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Vacation Bible School
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Registration no longer available online. Contact Beth Stuckey - Cell: 906-5932 Children (Ages 4 to rising 4th graders. Children must be 4 by June 1st) and all volunteers which include rising 5th grade on up. Nursery provided for children of volunteers. 3 year-olds in the nursery will enjoy their own VBS program.
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Hero Headquarters will close this year with a family supper on Thursday evening, June 10th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., where families will see a skit, participate in classroom discussion, and make a craft with their children. Clean-up will be on Friday morning. (We need volunteers for the Thursday evening supper - set up, serve, and clean-up)
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| VBS 2009 |
Reflections on VBS from Parents
By Jeannie Lyles
The week of June 8, St. Michael’s Church was underground and under cover; prayer cover that is. Our VBS theme was Paul and the Underground Church in Rome. Our children traveled back in time to a typical Roman market square, worshiped and learned of Jesus in a hidden cave, and even visited Paul in a Roman prison. Many wonderful youth and adults took on rolls as teachers, actors, artisans, and apostles. I’m over 40 years old, but the Lord taught me a great lesson this year at VBS.
Meredith Myers and I were Parent Liaisons. Our sole objective was to assist the parents with any need that arose during the week. We took prayer requests and invited the parents to join us for Bible Study. Together we used the time to study His word and pray as He led us. He taught us that we are called to be either a Proverbs 31 Woman or a Psalm 112 Man. The hallmark of such a person is “fear of the Lord.”
I certainly understand fear, but despite being a Christian since infancy, fear of the Lord, was not a concept that I completely understood. I learned during VBS that “fear” and “fear of the Lord” are two entirely different concepts. Fear of the Lord brings life to the believer, while fear robs us of life. The ultimate fear is eternal death, which is eternal separation from God. Thus, without fear of the Lord, the unbeliever has everything to fear.
The scriptures are clear that each one of us will face a final judgment day. (Hebrews 9:27; Acts 17:30-31; Rev. 20:12) This day may not be pleasant for any of us. I know my heart will grieve when I stand before God and have to account for all that I have and have not done. I need not fear the outcome of the day, however. On that day I will stand with Jesus Christ as my advocate. His righteousness will cover and save me. The unbeliever has only his own righteousness to cover him. He cannot measure up to the righteousness of God, even if he was a good person, a good citizen, or at least better than most people. Thus, that day will surely bring him fear and dread.
Fear of God is something much different. “The believer’s fear is reverence of God… This reverence and awe is the motivating factor for us to surrender to the Creator of the Universe.” http://www.gotquestions.org/fear-God.html Reverence and awe are not part of our daily experience in the twenty-first century western world. In ancient times, they were a way of life. Even a few hundred years ago, royalty inspired reverence and awe. Regular folk fell to their faces, genuflected, bowed and curtsied before a king because he had the power to cast them in prison or behead them. Many kings exercised that power at a whim. I cannot think of anything in our culture that is afforded such regard.
If I want to learn reverence and awe, I need to know God. That means more than just knowing about Him. I can know about someone without ever meeting them. A trip through the grocery check-out aisle, and I know about the celebrities of the day. But knowing about someone and knowing them are as different concepts as are fear and fear of the Lord.
How can I get to know God? I must have a desire to know Him, He must be willing to reveal Himself to me, and I must pay attention and accept what He reveals. God is pleased to reveal Himself to us. He gave us His only Son, Jesus, as the perfect revelation of who He is. When we spend time with Jesus in prayer we listen to what He reveals to us; we reveal our true selves to Him; we examine our hearts, confess and repent; we seek His strength and guidance. Through the scriptures we learn what He has revealed throughout the ages. We deepen our knowledge of our Lord by spending time in His presence enjoying Him in worship, the sacraments, and in the fellowship of Spirit filled Christians. Then we see that He is true to His promises. We learn of His righteousness, majesty and power. We develop “awe and reverence.”
