I signed up to teach VBS in early February and spent the rest of that month recruiting other teachers to help me. In early March we went to the kick-off meeting.
I then promptly put VBS on the back burner for the next three months.
Last week I dug out my leader's guide and got serious about planning. We set up our classroom this afternoon. Kids show up tomorrow morning at 8:40am. I am officially excited about VBS.
As I was making up one of our crafts this afternoon, my friend came into the room and peeked over my shoulder. As she looked down on my sad little suitcase craft, she read the tag that said "God has a PERFECT plan for my life" and began to well with tears. Like me, my friend knows what it is to live a life without Jesus, and knows just what a precious gift his perfect plan really is.
As I have planned for VBS this year, I have done so more intentionally than ever before. I keep thinking about another friend whose testimony includes a horribly abusive childhood and an older woman she met at camp who told her about a Jesus who "could save her from absolutely anything and restore her life." At nine years of age, my friend had the wisdom and maturity --- or was it the way the woman explained it to her? --- to understand that God would not necessarily remove her from the presence of these horribly abusive people, but that He would rescue her emotionally and spiritually. She understood at such a tender young age that God had a perfect plan for her.... A plan to give her a hope and a future. The promise of a full life.
As I teach these amazing little 1st graders this week at VBS, I will be thinking of my friend - the little girl who was seeking a savior and met Him at summer camp. With the knowledge that even small children need a savior, I pray that God will give me his heart, his words, his eyes, his sensitivities and his timing so that no opportunity is missed this week.
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