VBS-Day 4

Thursday-VBS Day 4

Tomorrow is the last day :( It's always kinda sad to see the week end. We took our group picture today and are going to pass copies out to the parents along with the program for tomorrow night's performance. Being the "music leaders", it is also our job to plan most of the program for tomorrow, so that's what I've been working on today. I wrote up a short cowboy skit for a few of the older kids to perform at the beginning- I think it's gonna be cute! Hopefully our "dress rehearsal" practice will go well tomorrow (fingers crossed!)

Yesterday the Bible story was about Zacchaeus, the tax collector that Jesus visited. The lesson was that God can use you no matter what. We asked the kids to name off hobbies and activities they enjoyed, then we helped them figure out ways they could use those activities to glorify God. This subject really sparked interest in the kids. They came alive; yelling out different sports and things and talking about famous people who openly profess their faith and use the publicity they receive as a chance to witness. I could tell they thought that was cool that God would still "let them have fun" while being a Christian. I'm not sure why, but sometimes I think we give children the impression that Christianity is this boring lifestyle, in which you are not allowed to do ANYTHING. Lots of rules to follow and pretty much everything fun is off limits. Well, that doesn't sound too appealing does it? I just believe there is a better way to win souls than that. Jesus compared winning souls to fishing. We're supposed to ATTRACT people to the gospel.

I think it's so important that young people be shown how exciting and fulfilling the Christian life can be. I always remember my parents telling me, if you take something "bad" away from a child, it needs to be replaced with something good- not just left as a void. If you tell a kid, "You can't listen to --- kind of music or go to --- kind of place", but you don't replace it with anything else, chances are, that kid is going to get bored eventually and say, "Well, I'm just gonna go try all this "forbidden" stuff because I'm sure not havin' any fun here!" Right? I think the key is to fill those (what the world would call) "voids", with something way better. Like fun activities and hobbies in which we can still uphold our principles. I truly believe serving the Lord is a BETTER WAY in every way! Not just because of the destination, but because of the journey as well!

ANY WAY...

 After talking about how Zacchaeus collected gold coins from the people, the kids "mined for gold" in our fake stream. I had a troth in the stream filled with dirt and gold colored rocks buried inside. The kids went nuts over that game! Of course, the clean up wasn't easy :) but it was worth it.

There was also a really sweet spirit in chapel service this afternoon- all in all, a fantastic day!