Vacation Bible School. How many of you have memories of summertime VBS when you were growing up? Not me. I have none. I wasn’t raised in church, so I didn’t get the privilege of attending a single VBS.
It doesn’t seem to me that many churches have VBS anymore. But Debbie and I are part of a church that does. Every summer, the week following the 4th of July, our church hosts one. We aren’t a large church, but we do have a pastor who believes in getting the Word out to as many children as possible while they are young.
My Experience
I’ve helped with VBS just about every year since we joined The Valley Church in 2018. And every year so far, I’ve been blessed to assist our Pastor’s wife, Rachelle, in corralling the little darlings that are pre-school or kindergarten age. Each year as VBS draws to a close, I declare, “That’s it for me. I’m too old now, let the younger ones take over and handle it. I’m getting too old to keep up with these little monsters, I mean, lovely children!”
Then the next spring rolls around, and I see Rachelle step up to be one of the first to volunteer to help, and I think, maybe one more time….
Well, here it is the end of June, and that time is on me again. And once again, with a sheepish grin, I’ve said, “Let’s do this, one more time!”
Yes, it is a lot of long evenings, with kids jumping all over me and lots of LOUD noise! But I look at the faces of the kids (including a couple of my own grandkids and think of the Words that Christ said in Matthew 19:13-15:
Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away.
It will be a long week, and I’m sure I’ll say at the end, “This is it. I’m done. I’m tired!”
But as a grandparent of 12, and church-grandparent to many, I don’t ever want to get to a point when I say, “VBS is too much. Let’s not do it anymore!” There is far too much at stake to throw away an entire generation of kids, no matter how much work is involved. We must continue to invest into the next generation to help them grow to know, love, and serve Christ.
VBS has not even started yet, and I’m already tired. (But looking forward to it!)
