This past week I had the opportunity to co-direct the VBS at my church. It's been amazing to see how everything comes together after months of planning. The time, the effort, the conversations and decisions that come into play. This year we made some big changes to our VBS program, we got rid of crafts and we got rid of water games. The curriculum we were using was called Journey Off The Map and it's all about how we need to know our guide, trust our guide, and follow Him. God is our guide and sometimes He takes us on adventures where we didn't know we were going. This has been my journey the last four years and it has been a wild ride but the greatest adventure I could ever go on. I have journeyed off the map and gone places I never thought I would want to go too or fall in love with. Even this last year and being home to help plan VBS has been part of that journey. This past year and working at Starbucks and going to Seminary has been different than what I thought God had planned for me but HIS plans are perfect.
Anyways back to VBS, there was also a missions component that we felt was more important than crafts. It told the story of two different kids. Gracie, who is a missionary in Lesotho Africa with her parents and sisters. The other is a story of kid named Eddie who started a bible study after school with some friends that grew into a church in Fontana, California. Funny thing is, that church is where one of my best friends from YWAM attends and has helped form him into the man of God that he is. These stories show how God uses us wherever we are and that we can be a part of missions here in the states doing something as simple as a bible study or you can be called overseas to serve in the villages of Africa. God will use you wherever you are, just listen for His voice sayings "This is the way, now walk in it."
Every year we take an offering for a missionary or an organization. Two years ago the kids raised money for me to go back to New Zealand. This year we raised money for Sila Home which was one of the children's homes I worked with in Thailand. We didn't know how much we would raise but every day as we sang the song, How Much Does it Weigh?, and the kids were running forward with their change for the offering my eyes welled with tears. It's a beautiful thing to see kids raising money for other kids in another country. Today we tallied how much money and how much "weight" the kids brought in. We had set a goal of 225 pounds. They brought in 444 pounds of change and it totaled over $1200. In that moment I was overwhelmed with the goodness of God and how His plans and his connections for us are the best thing. He has brought us together as a family to take care of one another. I know that it doesn't seem like much but this week I saw God's kingdom come to earth and I saw His hands move in my church.
As we look around the world, we can become overwhelmed with all the evil and terrible things that are happening but we must remember who is in control. He is our guide and we can trust Him. He knows what is happening. We just have to take a look around and see the goodness of God. It's there, we just have to ask for His eyes to see it.
