BQ has changed many lives. Let me read you this testimony of a girl from Arizona .
I began quizzing when I was 12 years old and in the seventh grade. I continued to quiz for the next seven years. My oldest sister was usually my coach, along with various youth pastors and volunteer adults off and on.
My favorite year of quizzing was the year we studied the Gospel of Luke. As a freshman in high school, I was able to actively share my faith with a few of my close friends. For the first time, I saw that I had answers for the questions that they were asking about who Jesus really was and what He was all about. I would not have had those answers if it had not been for Bible Quiz. I was motivated to study harder and learn the Scripture so well that I could put it into my own words to explain it to people who had never set foot in a church. That was the first year that our team won District Finals and advanced on to Regionals. We came in 3rd place at Regionals and went home feeling good about ourselves. (By the rules at the time, only the number one team could advance to the next level of competition.)
The next year we found ourselves at Regionals again. The night before the competition, all the teams gathered at a church for an orientation service. We reviewed the rules and the procedures for the next day, got to meet people from all over, and spent some time in prayer and worship. I remember staring at a verse which as inscribed in huge letters at the front of the sanctuary. From Zechariah 4:6, it read, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts.” For a moment, that Scripture pierced by soul and reminded me that whatever the outcome of the next day’s competition, it would be the Lord’s doing. My heart was stirred as we sang songs like, “Because He Lives, I Can Face Tomorrow.” I had the distinct feeling that the next day would be a life-changing event.
As the competition progressed, we came to the end of the day going head-to-head with a team from Southern California. It all came down to the final round, the final question. I buzzed in to answer a 20-point question and quiz out forward which would make us the champions and send us to Nationals. I missed it. I discovered that it was much more difficult to come so close, and yet not win. I was devastated and blamed myself for not knowing the material as well as I should have. Even though our team went to Disneyland the next day, I was spiraling down into a depression that would begin to consume me. A few months later, I finally came to grips with what was actually bothering me.
At my home one day, I walked into the bathroom and shut the door. Flipping on the light, I placed my hands on the sink counter and leaned in to talk to my reflection. I said to myself, “I hate you. You never do things right. You don’t measure up to what I want you to be. You have failed too many times. I hate you.” I knew in that very moment that one of me had to go. I knew that suicide was my only option out of the self-loathing and emotional pain I was in.
It didn’t matter if it was to be a literal, physical suicide, or the inward giving up of all hope. There is such a thing as a ‘walking suicide’. When a person has quit trying to be good and died to the hope that God can ever change them, they are ‘the walking dead’.
I realized that all my life I had been shy and timid because I was afraid to fail. I wanted so badly to be perfect. But I could never fulfill my own expectations. If I got 98 on a test, I wanted a 99. I wanted more of myself. I was not satisfied with who God wanted me to be. I had been raised in a loving, Christian family, but I was obsessed with wanting to achieve some measure of excellence that would make me feel special. My salvation and sense of worth had become performance-based. As long as I could do the right thing, I was happy. But when my sinful, human nature got the better of me, I was deeply depressed. God’s grace was for everyone else, not me.
Well, in that moment of wondering why I should continue to live, I remembered the song. “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future, my life is worth the living just because He lives.” I had a new revelation that this life is not all about me. All the Bible Quiz Scriptures which I had memorized came into my mind like a flood. Like pieces of a puzzle fitting together, I began to realize the bigger picture of what God is doing. I knelt right there on the bathroom floor before God’s porcelain throne and asked Him to forgive me for my self-centered pride, for not trusting Him that He knew better than I, and for coveting the glory that is His alone. I did die that day. I left that bathroom as totally new person.
If it wasn’t for Bible Quiz, my outcome could have been very different. Bible Quiz encouraged me to know what God’s Word says and to put it into practice. My teammates became my accountability partners and lifelong friends. I have regretted many things in my life, but I have never regretted the time and effort put into Bible Quiz.
I am that girl.