Do not be afraid, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Deuteronomy 3:16
This is the theme verse for our Vacation Bible School. Our children and preschoolers will learn that God is with them always. As a matter of fact, that is our Motto, “God is with me, now and forever.” It is a very important lesson that we all need to learn or be reminded of. God is always with us. He is with us in the good times and He is with us in the bad times. We can always count on Him. Of course we know that this does not mean that everything is going to turn out ok. We still face immense disappointments and dangers all the time. It does mean that we worship and serve a God whose plan is so much bigger than we could ever imagine!
These are things that the children do not know. They need to know that God is very interested in THEM! He wants us to have a relationship with Him. Through our Bible School, our children are going to learn to pray meaningful prayers. Prayers that help them think outside of themselves.
I will never forget when I had my first opportunity to go on a big mission trip. I was going to spend an entire summer in the Republic of Panama. I did not know where I was going to live, how I was going to get from one point to the other nor where money was going to come from to pay rent, airfare and food. All I knew was that two missionaries contacted me and told me about the opportunity to do youth and children’s camps in the jungles of Panama. I had never taught before.
The cooks at my school were retired missionaries from Cuba. They wrote me a letter which included the first chapter of Joshua. They told me that God was in control and that He was with me. After that, my pastor called me and told me that they wanted to take care of my trip. Panama Youth For Christ contacted me and said that they had a car for me if I would use it to hang out with teenagers and lead weekly Bible Studies. The missionaries that contacted me asked me to move in with them because they were going to be out of the country for half of the summer. So God worked it all out. He always works it all out. His plans are so much bigger than our plans. His ways are higher than anything we can imagine, and the car, it was the general’s car. I was treated like a king on all the military bases. Who could ask for more?
Be strong and courageous for the Lord your God goes with you. You are not alone!
Greg