True Colors

At the end of June, our church, Pathway Christian Fellowship, held an evening vacation bible school for a shortened 4 day week. This year they went with a gold-mining western theme with the teaching curriculum coming from Answers In Genesis. Paul and I both enjoy that ministry's teachings based on Creation, so we were excited when they asked us to teach the bible lesson part of each night. We had fun dressing and acting the part.

Paul, who insisted that he's totally NOT into acting goofy, took on the part of an old western miner. Miner Joe. He grew his beard out, borrowed some suspenders, rolled up his work jeans and really looked the part. I was Miner Sue. A bit goofy mixed with a bit dopey and you'd have my character pretty well figured out. It was a lot of fun... a lot of work, but a lot of fun, too. I almost think that our characters came too naturally to us....

Caleb was our third leg in the deal. He played the part of Dakota the western puppet. He was too old this year to take part in VBS, but was still able to help out. He enjoyed playing the part and did really well. He even dug out some western wear for the times that he wasn't hidden behind the curtain. In fact, all the kids dressed up for at least a few of the nights. Nathan especially enjoyed being a cowboy. We would repeat the same general lesson for the night to the 3 different age groups, and Nathan would just sit on the bench and watch the lessons while munching on popcorn the entire time. Knowing what he CAN be like if he chooses, I was really impressed with how well-behaved he was.

We invited several our our friends' families to join us for the week. One close family had an older girl that, like Caleb, was too old to join VBS, so she watched Selah, my little prairie baby. Susannah loved dressing up and toting Selah around as if she were her own baby. I can remember doing the same thing with my sister's babies when I was the same age.

It was fun having an impact on the 70 or so kids that attended. We taught them about Jesus' "super powers" and how he's the only true superhero. One of the nights we taught them not to be fooled by counterfeits. Using the example of how Fool's gold looks like the real stuff, but isn't, other religions and leaders may "look" or "sound" like the real thing, but aren't. Then we went on to explain why Ghandi, Mohammed, Joseph Smith, etc. are counterfeits. I especially liked that part simply because most of those kids are taught that all religions are equal. It was odd, but I almost felt "intolerant" saying it out loud. It's just not something that most people say so point-blank ... "I'm right, you're wrong", but Jesus taught specifically that He is THE way, THE truth, and THE life. NO ONE can come to the Father except through Him. Jesus wasn't afraid to step on people's toes and tell it like it is. While I prefer to avoid confrontation or offending anyone, He had the perfect balance of compassion AND truth. "He gives grace to the humble and resists the proud." (Ok, you're probably thinking... "whoa, they got way to indepth for MY kindergardener"... but that last part was more of my personal lesson for myself than what we taught the kids... sorry, I got off on a tangent... :)

My little cowgirl, Ellie (in the chaps and braids on the far left), must still be thinking about Vacation Bible School. Today, about a month after it ended, she said to me, "Mom, I knew Miner Sue was really you cause I saw you when you were dressing up." I thought that was cute. Now, I didn't think my costume was that decieving, but apparently I played the part well, and maybe, just maybe, a bit of my true redneck colors were shining through...