Vacation Bible School Memories

Five-year-old David started Vacation Bible School this morning. I always hold my breath a bit whenever David starts a new activity. He is a sensitive soul and new activities require a lot of courage on his part. Thankfully, he had a wonderful time and came home full of stories and eager to show me his arts and crafts! He can't wait for tomorrow.

I have such fond memories of Vacation Bible School when I was young. The first year I went I was four years old, and like David, was going to be starting Kindergarten that September. My mother had been searching for a volunteer opportunity for my older sister (who was 14 that summer and starting high school) and found it in the VBS at a neighboring parish. She was very excited to hear that I was old enough to go, too.

It was so much fun - projects and songs and Bible stories. I made friends and played games. And the snacks! - Every day we got two vanilla creme cookies and fruit punch. It was such a treat for me. To this day, I can't eat a vanilla creme cookie without being immediately transported back there, so much so that this week, I actually bought a package to get in the VBS state of mind! I went to VBS until I was in sixth grade and later returned as a teenager to volunteer. Every summer, it was something to look forward to.

Well the snacks have changed, but listening to David's tales of his day, it sounds like much about VBS has stayed the same. There are still stories (he learned about Jesus healing the man who couldn't walk - David told me how Jesus told the man his sins were forgiven and to take up his mat and walk) and games (they had a water balloon race) and snacks (they had cupcakes today which David couldn't eat because of his allergies but he had a rice cake instead and he seemed pretty happy about it) and songs (although he couldn't remember the words, only the dance moves!) and teenage volunteers.

I hope that when David is in his thirties he will look back on this time with fondness and that there will still be Vacation Bible School programs for his children to go to!