Going for the Gold | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Going for the Gold | Previous Challenge Entry
By Carolyn Cyphers
03/12/08
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Allison had never won anything in her life, well that she could remember, unless she counted the time her name was drawn out of the peanut can by her first grade teacher to win a brand new, green dinosaur pencil tip eraser. However, that was only because she had striven so hard to keep her desk in a straight row. This prize sprang totally out of the blue. Her Sunday school class had submitted her name to the local paper glowingly accounting how she made such a difference in the community.
There really wasn’t anything so outstanding about her physically. She was actually quite diminutive in stature topping the wall chart at five foot. In appearance there was nothing to set her apart from all the other young women in her town. Her nondescript hair, thin frame, and sorely lacking style would definitely hamper her vie for beauty queen. Yet, no one could discount the one thing that truly set her apart from all other ladies; no matter what her circumstances, no matter how out of control her situation seemed, there was a radiance in her countenance that everyone knew came from spending time in the presence of the Lord.
Allison had lost her parents in a tragic automobile accident the year she graduated from teachers’ college. That same year she decided to dedicate herself to God’s work pouring her love into the lives of children, showing them the love of Jesus. God opened the door for her to travel to Northeast India. There she found her purpose serving the children of the Hmar tribe, an indigenous tribe previously known to be head-hunters who had been successfully reached and brought out of Satan’s grasp a mere generation past. Now these people sorely needed guidance, training, redirection in their lives. Allison was instrumental in helping to develop the curricular plan for the new school that was being built there, until just last year when she suddenly was brought low by a mysterious fever which threatened her very life.
With a broken heart, Allison had to relinquish her life’s dream to return to her home town. Doctor’s agreed that the environmental conditions of India were too strenuous for her delicate constitution. Even though she had to leave her beloved students behind, she endeavored to stay abreast of the work there by personally sponsoring two children who had come to mean so much to her.
At twenty four, Allison now had to contemplate new avenues to proceed with her plans to serve God. Teaching Sunday school, of course, was a given, but yet, there had to be more she could do. Clearly, there were so many children all over the valley who remained uncharted and needed the love of God in their lives. The question was how to attract them and bring them in to the fold.
Then God spoke to her early one rainy morning during her prayer time. She had thought she was just having a difficult time staying focused on her study, because her mind kept wandering. She kept wondering what had become of her dad’s old saxophone. Calling her Aunt Betty who had helped her during her parents’ crisis, she learned the saxophone was in storage in her attic.
Allison was thrilled to discover that her high school drills on saxophone were continuing to pay off as she practiced her favorite piece, “When the Saints Come Marching In.” It was at that very moment she realized that it was no accident that she had become consumed with her old musical pastime. That next Saturday she was standing at the corner of Grayson and Jackson playing her instrument before crowds of captivated neighbors, all tapping their feet in reverent awe. There were the children with their parents reading and signing the permission cards explaining that the church bus would be there Sunday morning to take all interested families to church.
That next Sunday Allison’s class doubled in size. The next week, it doubled again. That month the church developed a Transportation Committee to provide cars and drivers to meet the growing need, and the next year the church purchased a new bus.
Allison, at twenty seven, lives alone on Maple Avenue. Folks wonder when and if she’ll ever marry. She just smiles and looks ever upward. Life is too full, too exciting to contemplate sharing it with anyone but the one who loves her best. Besides, there is still too work to do!

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