Last week I did something I haven’t done in 12 years – help with Vacation Bible School. VBS is something I did every summer for 30 years or more. But in 2000, I moved to Arkansas and a new church home. Since then I’ve been flying under the radar so to speak, lay speaking and teaching adult classes rather than working with children.
While I’ve been away, VBS has moved to a rotation format and evening hours, enabling more women and men with day jobs to help out. So, this year after about the third call for helpers, I decided this was something I should do. I volunteered for crowd control. Of course, the way things happen, I ended up responsible for a class of 11 five-year-olds. As “unit leader” I traveled with them through the rotation of classes and activities: Bible story, crafts, games and snack time. I encouraged them to behave appropriately during opening and closing exercises.
It was fun. I liked the kids and I think they liked me. (I got a big hug this morning.) They were sharp – able to remember the Bible verses from the night before, if not the exact words then at least the “big idea.” With one run-through they could pick up the motions to the songs we learned. When I complimented them on how well they remembered, one little girl told me, “When people get real old they forget things a lot.”
‘Out of the mouths of babes . . .’
I always loved helping in VBS, but, like you, it has been a few years since I’ve worked with VBS. You make it sound like lots of fun, which it is, so maybe next year, I’ll volunteer.
Not me! Been there done that; don’t wanna do it again. But bravo to those who do.