VBS=Ego Stroking

  That's right it's that time of year again.  Painted cardboard backgrounds abound, songs that require you (as an adult leader) to dance and make hand signs like a fool, and crafts a-plenty completely consume every room of the church.  I enjoy this time of the year every year.  It's always just fun to hang out with kids, and man, do they get excited about VBS.

  We tend to forget how awesome some things are when you're a kid.  I vaguely remember summer being a magical time when anything could happen.  I, unfortunately, never had a VBS experience, but I remember the feeling of summer.  And I know that learning about Jesus and hanging out with my friends three hours a day for a week would make it an evening of Tolkien proportions.  I got a glimpse of that crazy excitement last night at the first night of VBS.

   The last couple years I've been in charge of the skits that wrap up the opening sessions.  It's a lot of fun.  Mainly because you can make up really ridiculous scenes and none of the kids think, "Well, that doesn't make any sense what-so-ever."  For some reason the kids absolutely love anyone who sets foot on stage anyway.  It's kind of like we're rock stars. 

  Anyway, all I was doing was walking down a hall.  I wasn't even walking particularly funny.  Along one of the walls was a line of kids waiting to get into the gym to eat before the fun started.  As I walked by, one of the kids yelled out, "NEIL!!!!  GO NEIL!! GO NEIL!!"  Pretty soon I had 20-30 children yelling, "GO NEIL!!"  As I danced back to the gym, giving high-5's as I went, the chanting turned from "GO NEIL!!"  to just "NE-IL!!  NE-IL!!"  It was a great moment.  Everyone needs to have the experience of a group of people chanting their name.  Even if they're an out of shape 30 year old.

  But as I started thinking about it, I got kind of scared.  Most of those kids didn't even know who I was.  Some of them only know me because I'm friends with their parents, and still others only see me on Sundays.  That's a lot of responsibility.  Those kids are looking up to me!  Am I being the type of example they should follow?

  This summer, if you're helping at a VBS, I challenge you to take a minute to think about what you're actually doing.  You're impacting kids.  You're not just helping them glue cotton balls on paper or feeding them snacks, or even teaching them the awesomeness of flannel graphs.  You're showing them Jesus by the way you teach, feed, or serve them.  I pray we take that seriously.