Thankful for the opportunity...

The Lord gave me a wonderful opportunity this week to take two young gentlemen from our shelter to a Vacation Bible School.

Driving to church the first night I had some reservations about taking them…especially after hearing from their mom “Do not let them be in the same group, they do not get along at all.” (OK and I’m about to get into a car with them?!) I wondered if I was getting into something over my head, yet I knew this was something Jesus would be pleased with.

When we got to church I so quickly got caught up with organizing the snacks that I forgot to tell the leaders to separate the boys…hence they ended up in the same group. Instead of making a big deal out of it I decided to watch and see what happens. They were WONDERFUL, so well behaved! I watched them sing, play games, listen intently to the Bible lesson, color, eat…everything! Not one problem all night, God was good…and so were they!

Now it’s Wednesday and two days of VBS have gone by…as I sit here typing I am picturing the boys interacting with people this past week. My heart grew attached very quickly to these precious children, I felt proud when they recited their Bible verses with no mistakes, I felt happy to see them interacting with other children, I felt sad when I saw them clinging to the male leaders, yearning for every bit of attention they could get…most of all, I felt thankful for the opportunity to bring them.

Each night when we went back to the shelter they ran to find their mom to tell her everything they learned and did that night, I could see it brought joy to her heart…and how good it felt to tell her that her boys were in the same group, and there were NO problems!
Two more nights to go, I can hardly wait until 5:00pm! By the time you read this, VBS will be over; please pray that the Word of God will remain in their hearts, and that they will want to share the things they’ve learned with all of their buddies in the years to come.

- Amy Wright, Development Department