Let's trust in Jesus

“Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.” – Psalm 71:18

I would be mortified if you came to my office this morning. My usual clean, organized desk has been taken over by messy piles of papers, smiley face stickers, Ziplock bags, and glow sticks. I have to admit, I’m a smidge frustrated each time I look at it (and I’m most certainly not working in my office this morning), but it also brings me joy. All of those random items point me back to last week—the week of True North VBS—and that makes it all worth it.

Vacation Bible School has a long tradition at Cornerstone and in our city. When you think of VBS, maybe you think of foam animals and other seemingly random items carefully placed around our church. But, what I think of is a little different.  When I reflect on this past week, I can’t help but think of the wins…. 

During VBS, elementary age children rotate from station to station. One of the stations is Sticky Scripture, where children have the opportunity to dig into God’s Word. This year, our Sticky Scripture leader reported only one “behavior problem". The kiddos were so excited to read God’s Word on their own, they often did just that rather than following everything else she had planned. How cool is that?! So many were sad because they didn’t have their own Bible at home, so each child who asked received their own Bible to take with them. 

Each day had a Bible point, such as “When we feel alone, we can…” or “When we need help, we can…” and the children created the sign for “trust” while yelling “TRUST JESUS.” We heard and saw multiple situations where one kiddo would feel left out or overlooked or sad and another kiddo would come, put his arm around them, and say, “It’s okay. We can trust Jesus.” It’s one thing to repeat what you’re hearing, but to be able to apply what you’ve learned to a real life situation demonstrates how much they were absorbing the lessons taught to them throughout the week. 

At closing on Wednesday, students were each given a frowny face sticker. They held it on their finger as they thought of a time they felt powerless. In the front of the sanctuary, I had a drawing of two giant hands, used to represent the hands of God. Each child’s sticker, signifying their fears, anxieties, and places where they felt they had no power, were silently placed in the hands of Jesus. I wondered if they would make a connection with this literal placing of our “cares” in God’s hands. Would this make sense and could they apply it to their lives? After closing, a Junior Leader who had been sharing a challenging situation in her life with me all week, broke down. “Christine, I realized the reason I’ve been so anxious and upset about (this situation) is because I’m not putting it in Jesus’ hands!” Maybe that lesson was just for her!

On Thursday, we learned of Jesus being our hope. Pastor Mark played the part of Jesus, bringing His light and His hope into the world. Seventy children found themselves at the foot of the cross surrendering their lives to Him, asking Jesus to come into their hearts. 

So often children’s ministry is coined as “babysitting.” Yet 43% of Christians in the United States made their commitment to Christ before age 13. This is why children’s ministry, especially events like Vacation Bible School are so important; by the time students become youth group age, 2/5 of them have their minds made up! 

Whether you served during VBS, prayed for us, or gave financially, thank you for what you did to pour into the next generation of Jesus-followers!