Shelley's Blog

The Reality of It All


Some people think it's all about games.
Others believe it's about fun.
Countless, no doubt, are sure it is the cookies and Kool-Aid.
Many rely on their memories, going back 30, 40, 50 plus years. They recall the stand-up and sit-down chords and smile.


My memories of Vacation Bible School include a peanut butter and baloney sandwich in a paper sack lunch. I don't even have to close my eyes to feel the warm Minnesota sun on  my face, feel the rock on the back of my legs as we sat along a rock wall with our food, and taste that sandwich my mother made. I wouldn't eat it today, but in my memory it tastes like love.


It is here that I first heard Behold I stand at the door and knock and it is here that I felt God's love through the words, hands, and actions of people that didn't even know me. It was in that Lutheran church basement that my young heart felt sadness and responsibility as I heard what people did to Jesus.


Fast forward and I get to play a part in this amazing week each summer. Most of it is extreme fun. One very important part, however, is difficult.


How can a person peel back the layers of games, fun, and cookies & Kool-Aid in the memories of most adults in the church pew? How does one help them see the reality of it all?


Each year, when it's time for folks to volunteer, the number of people saying "Call me if you get desperate" increases. These are wonderful people, they just aren't thinking of the reality of it all.


I am not desperate. The children are. The children and their families are desperate and they don't even know it. Many church kids are desperate because they are growing up without the memory of Bible school--they are in sports camps all summer. The kids in our communities are desperate because they have adults in their lives who only use the name of Jesus in a curse word. They are desperate because they have never heard how special they are to God. The reality of it all is Hell celebrates while Christians rest.


Wonderful, sweet Christian people are missing out on the opportunity to give of their time so that children who have never heard that Jesus lived a sinless life, died for each one of us and came back to life so we can have a relationship with Him that leads to peace while we are on earth and an eternity in heaven.


I am not the one to cause folks to see the urgency of this open door in the lives of kids. That's up to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it's hard for  me to trust Him and I want to run ahead of Him.


We haven't used those stand -up/sit-down chords in a long time. God's love hasn't changed and the gospel hasn't changed. And all summer children, who have never heard, will enter churches all over America and there will be people waiting who know the reality of it all.


I'm so thankful someone took the time to teach me all those years ago.


I pray you see the reality of it all.