Victory through Christ

"Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57


"Congratulations to Ms. Codas of Sparta 4 being our touchstone of the month!"

There was a brief moment of silence after I read my professor's text message. Then I let out an involuntary squeal. Twice. I was at Himantayon Avenue, the college's main hallway, and a few heads turned, but I was too overwhelmed to even care.

Our department had announced last June that it would be holding monthly competitions for "Touchstone", and ever since, I had been praying that I would get the title. Guess what. I just did! I could not believe this. When I heard about the results, I felt like pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming, but instead, I grabbed Lovelyn who was beside me then and shook her back and forth like a rag doll (Sorry, love). I feel giddy until now, actually, and I want to do a set of cartwheels. Unfortunately, I do not know how, so I guess I'm going to stick to just skipping and hopping around the place being a typical girly-girl. *squeals*


The term Touchstone was used by English poet and critic, Matthew Arnold in his approach in literary criticism. His concept used a standard of instant comparison for judging the value of other works. He used great works to be viewed as standards of excellence for the writers today with the intention of retaining high poetic quality. Arnold calls these works "touchstones". In our case, Touchstones were meant to be students who should be viewed as role models or "standards of excellence". Could you actually believe how awesome it sounds?

So this is basically how it works. There are three houses in the AB English Organization -- Sparta, Athens, and Troy -- and each month, each house should choose a representative to go through a series of tests/competitions.The representatives should undergo screenings on writing, speaking, and general knowledge (linguistics, literature, TESL, etc.). The over-all winner would then be hailed "Touchstone", have his/her over-sized self-portrait and autobiography posted on the bulletin board, and be qualified to compete for "Touchstone of the Year" or what we'd like to call, "The Grand Finals".


"Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Colossians 3:17


Honestly, I was thinking of backing out when I first learned the representatives from the other two houses were both seniors. I mean, most of the questions were from Descriptive Linguistics and TESL, and I haven't even gone through those yet. What made me even nervous was the fact that from the usual three judges, we had a whopping SIX now. Imagine six people, experts in their respective fields, reading your essay, listening to you deliver your speech, and watching you give wrong answers to the quiz bowl. It was giving me nerves, actually, though I was confident God was with me the whole day. I remained silent the whole time, praying to the Lord that whatever happens, His name would be glorified. Before I had even received the question for the essay-writing, I had already accepted that if ever I lose, that's the Lord's will. I sucked it up -- my desire to win -- and waited for everything to happen.


Essay-writing was not really my cup of tea. I never even knew how to write a decent one until I got in college! We were given an hour to write about the writer who had made the greatest impact in our lives and how he/she is set apart from others. I love it. I love the topic. I was excited for a reason. It was as if the Holy Spirit was urging me to deviate from being an average English major who only had a mental list of English's greatest classic writers. I didn't even know if the person I had in mind would be considered as a legitimate writer, but I just went along with His whispers and decided to stop being skeptical. I knew the Lord wanted to use me there. Right at that moment. I closed my eyes, drew a deep breath, fluttered my lids open again, and started writing.



I miraculously won the quiz bowl. Kuya Michael (from the House of Troy), on the other hand, won the extemporaneous speech. The last result to be announced was the essay-writing category. Since each category was given thirty points flat, one of us had to win in the essay-writing category to be the official Touchstone. I didn't even bother to be nervous. I think it was my Linguistics exam that did me. That, or the fact that I knew Ate Harlene and Kuya Michael might be better writers than I am. It didn't matter. There was this peace inside of me that says everything is fine, win or lose. I had a smile plastered on my face the whole day. I was floating in joy, despite the blanks on my Linguistics test paper that I had failed to answer. My essay won, after all. I just hope it was not only the quality of the language that the judges have seen, but the deeper truth within. -- the One that really mattered. I leave the Lord to work in them.


So there. The story of my previous activities had been laid down on a single blog post. It might not be as exciting as yours, but I still want to share the victory that God has granted me through Him. I am on cloud nine. This might not be my wedding day, but this is still an anecdote of my life that I'd gladly place on my storybook of memoirs.

 "Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done." 1 Chronicles 16:8


Until the next victory post. TTFN. <3


P.S. Thanks for the prayers. I might post the essay any day, as soon as I find my draft. It's missing and I do not know where I had placed it last. Silly, forgetful me. :D