Anybody out there remember Vacation Bible School? I grew up with that as a kid, and I'm glad. I remember ceremonially marching in to the little country church carrying the American Flag and the Christian Flag. I remember singing songs with hand motions, and making crafts out of popsicle sticks and macaroni noodles. I remember playing kickball and eating homemade ice cream straight out of the churn. And I remember learning bible verses and more about my Savior. I remember "Commencement" and performing little skits for the congregation that we had rehearsed all week. I'm thankful for those childhood memories, and for all the adults who served as teachers.
I'm all grown up now, and its my turn to give back. My big city church calls it "Camp Allstars" rather than VBS, but fundamentally... things haven't changed that much. I was the official Camp Storyteller this week, and we learned five parables that Jesus taught when he walked on the earth. Then we played kickball and made crafts out of popsicle sticks. See? Not so different.
We learned in one of the parables, that it's important to be PERSISTENT with our prayers. (Parable of the Friend at Midnight, Luke chapter 11). As I told that parable to the kids, I realized that those of us on Team Keaton have been praying steadily for over a year now. And then I got a lump the size of Texas in my throat as I realized how faithful God has been. Keaton is doing remarkably well. He's healing from the latest surgery, his most recent MRI looks really, really good and he'll be training soon for his senior season of high school football.
My son is taking the parable to heart, and his Red Team at Camp Allstars has been persistently praying for Keaton all week. Let's keep it up until the words "Cancer" and "Keaton" are no longer mentioned in the same sentence!
For those of you who grew up attending or teaching VBS... I thought you might enjoy a little trip down memory lane by viewing this short video I put together from our camp this week. Enjoy!
