Miss America is so beautiful, so poised. By “poised” here, we mean she is socially adept at facing anything. She’s ready.
Poised can also mean that someone or something is all set for something to happen. For example, the snake is poised to strike when threatened. Mom is poised to leave on vacation as soon as the family is ready.
Christians can also be poised to move into action at a moment’s notice. A soul winner can be poised to share his faith whenever prompted by the Holy Spirit; he has his nice, crisp tracts ready to give to anyone who doesn’t have time to talk.
Below are others who dared to take a stand and be poised to obey their Master.
(1) Heather Whitestone McCallum (pictured above) was Miss Alabama in 1994 and Miss America in 1995. She was the first deaf Miss America, and someone described her interview skills as one who “answers with pluck.” I remember telling my Spanish class one day that if Heather could be Miss America with her diagnosis of “profoundly deaf,” then I could teach a Spanish class with my hearing impairment. My hearing loss now is described as “severe.” Heather’s life is an inspiration to many, especially to me.
Heather tells in her four books how she became determined years ago to poise herself to seek first the kingdom of God as soon as she awakens each day, according to Matthew 6:33. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” (KJV) See Amazon books: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Heather+Whitestone&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss_2.
She says at the beginning of her first book:
In my travels and public-speaking engagements, people often ask me….How should I get started?....My answer can be summed up in this verse, Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (KJV)
My reliance on the wisdom of this verse as “the way to start” is true whether I am responding as Miss America 1995, the wife of John McCallum or a young woman just stumbling out of bed. I believe my first act…must be to seek God, His kingdom and His righteousness. (from Believing the Promise, Daily Devotions for Following Your Dreams by Heather Whitestone McCallum with Carolyn Curtis, New York: Doubleday, 1999, p. 1)
Heather’s emotional moment of winning Miss America is on YouTube, recorded at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0BqY8evGyQ.
(2) One unknown teenager named Emily Chaney felt that Patrick Henry’s Bill of Rights in our Constitution was not being honored, especially the one ensuring her right to religious liberty. Those in authority at her school were making a rule that kept her from the free exercise of her religion. All she wanted to do was to encourage fellow students to drop off their prayer requests into her school locker. The school administration said she was not free to do that. She was poised to follow her conscience. She knew that she was not defacing public property or forcing anyone to leave a prayer request. It was simply an offer on her part to invite fellow students to share a concern. About ten a day were responding. She responded further with her “magnet” movement. She gave out magnets that read “Pray anyway” or “My locker is a prayer locker.” Many students offered their lockers as a depository for requests. Such a large number volunteered for her magnets that the school did not react. The complete story is reported at https://www.frcaction.org/updatearticle/20200129/right-pray. Her stand landed her with many online research results and also a visit to the White House to tell her own story when the President (Donald Trump) recently declared the day as Religious Freedom Day. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-announcement-guidance-constitutional-prayer-public-schools/. Here are her remarks before the entire nation and the President of her country:
MS. CHANEY: My name is Emily Chaney. I’m a sophomore at East Ridge High School. And I started a prayer locker at my school, and it really helped a lot of people who had different prayer requests. Just --
THE PRESIDENT: Where do you come from with that beautiful accent? (Laughter.) I love the accent. Where do you come from?
MS. CHANEY: Pikeville, Kentucky.
THE PRESIDENT: Kentucky. Oh, we love Kentucky. (Laughter.) We love Kentucky.
MS. CHANEY: I started a prayer locker at my school and it helped a lot of kids who have many different prayer requests just to let them know that someone was there for them and cared for them. And Americans United for Separation of Church and State sent a letter to our board of education that the prayer lockers needed to be taken down.
And whenever my teacher told me my school was notified that I had to take my prayer locker down, I was heartbroken, because I had like 10 prayer requests a day. And that was — I just feel like it really helped move in our community, in our schools. And I just — I’m just so thankful for you and all you’ve done for our country.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.
MS. CHANEY: Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Say hello to everybody in Kentucky for me, okay? (Laughter.) And beyond. And beyond Kentucky.
MS. CHANEY: Thank you.
