Patrick/Young

Apologetics:

Bethany Janzen

Rachel Aldrich

Shelby Bennett

Persuasive:

Shelby Bennett

Luke Douglas

Original Oratory:

Aundra Miller

Anicia Miller

Sarah Aldrich

Shelby Bennett

Impromptu:

Isaac Harris

Rachel Aldrich

Elisabeth Wolcott

Anicia Miller

Adam McDaniels

Humorous:

Isaac Harris

Dramatic:

Luke Douglas

Sarah Aldrich

Pudget Sound Update #1

Hi everyone,

After a four-hour drive through the snow, my dad and I arrived at the tournament around noon. I've judged a debate round since. It's great to be back.

The schedule's whacked out because they had to cancel an entire speech round, both patterns. So I don't actually know if we're late or not. The staff isn't acting like we are, but there's no re-written schedule around to know.

Rainmakers are their wonderful selves. It's encouraging to see the newer debaters be able to keep the same atmosphere and attitude about their group as I've experienced in past years of Rainmakers.

More updates to come, they should be announcing debate breaks tonight, if it goes as planned.

Our Own Stereotype...

I can see it now. . .

Homeschooled Teacher:
     n. A peculiar individual who drinks tea, listens to gregorian chants constantly, loves words, refuses to openly admit their general dislike for grading papers, has a particular fascination with sarcasm, irony, and wit, and often suffers from a short attention span, general lack of focus, and consistent explosions of impossible ideas.


We're well on our way to a stereotype, my friends.



(@David Knopp, @Jennette Maynard)

- Lauren

Good Friends with My Exacto Knife

Scratchboard Project

(It's a white glossy paper with a thin layer of black clay-like material over the top. After you create a photo collage as a design, you scratch away the black to show the white. It sure took a while, but I was happy with the result. For a first try, at least.)

Life Slogan #5

Stay awake. 

- Mark 13:32-37

Post-It Note: Homework

My siblings laughed.

Night time... DAY TIME!

The five of us girls laugh every time. One of our new-found favorites.

Life Slogan #4

Walk on the curb. 

College Update #4 - Spring Semester Summary

These updates definitely have been few and far between, but I thought I would fill in all who cared to know about the latest developments. This particular update will focus more on the broad scope of what's happening this semester rather than just being limited to college.

That being said, I'm headed back into a life without a life (which I hate...and will battle said notion with the sincerest form of denial), but I'm quite excited for everything that's happening this semester, also.

- Apologetics Academy is back up and running.
I'm jazzed about all the work the students have done. They've definitely made it exciting to be a teacher. I look forward to the next several months of working with them.

- Excel Still More Speech Classes have ended.
The students have been amazing and I will miss them very much.

- Rainmakers is hosting Regionals.
This event will continue to have a resounding impact this semester and a large ripple effect afterwards. But I'm psyched that we're actually doing it. It'll be great.

- I'm a fourteen-credit college student this semester as opposed to an eight-credit college student like last semester.
Classes:
 o New Testament Survey
 o Perspectives (on World Missions)
 o Basic Two Dimensional Design
 o HTML and Web Design
 o Anthropology and Hamartiology Seminar
 o Christology Seminar

- Other Currently Unkonwn Projects
Seeing as I struggle with impulsive visionary inclinations, I'm sure there will be other projects that I will make time for somewhere.

- Sarah and I will go out for coffee at various points during the semester.
Because if we don't, we'll never see each other.

- I will continue to wonder about the handprint on my wall.
It's been there for years. I have no clue how it got there.

___________________________________

Au revoir!

- Lauren

Of the End of Speech Classes

Today marks the victorious finale of another round of speech classes. Rather bittersweet. It was time to finish up, but I will miss the students very much. Some might say we laughed to much. In the words of one mother, "It was lots of fun, but challenging at the same time." That was my hope, and hearing it come from a parent was a huge blessing. I felt the same way.

After twelve classes covering platforms, interps, introductions, announcements, testimonies, devotionals, impromptu, "Messages in your Pocket", Scripture reading, and more, I can definitely say that I'm proud of my students. The twenty-two of them were met with an aggressive syllabus and they attacked it with vigilance. I definitely saw marked improvement.

My students have done a wonderful job of making it an adventure to be a teacher. I laughed hard, teared up, got goose bumps, and smiled a lot. They gave me a life in the midst of being busy and kept me sane in the midst of college. And they weren't just students. They were friends. I am really going to miss them.

Life Slogan #3

Stop and see the people.

Art - Imitation of Bridget Riley

Post-It: Little Sisters

The Impromptu Sonnet of an Out-of-Practice Poet

This came together in about fifteen minutes, top to bottom, no edits. It breaks the rules of Iambic Pentameter a couple of times, but I decided not to care.   

More Than Just Life

Such dread of things still far and yet still near
To look ahead and see a stretch of time
Seemingly routine and void of care
Yet filled with grace and love's carressing rhyme

Many people simply call it "life".
Uncomfortably, I cringe at such remark
Though always God's unfailing love in sight
Anticipate the day so bleek and dark

Endurance still preserved, I dare not lack
Forward still I move, though passion wanes
The end in sight, by custom there and back
To think of more, some may deem me insane

Yet more, I think, a person's life could be
Still further purpose actions could achieve