Telling the Story: Pondering VBS

BY DAWN REED

A sip of strawberry Kool-Aid can take me back in time faster than the DeLorean in the Back to the Future movie. One taste puts me right on the creek bank behind First Baptist Church of Belfry during Vacation Bible School in the 1970s.

Back then, we lined up outside the church and marched in to our pew to the tune of Onward Christian Soldiers. Pledges to the American flag, the Christian flag, and the Bible were cheered before taking our seats. I can’t remember the lessons, but I can remember being there. And it was good. I’m so thankful for those saints who gave their time and talents to teach kids about Jesus.

This week we are in the throes of VBS at Fitzpatrick. We have prayed and prayed and planned. I am assisting the director this year, so I have seen more of the background work. Holy Moly! I had taken so much for granted. Usually tucked away in the preschool music room, I hadn’t realized there were so many puzzle pieces God puts together everywhere else. Every. Single. Summer.

Vacation Bible School is the time of year when the body of Christ is shown to its fulness. We all need each other to complete the task God has given us. It takes all of us working together. Last night, I saw volunteers from teens to their 80s serving side by side to serve the children and their parents.

Leading up to this week, I have reminded our workers that this is our mission trip for the year. And it absolutely is. We don’t have to go outside our area to find lost people. They are right here in our own backyard. VBS is the only taste of Jesus many of our kids will have all year. They’re not growing up in church, so this is all the “church” they get. Oh, I pray it’s a good dose!

Our carnival night had to be canceled due to thunderstorms. I used to panic when it rained during VBS week but had to remember who made the rain. (One VBS in Lorain, Ohio, I taught youth who sat in a church van while I stood outside the door with an umbrella.) COVID taught us that everything could change in a minute, and we can still carry on.

On the first real night of VBS — since the carny was canceled — I got a little panicked as I drove to church. There was a paper towel in my pocket with a list of important things to double-check. Did the tech guy have the DVD for opening? Had the map for the classes been copied? And on and on. I finally had to turn it over to the Lord. Out loud, I said, “Lord, this is your Bible school. Please put the pieces together.” And He did. (Do you ever have to turn over things that are already His?)

It was hard for me to go to sleep that night, picturing all of our people being the hands and feet of Jesus. It was precious.

Mark 10 tells about a time when some disciples shooed children away from Jesus. “People were bringing little children to Jesus to have Him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, He was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them’…and He took the children in His arms, put His hands on them and blessed them.”

As followers of Christ, I pray that we never hinder anyone from coming to Him. I love the part where He took the children in His arms. There are a few kids I believe He would want to squeeze a little harder than others.

Times have changed, and these days snacks abound. It’s actually a full meal. Way back in the 1900s, we got a small cup of strawberry Kool-Aid and two cheap cookies — and loved it. There were no refills-and we survived. It’s my hard times “we walked uphill both ways” story.

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