(3) Another unknown teenager, Kerrie
I also knew a high school sophomore in North Carolina who had become concerned about her high school; she was my Spanish student, Kerrie. She told her mom that the school had become so “secular.” When she heard that I was poised to start a before-school, student-led Christian group called First Priority (pending approval from the principal), she was ready to get on board. First Priority is a large Christian student movement in Alabama. See: https://firstpriority.cc/. I knew from my experience in my Alabama teaching days that a Supreme Court decision protected students who wanted to use the school building for a prayer group, because the school also offered the building to other student groups before and after class. Kerrie helped to get the group moving with her quiet influence. She attended faithfully.
(4) Then, there is Jesslyn Duren with Children for Honduras.
Jesslyn was in the children’s church that I directed when she was kindergarten age at Tuscaloosa First Assembly in Alabama. Today she has her master’s degree and is a full-time missionary to Honduras, fluent in Spanish. Jesslyn felt a call of God upon her soul to go to Honduras. She began taking her baby steps to obey. She contacted local churches to request a small window of time in their services to present her cause. Slowly, church after church and individual after individual agreed to sign their pledge cards to support her. She was doing the dreaded “itinerating” to raise her budget to the degree required by her denomination (Assemblies of God). She worked in Honduras for a time, but it became necessary for her to come off the field to raise further support. She was very focused, very poised to reach her goal. Since most of her engagements were at night, by day she took advantage of the time to earn her master’s degree at the nearby University of Alabama, near her parents’ home. Now that she is back in Honduras, she is working on putting special education into the school curriculum where she works. Her efforts are outlined on her online site, Children for Honduras, at https://www.facebook.com/lifekids280/photos/a.818442178348941/1035219766671180/?type=3&theater. She is also on Twitter at @jessduren.
(5) Mrs. Sandy.
I know one quiet little housewife, Sandy, who is poised to shoot her emails to her list of recipients any time they are needed to notify friends of a timely social issue that needs to be addressed, to lobby and inform the right lawmakers of the voters’ wishes. One lawmaker lost her re-election because emails told the story of how she voted contrary to wishes of constituents.
(6) Phyllis Schlafly
Next, Phyllis Schlafly was poised to strike out against the ratification of the ERA as a Constitutional amendment; she is credited with helping to defeat it. Five states rescinded their approval largely through her influence.
(7) Then, there is Hannah Salisbury.
Family Research Council gives us the story:
But for one elementary school teacher in Virginia, the call to teach and inform kids also includes a focus on the Bible.
Hannah Salisbury was prayer-walking around her school one day when she prayed specifically that "Jesus' name would be mentioned in the classrooms and hallways."
Later, she noticed a student reading an old Bible that he checked out of the school library. She felt compelled to donate a copy of The Action Story Book Bible -- an engaging picture book Bible -- to each of the elementary school libraries in her county. All 38 elementary schools accepted the Bibles and placed them on their shelves.
Hannah's mission to place Bibles throughout her school district has led to the founding of Bibles in Schools, a non-profit organization that has donated Bibles to elementary, middle, and high school libraries and classrooms in 18 counties in Virginia and seven other states. https://www.biblesinschools.org/
As a result, students are now engaging with others about what they are learning from God's word, and more teachers are also placing the Bible on their classroom shelves.
Hannah wants to remind people who want to join her in her mission, "It's totally legal." Her website breaks down the religious rights of students, teachers, and parents.
Are we poised to get to the polls to vote? Are we informed about social issues? This is a timely day in which there is the possibility that barbaric abortion may be ended. We need a poised, timely person to lead the charge. Could that person be YOU?
Are we poised to see that human being near us facing an eternity without God? Are we poised to share the message that will spare him/her from Hell? Billy Graham saw himself as an ambassador for the Lord, whether he was with presidents or an average person. He always tried to obey the scripture to be ready to give an answer for the hope that lay within him. (I Peter 3:15)
How wonderful it is that Jesus lived His life poised to do His Father’s will, setting us an example. (John 6:38) His life also shows us a life free from boredom! If we live the same way that Jesus did, God has someone at His disposal to be His hands, feet, and voice. What an honor!
Let us “be instant, in season, and out of season” for whatever the Lord wants us to do (2 Timothy 4:2).