In years past, Micah would always invite his friend Matt. This year was no different, except he added another friend he wanted to invite, Camron. When he first asked if he could invite him (the night before VBS started) I hesitated. I had to count seats in my vehicle to make sure we could all fit and then I am ashamed to say I hesitated because I knew Camron was not a believer.
Camron has never been to church, what he knows about Jesus has come from my little evangelists who more then willingly share the precious love of Jesus with him. I am so often humbled at the openness and pureness of my children's faith. It brings to life the teachings of Jesus that you need to have faith like a child in order to get into the gates of Heaven.
Permission was given to ask Camron to come. A little while later his mom came over to ask questions about VBS. Sadly, she told us that Camron's dad had gone to a type of VBS as a kid and had gotten scarred because at the end of the week they lined the kids up and asked them who had Jesus in their heart. Camron's dad didn't even know what that meant and when he was specifically questioned he was told that he was going to hell. Because of that experience he hasn't set foot in a church since. I talked to his mom and explained that although he would probably be offered the chance to ask Jesus in his heart, they would not give him a hell and damnation sermon if he chose not to. Camron's parents gave their permission.
Monday morning dawned (too early), Matt and Camron were at my house an hour before we were to leave.
Dropping 5 kids off at VBS is a little hectic, but we managed well. 2.5 hours later I was back to pick them up. On the way home I asked each child what they learned and what was the most fun. Camron said he learned that Jesus had a Heavenly Father and an Earthly Father. That took me back a little, I was so thankful he had fun, but he learned something that he never knew before about Jesus.... Priceless.
Thursday night was the VBS program. It is when the parents come and listen to all the kids learned during the week and watch as the kids sing and do the motions to all the songs. We had asked Camron if he and his parents were going and he said "No, my parents don't want to go to that". I was shocked, why would any parent turn down the opportunity to see and hear what their child had been doing for the past 4 days. We offered him a ride with us and he accepted.
The program is always full of emotion for me. I know, I know... Watching my oldest do hand motions and sing praises to God gets me every time. I can't help but think my time with him is quickly slipping away. He is halfway to adulthood and I am still seeing him as the sweet talkative little boy.
More emotion swells as I watch my middle child work hard at getting the hand motions while he sneaks peaks at us to make sure we are watching him. My shyest child wouldn't even sing and do hand motions his first VBS, he sat on the seat and watched everyone else. As I watched him this year I couldn't help but wonder what big plans God has up his sleeve for my TyTy.
Then there is Jilli. Oh man that girl can dance. She knows the motions all by heart. She could teach everyone else! She doesn't have any qualms about singing as loud as she can. Her little hips rockin' to the beat. You can't help but smile when you watch her... And to think, she wasn't supposed to be born with hands and here she is raising them to praise her Savior. Just stop the tears on that on, I dare you!
I even watched Camron, singing songs to someone he was just learning about. Doing hand motions and laughing with Micah and Matt. This was his first experience in a church, this was his first time he heard about the Living God outside of my kids. A seed was planted all because one young boy loves Jesus and VBS, and he wanted to share the excitement with his friends.
Friday morning came. It is the final day. Jilli, so much like me, lets the tears fall because she loves VBS and all her new friends and why does it only last a week and why can't they do it more often and is it really a whole year until the next one and will I be old enough to have Nana as a teacher and what will next years VBS be about and....
On this last day as I picked up the kids I asked them all again if they had fun this year and what they learned. Then Camron grabbed something out of his bag, he started reading a verse from Matthew.
I asked him what he had and he told me that out of all the kids he was picked to get a cube that had Bible verses all over it. He read the Matthew one again and I asked him to read me what chapter and verse it was and he said... "huh?" How easy it is for me to forget that some kids have no idea about the Bible or even that it is split up by books, chapters and verses. I then asked him if he had a Bible at home and he said.... "No."
NO??!! speechless... But God just saw to it that he now has a cube that has Bible verses all over it... priceless...
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