And so it happened again...
We had another bowling game recently. I was not excited about the game as always. Why should I be?
For this game, the team has been determined beforehand. And my team leader happened to be the same guy who I recruited for my first game, and really he had this stoic look on his face when he found out that I was now in his team. Well, talk about affinity...not.
So the game started. My team learned the hard way the meaning of motoric moron. My bowling amazed them. Never had they seen a person so capable of sending all the balls to the gutter and my control of ball was so amazing. My ball would move ever so slowly, that all my audience would hold their breath in suspense of anticipation of how many pins that the ball would hit, if the ball would hit at all. My playing was so bad that every time my ball hit on the pins, even when it was only a pin, they would cheer me as if I had hit a strike.
I was so frustrated, especially since the rest of the girls would come and check on my score. Their motto "As long as we beat
I took the ball, believing that God has answered my prayer, and bowled it over to hit the pin. The ball moved so slowly..like a slow motion, and went straight to the gutter.
My prayers were not answered!
With each passing game, I felt worse and worse! Here I was, successfully sending all the balls to the gutter..almost. But, even when the fortunate occasion that my balls hit the ball, they just hit at most three or four pins! Not enough for me not to be in the bottom of the score list. Was it a wonder if I felt bad? I hate sports for a reason, all kind of sports. These activities were made to torture people like me. They were evil. EVIL!!!!
At the end of game 1, I ended up with 37 points, I was...again, the reigning queen of lowest scorer in bowling history ever.
Then something happened...
Game two started. I went on with a heavy heart. And in my frustration, I asked one of my team to play for my turn which he refused to do. He said, "It's okay, winning isn't everything. We're just here to have fun!" Were we, really? He then gave me an advice, "Look at the markings in the lane and just aim on the markings!"
His words opened my eye. I always looked at the pins as my goals, but I did not care about the markings. I did not know that they were there. But, the markings were just drawn up at the middle of the lane, they were easier to be aimed at!
I took my ball, did my pose (honestly, I did not know why I should pose, other people did it, and they looked cool, so I did it too), and bawled, but this time, not aimed to the pins. This time, I aimed at the markings! The balls moved ever so slowly like usual, so not powerful, what's new? Only this time, it went in the middle, and instead of moving to the gutter, it stayed on in the middle and hit on the pins, some of the pins! My team cheered, my audience high-fived me, I smiled. It was a good beginning.
"Lord, in the next turn, let my ball not go to the gutter!" Checked!
Come the next turn, I used the same strategy, I did not care about the pins. They were too far to be aimed at. I just looked at the middle markings, and sent my ball against the marking. Again, my ball slowly stayed on the lane and hit the pins, leaving one pin behind at the outer left side, oh wait..there was another pin lying horizontally next to the pin, still in the visible display of the pins! But, I was happy enough. As long as I could collect the points. I did my second effort, aimed at the left marking this time, did not expect to hit on the one remaining as it was too much on the left. My ball stayed on the left lane, not moving to the gutter. And in a slow motion, hit on-- not to the standing pin-- the other pin that laid horizontally, and this pin hit on the standing pin, the one that I should target. For the first time in my life cleared all the pins! I turned back, with a smile on my face. I cleared all the pins!
But wait, that's not all! All the people (who were my audience) had this puzzled look on their face as they were looking at the screen. One of them said, "But, it's a strike!" I looked back up to the screen. There, next to my name was an X, a strike. A strike for me! Not a real strike, but a strike nonetheless. The system failed to detect my first ball, but detected my second ball, after it hit the 2 pins left, and granted me a strike!
I sat down, too amused with what happened! God sure had a good sense of humor! I asked for a strike, not this kind of strike, but hey, the system recorded my effort as a strike!
"God, please let me do a strike, just once, just once, that's all I am asking for!" Checked!
A miracle has happened.
If you think that I stayed out of a gutter, that would be too much to ask for, wouldn't it? But, I had my strike and for that I was so grateful.
In every of my turn, I just aimed at the middle markings. In one turn, my ball, was still very slow, but stayed on in the middle because of the speed, slowly hit the pins..oh hold on, hit all the pins. Strike! I did my strike! A real strike! My prayer was answered!
"God, please let me do a strike, just once, just once, that's all I am asking for!" Double checked!
In the end, I did 3 strikes altogether in the second game! I collected 100 points, and I was so happy! Very very happy. But not everyone was happy. One of the managers came upto me, checking on my points, and he was so disappointed upon learning that I scored 100 points and did 3 strikes in a game. I guess he placed a bet that I would be the lowest scorer for female category and he lost the bet. Next time he should check with Paul the Octopus!
So I earned the total of 137 points, which would not get me from the bottom list, since I only got 37 points from my first game. I might still be the lowest scorer in the game. But I did not care anymore. I had my moments of glory, and my prayers were answered. So what if I remained in the bottom of the points?
But..hold on...
After the points were tabulated, we went through the award giving ceremony as usual. The first category...lowest scorer in the game, female category. I took the deep breath..ready to get my award. The manager read on, "The award went to.....Sarah!" I was like...hey..someone had lower score than me, I was not the last one in the whole game! I won by 3 points, very very close shave. Sarah collected 40 points and 94 points in game 1 and 2 respectively.
But Sarah should not feel dejected, because the winner from the male category, won over her, with the total of 17 points for both games! He even beat my record!
"Dear God, don't let me be the last one in this game, please!" Checked!
And wait...
I won another category, The Most Improved Player - female category, and I got a very very small miniature tractor model as a prize. The prize, the award, the name calling did not matter anymore. I learned the most important lesson of all from that game. Things that I knew but did not believe. Lesson about God and Miracle, from just a playful bowling game. That God's time might not be our time. That God has good sense of humor. That in bowling, just like everything in life, aim for short term, don't worry about the long term, as long as you know what you want to get, and the path is right, the invisible hand will do the rest. And most importantly, God listens..He really does!
I gladly passed that prize to Big N, saying that's for his last math test, where he scored full marks. He smiled and happily played with the model.
Yes, it has been a long write up. But, isn't this experience really worth blogging for?
End note:
*I am still wondering why God answered my prayer only in game 2?Maybe He just did not want me to settle for mediocrity in that bowling game, but what's wrong with being mediocre? I am proud to be one when it comes to sports. Or...He just wanted me to pass the prize to Big N for scoring full marks in his math test. Yes, that must be it!
** I still have not changed my mind about sports in general and bowling in particular. Hated them to the bone!
“Winning isn't everything, but it beats anything that comes in second.” - Paul Bryant-
1 comment:
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