I was recently nominated for a writing award and attended the Gala Awards ceremony with hundreds of other writers. Some, like my brother, John, and I were finalists in numerous writing categories of work we completed in 2015. Others were there to support friends and family, were event sponsors or were attending the writing conference connected to the Gala.<\/p>\n
Finalists feel a mix of emotions when they attend such events. I know I did. If you\u2019re nominated, you feel grateful for the recognition as you\u2019ve probably told others about the nomination and you\u2019re excited about the possibility of going from \u201cFinalist\u201d to \u201cWinner!\u201d But you also harbour some trepidation because statistically there\u2019s always a better chance of losing than winning when you are one of a number of nominees. If you\u2019re not The Winner, you\u2019ll be one of The Losers. The final applause from the audience will not be for you.<\/p>\n
So why enter such a competition<\/strong><\/p>\n You enter a writing competition because you believe that you\u2019ve written a compelling piece that will be recognized by the judges. By being selected as a finalist, you have met their criteria. So what\u2019s the problem. I believe it\u2019s our human condition. We all have some desire to be recognized and applauded for our work. It doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s writing, gardening or our regular occupation. We\u2019d like people to say we\u2019ve done a good job. If they say we\u2019ve done a great job, that\u2019s even better. When judges at a writing competition ultimately select someone else, there\u2019s a tendency to think that nominee\u2019s work was great but mine was merely good. I was reminded by one of the judges that my hypothesis is incorrect.<\/p>\n The judge says<\/strong><\/p>\n But hold on to that envelope please! Before I tell you what the judge said, let me explain one crucial element of this story. This competition was part of The Word Awards sponsored by The Word Guild, a Canadian organization dedicated to \u201cencouraging, equipping and empowering writers and editors who are Christian.\u201d If you join this organization, you must agree with the statement of faith based on the Apostle\u2019s Creed<\/a>. You can write on many topics and crossover into secular writing but you identify as a Christian even though you may not choose to write on a purely Christian theme. You are writing though because you feel this is God\u2019s calling on your life. So ultimately, God is your judge. He is the One you are writing for. He is the one who decides your personal story arc. Your role is to follow His guidance.<\/p>\n So if God has called you to write, than you should write. Competitions like the Word Awards are a wonderful recognition for the many Christian writers who are doing great work throughout Canada and abroad. But I don\u2019t believe an award should be a Christian writers\u2019 ultimate goal. Our goal should be connected to His plan for our lives. A Christian\u2019s writing\u2014as you are directed by God\u2019s soft whisper or strong direction\u2014should be connected to the Almighty\u2019s hand as He directs your own. And I\u2019m sure other Word Guild members believe this as well. Let me explain how this played out in my life.<\/p>\n Marcus story<\/strong><\/p>\n My shortlisted blog article was about my grandson, Marcus, who had died at fourteen in a car accident on Boxing Day in 2014. Marcus had made a confession of faith on Boxing Day 2009 and I had read his conversion story What God Wants for Christmas<\/a> on Boxing Day 2010 at my church as part of a four Sunday reading series I had written for Advent.<\/p>\n Did you notice the day that kept repeating itself? Boxing Day is a definite link in this story but it\u2019s not the only one God whispered in my ear. Or perhaps He shouted. I\u2019m not sure. But I do know God wanted this story told.<\/p>\n What He wanted me to know<\/strong><\/p>\n I shared Marcus\u2019 conversion story in 2010 and it lay dormant. I had no idea that four years later that story link would have such an impact on so many. As our family struggled with Marcus\u2019 death we were reminded that while we were grieving we could celebrate his promotion to heaven. It gave me great joy to have been part of Marcus\u2019 conversion but more comfort to know he was in Jesus\u2019 arms. I had an incredible peace\u2014 a peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7<\/a>)\u2014that I believe God gave me as we navigated the loss of our grandson. My daughter\u2019s pastor linked the story to his message at Marcus memorial service. And then, less than a week later, an eternal link would occur on the other side of North America that would cement for me God\u2019s sovereign plan in Marcus story.<\/p>\n Marcus story in Haiti<\/strong><\/p>\n Our friend Laura Mawhinney has been involved in medical missions work in Haiti with Project Aftershock, an organization she founded in 2010. She shared Marcus story in Haiti<\/a> in January 2015 with a number of orphanages and sixty children accepted Christ as their saviour!\u00a0This was the story I was nominated for by the Word Guild judges.<\/p>\n Again, I was struck that God wanted our family to know Marcus story is continuing to be told. This was another confirmation of His plan. So while I may not have been the ultimate winner in the Article – Blog category, I do not believe I lost. I believe if God is directing my writing I am winning. This is when not winning is winning. No earthly award trumps God\u2019s heavenly reward.<\/p>\n God in the fine print<\/strong><\/p>\n And the most recent confirmation of God\u2019s perspective on my story came near the end of the Awards Gala when James M. Houston won the Leslie K. Tarr Award for lifetime achievement. He’s 93 now and was the first president of Regent College in Vancouver. He taught with C.S. Lewis at Oxford before coming to Canada. He put the whole awards in context when he ended his acceptance speech with, “We need to exercise humility of our heart for the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ and so our applause is to Him, and Him alone.\u201d Dr. Houston reminded us all who should be thanked.\u00a0 The God of the universe loves each one of us and the sacrifice of His son, Jesus, for our sins so that we can have eternal life is where our applause should be.<\/p>\n So while I continue to write\u2014and even enter other writing competitions to increase my story exposure if that is what God wills\u2014I want to follow the Apostle Peter\u2019s advice: \u201cIf anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in <\/i>all<\/i><\/b> <\/i>things<\/i><\/b> God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.\u201d <\/i>(1 Peter 4:11)<\/p>\n If God is in the fine print, you are winning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was recently nominated for a writing award and attended the Gala Awards ceremony with hundreds of other writers. Some, like my brother, John, and I were finalists in numerous writing categories of work we completed in 2015. Others were there to support friends and family, were event sponsors or were attending the writing conference … Continue reading When Not Winning is Winning<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marcus"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p51b6V-D","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}