Our church just finished VBS last night and it was great. Sharon and I are exhausted today because the earliest we have gone to bed in the last two weeks was 11:30 and we were up at 6 am. Then all the running, lifting, and everything that goes with setting up VBS. We are not as young as we used to be but you know what, it was worth it.
Sharon was in charge of the crafts and I was head teacher of the 3rd grade. Most of our work came from set up for Sharon’s crafts. She had it set up so all the kids had to do was assemble the craft. That meant that we pre-cut, pre-set, and pre-prepared everything for the week’s crafts. That is why at midnight one night I was cutting aluminum foil and wax paper in my bed trying to stay awake. But it was worth it.
I had it much easier; I just had to teach the Bible lesson (although Sharon made a lot of my props including a really cool cat of nine tales whip). That is what I love to do. I like to get the kids all excited about the Word of God. I do all kinds of silly things, one day I wore a different hat for each character, one day I threw a clay pot just as Gideon did; boy you should have seen the eyes on those kids when I did that. But, they know the stories and it was worth it.
I also like to play with the kids. I wore a hat most of the time well let me re-phrase that, I had a hat on at the start and the finish and they enjoyed taking it off and wearing it. Most of the girls that age have ponytails but I call them pulley-tails and of course, I pull them lightly. They learn this and the ones without pulley-tails get them, I even had a boy put one in, then they will walk by you and hit you with their pulley-tail to make sure you know they have one. Then they would love to try to get me back by pulling my beard. The other thing I did that was new while walking from class to class I taught them a Jodi or a chant and they loved that they begged to do this and lead it. Boy was it worth it.
Left… left….left, right, left…
For the wages of sin is death.
Coming at you when you draw your last breath.
You don’t need to know this strife.
For the gift of God is eternal life.
Romans 6 and 23
Tell me now what it’s gonna be
Death, life- death, life- death, LIFE!!!!!
You know, all these kids want is love and all we did was to show them the Love of Christ. You know what made it really worth it? Here I am a Big, Ugly, Fat, Hairy (all but on the top of my head) man, and by the end of the week you just about can not walk down the hallway because they want to hang on you, hold your hand, hook arms with you because they want to be as close as they can to you (even though I stink because I have been sweating like a pig because they are all over me and all the extra work). They tell you all kinds of stories and jokes because they want someone to listen. They want and crave your love and will give you their love unconditionally, just as Jesus does. This is why it is worth it.
You know, this is how the cults get so many people, they have learned to show care to people and people crave this. We as Christians have the love of Jesus, we need to learn how to show that love more. If we did, we would have people flocking to the church. My suggestion to you is to go pull a pulley-tail; they will love you for it.
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