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I love Vacation Bible School! There are many reasons why I think VBS is wonderful and I believe every church (no matter how big or small) should commit to making sure VBS is a regular ministry program. I recently read a George Barna Update on the state of Vacation Bible School and I was disappointed to read that there has been a decline in VBS ministries among American churches. So I decided to put together my list of why VBS is important to the life of your church. I encourage you to read Barna’s update and rethink the importance of Vacation Bible School, if it is no longer a ministry of your church.

#1 Child Evangelism
Vacation Bible School is not for the regular attendees of the church. Yes your children might attend, volunteer and they might enjoy the summer program but the goal of VBS is to minister to children who may not attend church on a regular basis. Most VBS programs are designed to teach the message of salvation and keep the message simple to bring children to Christ. This gives the families of the church the opportunity to bring visitors. The fun summer program of VBS is a much more non-threatening environment than perhaps they might feel attending a traditional Sunday morning service. It also brings members out of their comfort zones and to the community beyond the walls of their church.

#2 VBS: Organized chaos but only for 1 week- Volunteer!
Anyone who has led or volunteered for VBS knows it is chaotic and at times crazy but when you lead a program for children of all ages that is the reality. Many adults do not volunteer because they do not like the chaos but it is only for one week and you have to weigh the outcome verse the chaos. Children are introduced to the message of Christ and although it is exhausting to put on a ministry, that perhaps is a bit crazy and non-traditional from the day to day ministries of your church, it is one week out of the year (not too much to ask).

#3 Leave your theology at home.
Okay, this might be a bit controversial but believe it or not Christians can even debate about a program like VBS. We all have our beliefs on raising children and even how we raise children according to scripture. VBS is not the time to bring your theological debates into the mix. Vacation Bible School is about reaching children and families with the message of the Cross. When we bring our theological debates into the mix we turn people away and we make church uninviting.

#4 Don’t make it about money
There is a huge money market right now with Vacation Bible School programs. I tend to think many companies are losing sight of the importance of VBS with over-capitalizing on the curriculum. Nevertheless, as costly as it can be to put on a VBS program there are always cheaper avenues to pursue. Do not let money be a factor in hindering your church from putting on a VBS program. According to Barna research, “nearly half of all Americans who accept Jesus Christ as their savior do so before reaching the age 13 (43%), and that two out of three born again Christians (64%) made that commitment to Christ before their 18th birthday.” Please don’t make the program about money but make it about teaching the gospel to the youngest members of your community- a far greater investment!

#5 Church is fun
Perhaps one of the biggest reasons why I have always loved VBS is because it is fun. I can laugh and be silly with children of all ages and because we can transform the walls of our church into a child’s adventure. I think it is important to show others, especially children, that loving God is fun and the message of Christ is not all about an adult’s world but it is about being a community where loving God and faith includes children.

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I was once carrying a child. It was not a fetus or blob of tissue but a developing baby. I remember the nurse consoling me that this fetus had no heartbeat. She said to me, “It is not a death just an absence of what was needed to become human”. Then why did I feel such sorrow? I was barely two months pregnant but I had already experienced an overwhelming amount of emotions with this new baby developing inside of me. I was excited to have a sister or brother for my one year old daughter. What would this child look like? Would it be a boy or girl?

The news was devastating that this baby would not be. Why was I feeling such sorrow over a child I had not even held? I remember praying and asking God to help me understand why this baby was not allowed to be a part of our family. I then had this beautiful picture in my mind. There were hands, cupped together and holding many things inside. I realized as small as those things were, they were not things but babies. Millions and millions of babies kept inside His hands. Those hands were cupped not just to catch but to protect and hold tightly. There were too many babies to count. I knew that my child was there, in His hands, for a reason I might not ever know.

Whenever I hear the word abortion that picture comes to my mind. They were not fetuses or what was called, “an absence of what was needed to be human” but fully formed babies in His hands. I remember crying to God feeling not just my own sorrow but the sorrow God feels for those babies who were not given the opportunity to live. I realized that God gave me but a glimpse of His pain over abortion. My loss was accidental but His loss through abortion is tragic.

There are so many circumstances and emotions wrapped up in the decision to have an abortion. I have a different perspective with the loss of a baby. It is not just from my own personal experience but from my brief picture, I believe, God gave to me. Abortion should be seen through God’s eyes. It should be felt through His sorrow. The child I lost early was not mine but His and was taken by His timing. There are too many babies being caught by His hands by the untimely decision of others. Abortion is not a personal choice of an undeveloped fetus. It is the death of millions of babies caught by the hands of God in unbelievable pain and sorrow.

To understand the horrors of abortion please view the following documentary video about Kermit Gosnell and his killing spree of innocent women and babies.

http://3801lancaster.com/

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The Velvet Brick is now a contributing writer for a women’s conservative news site. Here is my latest article on an important subject that is stirring up a lot of media attention. Here is an excerpt and a link to the site.

