I had one reason for wanting to do Vacation Bible School at the church I grew up in; to change the lives of the children who would be there. I expected that some people would not be happy about having Vacation Bible School, expected the pastor do be anything but supportive, but what I did not expect was for those ten kids to change my life.
Monday was interesting to say the least; I spent most of the morning/afternoon decorating the church, by the time 5:45 rolled around I wanted to crawl into bed. That first night I stayed in the back of the church working the sound system and I didn’t really get to interact with the kids until later that night. We were downstairs working on crafts; the preschoolers were painting crosses and I was supervising to make sure no one painted himself or herself or a wall. By the time crafts were over for that night we had pink crosses with blue polka-dots, green crosses with every color paint polka-dots, and cross with pink stripes. We also ended up with an orange panda bear and some very interesting Operation Kid to Kid backpacks.
Tuesday night I ran around the church like a chicken with my head cut off. I realized that there was no way the Operation Kid to Kid project would be finished in time, so I started to work on it with my kids. We started talking about what the kids wanted to be when they grew up, we had two future art teachers, a ballerina, and a rock star. When I was leaving Tuesday night I got a hug from one of the girls as I was leaving.
Wednesday night I ended up on stage singing with one of my best friends. I can’t sing very well and singing in front of kids was one of the last things I wanted to do with my summer. None of the kids cared that I couldn’t sing. I think they enjoyed seeing a grown up dance around with panda ears on her head. We taught the kids Father Abraham, The Butterfly song, and a few others that we had grown up with.
Thursday night we were short volunteers so ended up on stage again, but I didn’t mind it as much the second time around. My friend and I dressed up like Roman Soldiers and chased the kids around the church, until they found “Peter”. Apparently we upset some of the adults who didn’t think it was appropriate for the kids to be running around the church. Personally the only thing I saw wrong with running around the church was that the church didn’t have enough places for us to hide and sneak up on the kids. We had a big group hug on Thursday; I didn’t think that kids could squeeze someone that hard. We also let the kids get up on the stage with us as we were singing, yet again driving the adults crazy. But the kids loved it and that was what really mattered.
Friday was by far my favorite night. We let the kids pick the songs we were going to sing, we turned my Uncle Bill into a snowman, I told the kids about Jesus being the best gift in the world and then shared a 105 pieces of candy with them, I got to tell the kids about being salt and light, and had numerous seats saved for me when it was time to eat the pizza. We gave a special gift to my Uncle Bill, and while speaking about the past week I told everyone that it was my last day there. I think the kids understood that I was leaving and not coming back more than the adults did. As I was leaving that night the kids tackled me. They didn’t want me to leave. I think our group hug lasted for five or so minutes.
I remember when I started planning VBS. I really wanted to do Operation Kid to Kid, but the adults didn’t think it was a good idea. They thought that the kids would want to keep the backpacks for themselves. Well, not one of the kids asked to keep them. In fact they couldn’t wait to work on them. Me being me, wanted to tie Operation Kid to Kid, to the collection we took all week. I knew that the kids would be more likely to give money if they knew what it was going for. In past years the money would be collected and then it would just sit in the bank. I remember one year when I was younger, we collected $100 (there were 70 of us that year); this year the kids collected $175 (there were 10 of them).
I got a call from the pastor the day after VBS ended, he wanted to know who told the kids to paint rainbow crosses. I explained to him that I had made a rainbow cross and some of the girls did what I did, because as the kids phrased it, “I am their bestest buddy”. I didn’t even realize that the girls had made rainbow crosses, but after I hung up the phone I realized the girls followed by example. Now I am praying to God that the follow Jesus’ example of living in love and that they remember to be salt and light.
Those ten kids changed my life. I never thought that they would bond with me so quickly or that I would even miss them when it was over. What started out as a way to change the lives of kids ended up changing my life; I love serving a God who is full of mysteries and surprises.
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