Jesus Gives Us the Power

Today was the last day of Vacation Bible School.

I volunteered to help for a couple of reasons: I wanted to be more involved at church. I wanted to serve God. I wanted to make a lasting impact on kids. Now, I was teaching five year olds, so I wasn't planning on learning much myself. But we all know how God works...

The theme our church used was Power Lab - Discovering Jesus' Miraculous Power. (Okay, shameless plug here for my former employer... Check out the Concordia Publishing House VBS program, Friendship Trek. I really trust CPH products because I know they are faithful to the Bible. We discovered at least one Bible Story in the Power Lab program that had been "altered" a bit.) Anyway, each day at Power Lab, we performed "experiments" to help us make important discoveries. And wouldn't you know it, all these discoveries were about Jesus!

We learned that Jesus Gives Us the Power to:
- Be Thankful. (Luke 17:11-19)
- Be Helpful. (John 9:1-41)
- Be Brave. (Matthew 14:22-33)
- Live Forever. (Luke 23:26 & 24:53)
- Tell Others About Jesus. (Acts 2:1-47)

So, I'm pretty good on points one, two, and four. But the kids taught me a few things!

First, I'm not as trusting as I should be that Jesus is always with me. I asked the kids Wednesday to tell me a story about a time when they had to be brave. A little girl spoke up and told me that she was in bed once and she saw scary shadows. They were moving around and they could have been a monster or something. Then she remembered that Jesus is always with her, and she wasn't scared because he keeps her safe. 5 YEARS OLD! Wow! If only I could have that kind of unwavering trust! I spend too much of my time planning, analyzing, figuring things out. But all I really need to know is Jesus is always with me and he keeps me safe.

I also need to work on the Tell Others About Jesus thing. There was a time in my life a few years ago where I was actually pretty good at this. I don't know what happened, but I don't really talk about my faith "outside" my church-friend circle. Today I asked the kids to think about who they were going to talk to about Jesus. I expected "my parents, my sister, my hamster" and I certainly got those answers. I also heard "my cousin Charlie, my friend Lizzie, my neighbor Dana, who is old." These kids already know the specific people they are going to talk to! And they know what they will say: "Jesus loves us. I am going to live with Him forever." Powerful stuff from five year olds, huh? When was the last time I've told someone that? Someone older than five?

I wonder what I'll learn when I volunteer next year???