Tonight was the third night of this year's VBS at my church. I've been helping out in one way or another every year since I was 13. This year is no exception. My old youth leader is in town doing his internship for seminary and so nabbed me for one of the rooms. No big deal I thought. I'm Brutus, the Roman guard who is chained to the Apostle Paul. Should be a pretty easy role, right? Then a few weeks ago I looked at my folder. I had a different script every night and I had to perform it 4 times every night. Yikes. I usually hate doing this type of thing, but decided that I really had no excuses not to do it (and I didn't really have a choice).
The basic gist of the script is that Paul and I interact throughout the week with the different themes of each day and at the end of the week I become a Christian. Each script takes about 7 minutes as we interact with the kids as well. Their answers have been quite enlightening. At times I'm amazed at how much they know at their age, and other times I have to keep from laughing out loud. Apparently I'm Oscar-worthy so far as most of the kids are alternatively afraid of me or just think I'm mean. Today I was supposed to be asleep on duty. Then I asked the kids not to tell anyone as tomorrow I'll thank them for not reporting it (and so show me God's love). Yet the vast majority of kids laughed and said they were going to tell everyone...I'm not sure the curriculum people anticipated that.
Some other highlights:
-When asked what could separate me from Paul (we're chained together), one kid said "lava." Another said "butter."
-One kid asked one of the other guards to stab me with his spear.
-The same kid wouldn't shake my hand later until I said I was a follower of Jesus.
-Another kid brought a scythe (think Grim Reaper) so he could be a guard too.
Pretty much they're hilarious and I think they're really being blessed by this ministry (and we're being blessed by them). The vast majority of them are from the neighborhood so hopefully they'll come back for church. It's always hard to tell what kind of an impact you're making on their lives as often we never see the same kids again (military town, etc.). But hopefully some seeds are being planted.
3 comments:
Remember when lava was the answer for everything? Ah, youth! Where have you gone to?
But yes - VBS and other like events seem like so much fun, and enlightenment, for the older servants, doesn't it? The hope is that the kids have a fraction of as much joy, and contemplation, from it. Seeds indeed. keep it up, brotha.
Way to be a good actor and get outside your comfort zone! Love the "butter" response. VBS was such a fun time when we were kids, huh?
Thanks for the encouragement guys.
VBS when I was a kid seems like such a blur. I remember there was snack time! Actually that's still one of my favorite parts...
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