Day 3 of VBS has come and gone. And it was a good one. Sarah is loving it and Will is tolerating it. And I keep remembering my past VBS experiences.
I remember attending VBS one summer at my grandmother's Methodist church. It was only a few blocks from my house, so we walked there each morning. One morning I arrived late and had to sneak into the opening rally. This girl named Sarah said in a snotty voice loud enough for all to hear, "Well here comes M dragging in late." Ouch! And though that girl would eventually become a good friend of mine, her words were scarring. See...30 some odd years later, and I still have 'em in my head. But my parents will tell you that I was never again late after that. I got my own alarm clock and would set it each morning (in grade school) and get up before anyone else in my house and get completely ready. I set that alarm every day until I had children and they became my alarm clock. I still can't stand being late even today. My kids have been tardy ONCE in their entire lives for school and that was only because I got stopped by a policeman on the way. And that is an entirely different story for another day. Remind me to tell you that one--it's good.
That is really the only memory I have of attending Bible school. I can, however, recall plenty of VBSs where I worked my butt off. That's the fun part of being a pastor's wife. Fun actually might not be the best word. Torture seems more appropriate. I just don't enjoy it the way some people do. I figure I've got about 20 years of torture under my belt.
One year really stands out among the others. It was the year that I was pregnant with Will, but didn't know it yet. I was sick as a dog the entire week and it never occurred to me that there might be a good reason that I felt like puking 24 hours a day. I perservered through that week but it wasn't pretty. One day I'd had it with this other worker and I gave her a piece of my mind in the bathroom. I was yelling at her and she was crying and for the life of me, I can't remember why. As the wife of her pastor, I'm sure I left quite an impression on her. Let's just say I've had prouder moments. I think she figured it out shortly after that that my hormone levels were wreaking havoc on my senses and she graciously forgave me when I asked, but that is one of the most hideous VBS memories I have.
And then there is the year that we lived in a tiny town in south Arkansas and we invited all the black kids in town. That caused quite a stir. The kids couldn't believe we were inviting them into our church, and some of our members couldn't believe it either. We stood our ground and it eventually blew over, but my eyes were really opened to racial predjudice in the south. Not a pretty thing.
If there's a job to be done at bible school, you can bet that I've done it. I have some good memories. And some not-so-good ones too. I'm hoping that my kids just enjoy the rest of the week. I'm loving that they're learning and making friends and having fun. And singing new songs and making cute crafts. And just being kids!
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