This past week my church had VBX, which is the “xtreme” version of the age old Vacation Bible School. It was an exhausting blast! Twenty plus kindergarten through fifth graders from six to nine at night is an interesting adjustment. Don’t worry I had it down to a science by the final night ahahah.
Different from a traditional VBS, my church’s VBX program consists of “adult” worship, if you will, as opposed to the fun themed songs with motions and dance moves from a VBS video, it’s own teachings that presents the Gospel and how to have a relationship with the Lord in a simple way through demonstrations and interactive sermons, and a few nerf wars where I was shot between the eyes more than once, and found myself sore from running in the days to follow. Ouch lol. This mixture provides a unique opportunity for the leaders to get as much out of the material as the kids who are being drawn in by the little science experiment that is going on center stage while the Gospel is being shared.
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I don’t know if I’m the only one, but sometimes I (dare I say) judge someone for their reaction or response to something by internally shaking my head and feeling embarrassed for them, just knowing that I would never act the way that I have witnessed someone else behave.
This little scenario only lasts for a minute before the Lord gives me His take ahah. He quickly reveals to me first of all, the pride in my heart for these thoughts to even cross my mind. But secondly, He shows to me that often times what I have witnessed may actually be Him pointing out that my own heart is in the very same condition. It’s not always fun when the Lord knocks us off of our high horse, but it’s always necessary.
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This is how it went down on Wednesday night at VBX as I sat with my class and tried not to get onto the kids too many times for shining their flashlights in my eyes. Pastor was speaking on prayer, about how it entails much more than bringing the Lord our wants, and that it is actually much simpler and way less complicated than religion tries to make it. He made the comparison of the children communicating with their parents and how even though they provide for the needs of their children even when they don’t ask (but especially when they do), this is not the only reason for communication. You see, as children, our parents are there to talk about our day, even though they already know that we went to school, probably ate some healthy nachos for lunch in the cafeteria and pitched a fit with our teacher when it was time to come in from the playground. They want to talk about our feelings with us. Even if we are wrong and just being brats, they want to listen because they care about what we care about, no matter how small, and bring correction when necessary. At some point in the message, Pastor asked a question to the effect of “wouldn’t you want to talk to God that way?” to which one of my sweet little children blurted out quite loudly from behind me: “yeah. BUT NOT EVERY DAY!!!!!!!” into a room of 200+ children learning about how to talk to the Lord. LOL.
If you didn’t already guess, this is the part where I internally put my head in my hands and felt like my face should turn red for this boy at the sound of his comment.
“Whyyyyy did he just say that?”
“That doesn’t align with the Lord’s heart.”
“I knowwwww he did not just yell that as loud as I think he did.”
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Let me just go ahead and shame the devil in letting you know that all of those thoughts were really nothing more than pride and hypocrisy in disguise, because the Lord didn’t let me think that way for long before ever so kindly telling me:
“Megan, you think the same exact way as this boy is talking.”
How often is my heart in a place of wanting to talk to the Lord, but not every day?
How often do I forget to talk to God like He’s my friend, or the one who I say that my soul loves, instead of someone that I am trying to be or do enough for?
It is so easy for me to go to the Lord about the big stuff, but forget and leave out the small things because of subconscious beliefs like God doesn’t need to know that my heart feels extra heavy today although nothing’s wrong with me or I don’t need to thank Him for my job because it gets on my nerves. After all, God has much bigger and better topics to deal with.
Maybe it’s the same for you. Do you want to talk to the Lord and worship Him on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, but not every day just like myself and my friend from VBX find ourselves doing?
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“Remember” – Bryan & Katie Torwalt
How quickly we forget the God
Who lives in everyday
How easy to lose sight that You
Reside in the mundane
How quickly we forget the power
That’s running through our veins
The kind of power that empties graves
And oh my soul
Remember who you’re talking to
The only one who death bows to
That’s the God who walks with you
And oh my soul
You know that if He did it then
He can do it all again
His power can still raise the dead
Don’t tell me that He’s finished yet
Lest we not forget the voice
That’s holding back the waves
Was once the voice that told the skies
To pour them into place
Let us join the endless song of everlasting praise
The only God who empties graves
Oh my soul
Remember who you’re talking to
The only one who death bows to
That’s the God who walks with you
And oh my soul
You know that if He did it then
He can do it all again
His power can still raise the dead
Don’t tell me that He’s finished yet
If You broke through the oceans
You can break through these chains
If Your word made the mountains
It can move them all the same
If death fell before You
And it’s still on it’s face
Then the power that raised You
Is about to move again
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Friend, be encouraged that even when we are not faithful in our pursuit of Him, God is ever faithful in chasing after us. Let’s allow this truth cause us to be a little more faithful in remembering who we get to talk to, and that that’s an every dang day kind of God.
<3,
Meg
