Just a Minute

Hello friends, this is Dr. Conrad Vineand I would like to share with you oneof the most precious memories from mychildhood.When we were growing up, it was myself,my twin brother, and our two sisters.And we used to play a one game all thetime. We played it on Sabbath eveningwhen the Sabbath was out. We played itwhen we're driving in the car together.It was a game that um was called just aminute. And how does the game just aminute work?

Well, my father would actas the moderator and uh us fourchildren, we will be the we would be thepart playing the game. And uh my fatherwould say uh so Conrad, he said, "Youhave one minute to speak withouthesitation, repetition or deviation onthe subject of." Then he'd give me arandom subject. It could be polar bears.It could be pineapples. It could beChristmas. It could be car tires.

Um itcould be this public swimming pool or itcould be the summer rains. Whatever thetopic was, it really didn't matter. Now,the rules of the game are you must speakwithout hesitation. So, you cannot sayuh you cannot have fillers like you knowor like. Those are all fillers.

If youyou say any of those things, then one ofthe other participants can challengeyou. And if they make a successfulchallenge and then they get the topicfor the rest of the minute. And if youhave any deviation from the topic, soyou may you may be given the topic oflet us say reindeer to speak about andyou end up speaking about cats and dogsfor the first 5 seconds. Then one of myuh siblings would challenge you and sayhe's deviating from the topic. Theywould take over the topic for the restof the minute.

And uh if there was arepetition, so you can repeat the worditself. Uh, but we weren't allowed torepeat any adverbs like quickly orsoftly. We weren't allowed to repeat anynouns. We weren't allowed to repeat anyprepositions. And we weren't allowed torepeat any verbs.

So, you have to haveone minute of speech that's entirelyfresh words that makes complete sense.So, we used to play this game all thetime. So if I received the topic, let ussay reindeer for one minute, I wouldstart out and if my brother thought infour or five seconds that I was talkingnonsense, he could um raise his hand andhe'd make a challenge. And if my fathersaid this was a correct challenge,Conrad has deviated from the topic, he'srepeated himself or he's hesitated, thenmy brother would get the topic for therest of the minute. then he would talkand as he's talking we're all listeningto him and if he hesitates, deviates orrepeats himself then um we would make achallenge and we would get the topicback and every time you make asuccessful challenge you get a point andif you're speaking when the minutefinishes you get two points. Well, whatwas a benefit of this of this parlorgame we used to play at home?

It wassimply this. We learned very veryquickly to think on our feet. We learnedthat uh when somebody asks you aquestion, you need to give yourself 3 to5 seconds of filler just to say somethings while you're franticallyprocessing your answer in your headbefore you give it. So for instance,somebody may say, "You have one minuteto speak without hesitation, repetition,or deviation on the topic of polar bearsbeginning now." And you may saysomething like, "I am delighted thatyou've asked me to speak about polarbears. There are Kodiak bears, there aregrizzly bears, there are slothlikebears, there are brown bears, but myfavorite bears are the polar bears wholive in the Arctic area.

And of course,there are no polar bears in theAntarctic because Antarctic means nobears in Latin, etc., etc. So, youlearned very, very quickly to think onyour feet. You learned very, veryquickly to have a good command of theEnglish language. You learned how toformulate a presentation in your head insplit seconds that would only last alast a minute. Now, you may think toyourself, well, a minute, that's notlong to speak.

Well, I can assure you ittakes some skill and expertise to speakfor a minute without hesitation,repetition or deviation on a topic thatyou're given just like this and off yougo. We used to play this game all thetime as four kids in our family. Uhlittle did we realize that this was agreat prep a preparation for life. Thereis going to come a time when we have togive an answer for the faith that wehold dear. We are called to defend thefaith.

We are called to um speak forthour testimonies. Uh Jesus says in Mark13 that do not worry beforehand what youare to speak but words will be given youfrom on high. And so there is coming atime in the Christian's life andexperience when we have to givearticulate answers to questions that wewere not expecting. So I want toencourage you if you're raising kids ormaybe um at a coming family event orfamily gathering, maybe afterThanksgiving meal or a Christmas meal,have a go at this parlor game. Doesn'tcost any money.

All you need is astopwatch, a piece of paper, and a pento keep the score and off you go. Andyou can talk about random topics and itmay be a bit of harmless fun, but you'repreparing your mind. You're preparingyour mind to think very clearly, tothink very quickly. You're learning toarticulate ideas on the hoof and off thecuff. You're learning to speakconvincingly and with credibility whenyou have pretty much zero preparation.This is all preparation for Christians.How we are to share our faith in thefinal crisis.

is called just a minute.I'd encourage you to try the game andjust see how God sharpens that mind andtrains that tongue and softens thatheart so that when you speak it will bethe Holy Spirit speaking through you.May God bless you as you play just aminute. Have fun.