In Isaiah 59, God reveals how much He hates sin. God very clearly lays out what the sin of a believer does to others.God says that my sin is like a spider, weaving webs that ensnare others and laying eggs that hatch vipers. Those who come near, or eat the eggs, die! (Isaiah 59:5) I see that my sin endangers others! God cannot and will not tolerate sin even in the believer. He will discipline those He loves. (Hebrews 12:5-11). As a mother, I know that a loving parent will consistently administer discipline. It is done for the child’s benefit so that the child will remain within the boundaries set by his parents. Those boundaries are for the child’s own good.
Like a child, I fear the Lord’s discipline because I know it will hurt. It definitely draws me closer to Him, but it is painful. I would rather stay close to Him and seek a right relationship, than suffer the discipline. I have also learned that what God calls sin does harm me. His laws are to protect me from the damage that sin causes in my life. These laws also protect the ones I love from the damage my sin will cause in their lives. The word “sin” literally means to miss the target. I find sin in my life is usually the result of aiming at the wrong thing and not the Lord’s goal. I have to stay in prayer and study to be able to know what His goal is for my life and to check if I’m aiming at that target.
Fear of the Lord brings great fruit. We learn that Jesus is the best friend we can ever have. When we see how much He loves us, it is not hard to understand that He wants the best for us. Thus, we experience freedom from fear of anything else. This is true peace. Scripture tells us our peace is found when we dwell in the word of the Lord because it begins to take root and become part of us (Colossians 3:15-16). We learn to fear the Lord by dwelling in His word, but we find peace when His word dwells in us.
The psalmist said it best when he wrote, “Thus I have gazed toward You in the sanctuary to see Your power and glory, for Your love is a greater good than life.” (Psalm 63:3-4)
Fear of the Lord exposes us to the truth: nothing of this earth can compare to Him. His love is great than life!
A Note from a Parent on VBS
My kids had such a wonderful week at VBS this year! I am amazed at how much their little hearts absorbed in just one week about the Lord’s amazing love! On the last day of VBS, as we were leaving, “Paul” charged Margaret and Robert to go and tell the Good News of Jesus Christ to strangers, family, friends, etc. I also think that Martha spoke with the children about this in the cave. A few days later, we were at the Publix buying a plant and the woman working there starting telling Margaret how God made plants to need water, etc. Instantly, Margaret’s eyes got real big and in an excitable voice she exclaimed, “Do you know Jesus?” the woman said “why yes I do!” Margaret said, “Me too!” Then Margaret said, “I want to share with you a verse that I learned from Paul at VBS” (I wasn’t sure what verse she was referring to and felt terrible that I couldn’t help)...she thought about it and then all of a sudden she said, “God’s love changes us!” The woman almost had tears in her eyes and she went on to thank Margaret for reminding her of that promise. Margaret then proceeded to say, “I wanted you to know that!”
I also wanted to share with you what happened during our trip to NYC this weekend with Margaret. My mom took me, Margaret, my sister and nephew for the weekend and Margaret evangelized the entire weekend! It was incredible! She asked one young girl in her 20’s who was working at the Broadway Theatre while we were there at Mary Poppins if she knew Jesus and the girl responded, “Not personally” and Margaret said, “Can I share some verses with you?” She graciously agreed and Margaret proceeded to share the 5 things that she learned at VBS: God’s love saves us, God’s love is eternal, God’s love is everywhere, God’s love is worth sharing and God’s love changes us. The young girl was so touched! Margaret then met another young girl in her 20’s to 30’s who she asked if she knew Jesus and the young girl replied, “Yes I do! and then she said, “Well, I grew up a Christian and used to know him, but ever since I moved here, I don’t really know him as well.” Margaret said “Ohhh! Well, can I share with you some verses that I learned from Paul at VBS?” so Margaret continued to tell her the same verses and then I asked her if I could pray with her and she said “yes!” Margaret and I then prayed with her right then. It was such a blessing. There were 2-3 more times where Margaret boldly and lovingly shared the Good News to this hurting coast and it was amazing how well they received it! She kept on saying that “Paul and Jesus would be so proud!”
This teaching soaked into her little heart and I want to thank all of you for what you put into the VBS week. I also know that our intercessory time of prayer for the kids was powerful and that the Lord heard our prayers for these little hearts to receive all He had for them!
Thank you for coming along side Mike and I in raising our children to have a heart to know and love the Lord. We are blessed to be a part of this St. Michael’s family.
Blessings, Meredith Myers
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