VBS 2

Before I get into the title topic, was I, the victim of AOL and dial-up, the only one who had problems with blogspot yesterday?

Second off-the-topic topic: David and Faye are the parents of a new daughter, Amber Elizabeth, approximately 41 pounds, 41 inches long, and, thank God, 5 years old. Congratulations to them! There will be a drop-in party to celebrate Amber's-coming-into-the family on Saturday, June 10, from 12:oo on, at David and Faye's house.

Now to the topic, VBS! I never thought I'd be writing about something like this, but hey, it's a blog--I have my permission to write whatever I want! I love the kids at VBS. I am looking forward to each night, just to see them and interact with them. Ann, you'll be glad to know that Haley, Grace, and Addie have been there every night.

Grace seems to recognize me--she looks right at me. She had a hard night on Monday. I was standing outside the bathroom waiting for one of my kids, and Emma J was washing Grace's hands--no clue what they had done, but it was messy. Emma said they had a rough time, that Grace sat in her lap and cried the whole first hour. (God put Emma there on purpose) I chatted with Grace--she wanted to know if she could ride with me. I told her no, that she had to wait for her mommy, and she seemed okay with that. She even came back and sat in my lap at oen of the group exercises. Last night, Haley had remnants of some sort of face paint around her eyes. I said something to Kelly about it, and Kelly said, "Well, it started off as eye shadow and then turned to magic marker. We tried to get it off, but I think it will just have to wear off." She is a great mom for those girls! And baby Henry is looking fine.

Then God saw fit to put me in the same department as Alex--I don't know what it is about these Alexes in my life! On Tuesday during Mr. Mac's visit to the class (more about Mr. Mac later), Mr. Mac was discussing Heaven, and how there would be no more death in Heaven, no more cemetaries, no more funeral homes--Alex raised his hand and asked, "What about Kentucky?" Interesting comment, huh? Shows he was listening, anyway. We've had a feeeew behavior issues, but they've been manageable. I could recognize when he just needed a little time by himself away from the group, and could talk him out of some of his acting-out things. My friend Julie is right, I'm not finished with children yet!

The best thing about VBS is watching the kids listen to Mr. Mac. Ira McMillan is a pastor and has been for over 60 years. He comes in each evening and does an evangelistic message with the kids for about 10 minutes. These normally rambunctious former-first, nearly-second graders sit so quietly for him. They remember what he has told them the nights before, and they watch and listen to every word he says. On Tuesday night, he showed them a black construction-paper heart and talked about how sin made our hearts like that. Then last night, he took a red heart out of his folder and covered the black heart. He told them the blood of Jesus would cover the sins in their hearts. And then (friend-who-shall-remain-nameless, are you listening?), he took out a white paper heart and covered both the red and black hearts and said, "This is the way our hearts look to God after Jesus has covered our sins." That was a message I think they all took in. A couple of little ones by me whispered to me, "I can still see the black/red heart." I replied, yes, you can see the ones he's holding, but can you see the one inside you? They smiled, they understood.

Witnessing the faith of a little child--one of Jesus's most important messages! Remember, he always had time for the children, and he always accepted them the way they were, skinned knees, runny noses, and all. And they accept him the same way (the KIDS' skinned knees and runny noses, not Jesus's!), no questions asked. Do you suppose they have any idea that what they are doing when they choose to accept Christ into their life will affect their whole life? I remember when I made a profession of faith at age six. The most important thing to me was to go home and witness to Mike, age three--he needed to know how to be saved and how to have Jesus in his heart! I also know that there were many times over the years that I doubted the validity of that early profession. But I truly believe that the Jesus I trusted when I was six was the same one who saved me then and has covered all the sins in my life, past, present, and future. Good night, and God bless.