Vacation Bible School

We're doing it for the kids. Don't you just love Vacation Bible School? It's for the kids, but I've never seen so many adults have so much fun either. Who doesn't like dressing up? Playacting? Turning your surroundings into some sort of jungle or cave? And right here we have a legitimate excuse for all of the above! We've got two weeks until VBS starts at our church. I've been involved with VBS for years
as a teacher. I've planned my costume and my room decorations around whatever theme we had that year. I poured my heart and soul into it. Well this year, I'm not teaching. So it should be a piece of cake, right? Wrong! Our old church had VBS down to an art form. They are so big (700+ in attendance last year) that other churches in the area plan their VBS weeks so that they don't conflict with Madison's. Last year right before VBS we moved from Alabama to Florida where my husband took the pastorate of a small church. So now we've been here a year and we're ready to start up our own VBS. I don't know about other churches in the area, but our church hasn't had a VBS in years. Although we're much smaller than the church at Madison, we still want to pattern our own VBS after their success. The problem is, I'm just finding out what all went into the behind-the-scenes action in order to make their week click into place like clockwork. The forms, the paperwork, the details. Who's renting the cotton candy machine. Who's running the machine? Who will decorate the auditorium for the rally time? Who's handling the refreshment time and all the dozens of cookies needed? Who's going to organize the games and skits? What about parking lot duty? My head is spinning.
On the plus side, we have over a dozen teens and adults coming down from Madison to help us with our first VBS. These experienced hands will be great with all the details. On the down side, they won't get here until the night before. And this brings up a whole new set of details. Where are they all sleeping? How will we feed them? What about transportation? I'm so glad that God helps us even with all the details. The myriad of things needing attention can easily overwhelm to the point where we lose sight of why we're doing this in the first place. So every once in a while, God reminds me that I need to lean on Him. There's still much to do, but if I'm depending on Him to guide and direct my path, we'll get the details worked out. And our Vacation Bible School will be the first of many successful outreaches in the years to come.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to order 60 dozen cookies and turn some cardboard and green paper into a jungle.