The Georgia Baptist Convention believes the purpose of Bible Drill is to hide God's word in your heart. Therefore, I was given special accommodations to allow me to compete with sighted drillers. We used those accommodations for three years while I competed in the children's category.

In 2005, I moved up to the Youth Drill. The Youth Drill requires 10 verses to be memorized with 20 additional verses to be searched for and read from the Bible. We also have to find books of the Bible and 5 additional verses are called from anywhere in the Bible. I don't try to search because my Braille Bible is over 40 volumes and the time limit is 8 seconds.

My accommodations were to memorize the 30 verses everyone else used along with an additional 25 to be used for calling the 5 verses from anywhere in the Bible. Instead of searching for the books of the Bible, I tell the 2 books before, the 2 books after and what division of the Bible the book is from.

My first year in the Youth Drill I advanced all the way to the state competition and was named a co-winner. However, through miscommunication problems, I was not allowed to compete and be scored in the National Competition. After that, my family and I worked with the Georgia Baptist Convention for acceptance nationwide of special accommodations.

Our hard work paid off, and this June I went to Alabama and competed in the National Bible Drill. I competed in a Special Accommodations category and won! Now everyone is allowed to compete in Bible Drill, no matter what their abilities.

There are still lots of doors that need to be opened for all of God's children. So don't ever believe God can't use you, no matter what your abilities!

(Editor's Note: A retreat is held each year for children and youth Bible drillers and speakers. This year the retreat is scheduled for October 20-21 at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Toccoa. Registration is $65 per person and the registration deadline is October 1. For more information, contact Maria Brannen at 1-800-746-4422. )