When I saw news photos of the small inland city of Columbia, S.C., floating on two feet of rainfall, it evoked memories. As a 12-year-old I experienced the wrath of Hurricane Agnes, then the most costly hurricane in the U.S.

The worst damage of Agnes was, surprisingly, in the inland state of Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, 43,000 homes were severely damaged or destroyed. My house received minor damage after we fled in the night through water. Our church building next door received moderate damage. Dozens of houses near us were submerged, and the cleanup afterward was both grueling and heartrending.

As an old boy but a young man, I struggled to comprehend what we experienced. At times I was asked to join the men in moving appliances as the waters rose; at other times I was grouped with the children as the adults whispered sober realities by candlelight.

After we were allowed back to school, our teacher gave us a writing assignment. Words flowed from my pen as water had from the sky. I titled the essay the only thing that seemed appropriate: “Water, Water, Water.”

My teacher looked excited when she handed back our papers. She said she wanted to read one of them to the whole class. Her excitement and affirmation for my writing stuck with me and encouraged me to write and to work hard at it. As teachers continued to affirm my writing, I ultimately changed my planned career path. I am grateful!

We acknowledge together that Christ claims everything, and that any human endeavor should be done with the excellence befitting the One it reflects upon. The right teachers are critical in this, and we all serve as teachers in some ways. It is important to affirm the gifts we see around us, the giftedness in people, and to encourage them to greater heights and to continue to use their gifts with joy.

We hope that is one result of the RP Witness Creative Arts Contest. We have talented people throughout our readership, and it gives us joy to be able to highlight some of those people and talents. We’re very thankful for our panel of judges too, people who show excellence and skillfulness in their areas of endeavor and who have taken their time to encourage others.

May our families, congregations, missions and ministries, schools and businesses be known not only for upholding a standard of excellence, but also for nurturing that excellence in the young, the immature, the inexperienced.