When I was a little girl, I was—as I am now—highly competitive. I don’t lose well. Second place is, after all, the first loser.
At age 8, I went with my family to the Oklahoma Christian Convention. The children’s session that day held a Bible trivia contest. A few of us came to the front and sat at a long table with buzzers on it. The leader asked questions about the Bible, and we raced to buzz first.
I had eight years of Sunday School and VBS and Bible stories on cassette under my belt, so this was my chance. But when the game began, I froze—a deer in the headlights. After a few questions, though, I relaxed, I realized I knew the answers…and I realized I was already losing. A boy at the other end of the table was buzzing in fast, answering everything. Incensed, I started to buzz in, faster and faster, beating him to the punch, and soon I rallied to catch up.
At the end of the game, though, when the score was counted, my comeback wasn’t enough. I was in second place—the first loser—and the boy down the table took first. The leader called us to stand in front of the table and gave us each a ribbon: the boy’s was blue, mine red. “Oklahoma Christian Convention,” it said on the back. “March 23, 1985. Go for the Gold!”
I was ticked.
My parents, though, loved the loser ribbon. My dad, a preacher, brought me in front of the whole church the following Sunday and presented the ribbon to me again. I hung it on my bedroom wall as a reminder of the match I should’ve won.
Years passed. I pushed the pain of that day behind me, went to Bible college, met Andy, and fell in love. We dated for two years before we got engaged. About a week before our wedding, we stopped at Andy’s parents’ house to pick up his boxes of childhood stuff—soccer trophies, report cards, pictures of old girlfriends. As we looked through his keepsakes, I turned over a newspaper clipping and began to scream. “No way!”
There in Andy’s box was that blue ribbon. I recognized it instantly. “Oklahoma Christian Convention. March 23, 1985. Go for the Gold!” Andy was that boy.
I like to imagine God’s thoughts on that day so long ago—the day he saw me standing there, fuming at first loser, next to a laid-back boy who couldn’t have cared less about his victory. Andy just tossed his blue ribbon in his trophy box, on top of all his other wins, and forgot about it. I wonder if God thought in that moment, “I mean…these two would be hilarious together.”
God looked on our two stories and smiled because he knew he’d make them one. God the Author writes the best stories! Honestly, though, we don’t always like the pages in the middle. Before we turn to the last page, where things become clear and the wrongs are made right, we might think God is writing a scary story or a sad story—or that he’s not writing much of a story at all. Sometimes we may even wish we were in someone else’s story.
But what does the Apostle Paul say? “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6) God has good plans, and he’s faithful to carry them out. He writes the best story for our good and his glory. We can have confidence that he writes with intention and purpose and care. And when we least expect it, we’ll turn the page and find a blue ribbon in the box and realize he was writing a good story all along.
Amy Storms
Amy is a part of our Christ’s Church family and has taught Women’s Bible studies and served as a Pathways guide. She is the Vice President of Marketing and Communications, as well as an English Professor and Strong Hall Residence Director at Ozark Christian College, one of our Impact Partners.
Amy is pictured here with her husband, Andy, and children, Nathan, Anne, and Molly.
