Today is a very special anniversary. Exactly four years ago, I began my life as an inspirational speaker! I had spoken at a few schools and churches before then, but this was my first official, out-of-town engagement. It seems like ages ago, but I can still remember almost every detail!
I was nineteen years old, and I had a feeling that God was coaxing me toward the microphone, but I still wasn’t sure I was ready for it. I was a senior in high school, excited about my upcoming graduation, and nervous about what the next phase of my life would bring. My stepdad Barney Zick had been encouraging me to step onto the platform and share my message with others.
“The world needs to hear what you have to say,” he would tell me, “And when you walk in the room, you already have their attention! You are a walking motivational speech!”
He knew everything there was to know about speaking, because he himself had been a speaker for years. I learned so much from him during the time we had together. If I had known our time was going to be so short, I would have been taking better notes.
In January of 2004, an article was published about me in Scholastic Action magazine. The magazine goes to schools around the country, and is intended for middle school and high school students. It was an incredible experience to be interviewed for the article, and I even did a professional photo shoot. The article basically told my life story, and there was even a quiz at the end that the students could take to test their comprehension. It’s been a long time since I’ve read the article, and I’m honestly not even sure where we’ve stashed that magazine! (My mom would probably know.) The magazine mentioned that I wanted to be a public speaker, but there was no information on how to contact me. (I didn’t have a website back then.) A class of high school students in Florida read the article and asked their teacher if I could come speak to their school. The teacher, whom I will call Mrs. Wonderful in order to protect her privacy, told her class that she wasn’t sure she could find me, but she would try. The article had the name of the city where I live, so she looked up the high school in my city. Right there in her classroom, she called my school and talked to my principal on her speaker phone! The principal told her he would pass her information onto me, and that is how we ended up connecting. Mrs. Wonderful and my mom worked out a time for us to go to Florida to visit their school. It was a small school district that didn’t have much money, but they used what they had to pay our airfare. Mrs. Wonderful even let my mom and me stay at her house!
While other kids in my senior class spent their Spring Break partying and going on vacation with their families, I was having the experience of my life! Mrs. Wonderful was such a sweet woman. She was a gracious host, and introduced us to everyone in town. She had lined up several different groups for me to speak to during the two days that I would be there. As I got ready for my first big speech, I was excited and terrified. I prayed that God would guide me, and I went over my notes for the ninety-seventh time. The sun rose on Tuesday, March 16, and I could hardly eat the breakfast my hostess offered me. My first speech would be to the entire high school that included freshmen through seniors. As I sat in a classroom waiting, the morning announcements came over the PA system:
“During 2nd period, please go to the auditorium for the assembly.”
It suddenly dawned on me that I WAS THE ASSEMBLY!!! Little ol’ me, Julie, was the reason the entire student body was going to the auditorium!! The kids were missing their 2nd period classes because of me!! In my days of school, I had attended my share of school assemblies, and I had never given much thought to the person speaking at them. I always paid attention and enjoyed most of them, but I had never thought about how it would feel to be the speaker. It never occurred to me that the person might be nervous! Now I knew. Yes! Of course they were nervous!! It’s not easy to get up in front of a bunch of teenagers and talk! Suddenly, I started to doubt myself.
“What am I doing here? I can’t do this! What was I thinking?”
But, it was too late to turn back. Sorry Charlie, this ship has already started sailing and there’s no jumping overboard! So I prayed a bit harder and decided that I would just have to press on.
A few minutes later I was in the auditorium, along with 300 high school kids. I stood on the stage with my heart pounding in my ears and my stomach doing cartwheels. I took the microphone and started my speech, hoping that it really was the English language that was coming out of my mouth. As I talked, my nerves calmed down. Suddenly, I realized that I was actually enjoying myself! The kids were laughing at my jokes, and they seemed to be very receptive to what I was saying. It was my first time to speak with a microphone, and I absolutely loved it! I could do so many things with my voice that I had never been able to do before, like making sound effects. I didn’t have a podium to put my notes on, so I had to use a chair that was next to me on the stage. It looked goofy, but it worked! (I have never been able to use a normal podium because they are all at least a foot taller than me! A couple years ago, a friend of mine actually made me my own podium! It’s so little and cute, and it even folds flat so I can put it in my suitcase! It’s so cool! Thanks, Tim!)
I still have the tape of that first speech, but I haven’t listened to it in years. I cringe at the thought of hearing the Julie of 2004 giving her presentation, because I have learned so much since then. But, I guess that’s what “learning experiences” are all about. The more I do, the more I learn. The main message of my speech was the importance of keeping a positive attitude when life gets tough. I tried to make it fun and light by adding lots of corny jokes, movie references, funny stories and quotes. I even sang the song “Just Keep Swimming” from Finding Nemo. It was a pretty fun speech to give! At the end, I sang Blessed by Rachael Lampa to help convey my message.
I was relieved to have finished the first speech without passing out and falling off the stage. After it was over, I actually went with a couple senior students to their economics class. When class was over, I made my second speech of the day to the middle school students. That night, I spoke to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the next day I did four more speeches to the entire elementary school! They even brought in the pre-school kids! I remember talking to them for a few minutes and wondering if they could understand what I was saying. So I said, “Does anyone want to sing a VeggieTales song?” The elementary school principal was in the room at the time, because he had just stopped by for the last few minutes to see my presentation. From the back of the room, he said, “I love VeggieTales!” So he came up front with me and we sang “The Cheeseburger Song” together!! It was hilarious!
Over that two day period of time, I spoke to seven different groups, and I sang Blessed seven times! I met so many amazing people, and I learned a lot from them. It went pretty well considering it was my first big speaking experience. Most importantly, I learned that I really do love speaking, and I do believe the Lord has called me to spread a message of hope to the world. Thank you, Lord for choosing me, and for allowing me to be one of Your messengers. I pray that You would put YOUR words in my mouth, and help my ears to be tuned into Your voice so that I’ll know what it is that You want me to say.
To those students and teachers in Florida that I spoke to four years ago, I want to say thank you for being so welcoming and accepting of me. You will always have a very special place in my heart.
Posted by Julie 
Posted by Julie 
Posted by Julie 