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During CPAC among the up and coming “political rock stars” like Ben Carson, Marc Rubio and Rand Paul there was a speech that I felt wasn’t given enough attention. Eric Metaxas, known for his bestselling books like Bonhoeffer and his Prayer Breakfast speech of 2012, made a compelling speech at CPAC on religious freedom. I too overlooked it until I revisited the text of his speech and realized just what is at stake for our country if we neglect to uphold the First Amendment to our constitution. What brought me back to his speech was basically a cup of coffee. Let me explain…

To read more go to: http://politichicks.tv/column/religious-freedom-vs-a-cup-of-coffee-huh/

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  My 8th grader informed me about a change she learned in referencing time periods. In her Social Studies class the teacher said that the abbreviation BC (Before Christ) has been changed to BCE (Before Common Era) and AD (the Latin abbreviation for the year of our Lord) is now simply CE (Common Era). My reaction was, “Are you serious?” According to her teacher, this change is to include respect for other religions and to not offend those who are non-Christians. My daughter said, “Mom this makes no sense because the Common Era is still based on the life period of Christ, so why take out the name?”

I started to think about my daughter’s response. Our society takes the name of God, Christ and even religious symbols out of many things from our history. We have become an All inclusive society. We don’t want to offend anyone’s belief system. I am sure it will be a matter of time when our dollar bill will take out, “In God we trust” or change it to “In whatever god you choose to trust or not”. This change in time reference is just another example of our political correct, non-offensive society.

I read a blog about this controversy in promoting this change in time reference. The writer wrote in defense of this change and that it was good because we live in a secular society. From the blog:

Because history is not dependent upon the birth and life of Christ, and nor should it be promoted as such. History belongs to everyone, not just the Christians, and our planet’s history is far richer and more interesting than just humanity and its effects on the place.

Wow, this writer is really missing the heart and soul of the life of Jesus Christ. Any true believing Christian will tell you that our history was changed the day God sent His son into the world. God sent Jesus Christ in the form of a baby to live on this earth so that history could belong to everyone. Christians don’t own the historical time period of Christ any more than we own the right to Jesus Christ himself. That pivotal time period was a gift for humanity so that we could own our history and future. It is just unfortunate that the secular society does not recognize that the time of Anno Domini (the years of our Lord) was a gift of salvation to this world.

            Taking Christ out of a time reference won’t change the fact that our whole history is still based upon the years, before and after, that Christ lived on this earth. I am sure this is just one of the many changes my daughter will learn about as we become a non-offensive society. The only thing is that my daughter will continue to sit in class and witness these changes while the secular world continues to offend her belief system. I guess history will belong to everyone except the Christians.

           

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

School has started up again and the thing I dread most in the back to school process is buying the school supplies. Three kids, three different class lists and you can’t just get any notebook. No, it has to be Mead, wide ruled and a weird size that no one really ever paid attention to before. Oh, I miss the olden days when spiral notebooks came only in one size and there was only Elmer’s white glue and no such thing as glue sticks. Don’t even get me started on the fact that I have to also provide a gallon size bottle of hand sanitizer or boxes of tissues. (Where does our tax dollars go?) Okay, I protest too much but seriously these are things my home schooling friends don’t have to deal with.

My oldest is going into 8th grade and I can’t believe it. Time goes by fast. Our decision to not home school or to not send our kids to private school has been right for us. It hasn’t always been easy but I feel we made the right choice. I could go on about the pros and cons of why we made our decision but that would bore you and me. All I know is that I am more convinced every day that education begins at home.  I am proud of friends who have chosen to home school and stick with it. I am glad we have private institutions that also educate children and choices we can make. If there is one thing I have learned about education it is that one size does not fit all. I also am more convinced that our children learn the most by the example we lead and the advice we give them.

I might not teach my children all of the content areas at home but their Dad and I strive to teach them how to react to the information they are given. I love that my 8th grader has challenged her science class about evolution or recognizes that teacher who goes out of his or her way to talk about creation in a subtle but honest manner. I am proud of my second grader who draws a picture of the cross during Easter time.  I am happy to have family discussions around the dinner table about how taking God out of our history lessons deletes so much American history that cannot be denied.  I laugh when my 6th grader says ever so logically, “So first we are told that everything comes from something (matter) and then all of a sudden the world came out of nothing.  That makes perfect sense to me.” (I love her sarcasm.) They are getting an education from public schools but we are working ever so hard to give them the Christian viewpoint.

I support all school choices. I even get many of my preschool teaching ideas from some awesome home school teachers.  I am in awe of how homeschooling has grown and I will be one of the first people to fight for home schoolers if their choice is ever taken away. However, I do hope home school families don’t neglect the Christians who have decided to send their kids to public schools. We need your support too.  We believe education begins at home as well. The only difference is our kids go somewhere during the day and then we reflect and mold what they have learned at night.

I love that God gives us freedom in our lives to make choices and when we align them with His will, they turn out for the good. Public school has been that for my family. I have to be a pro-active parent but my children are learning some valuable lessons of living a Christian life in a secular world. There are some negatives and positives but I know God has been in our prayerful decision we made about 9 years ago. Education does begin at home but sometimes it branches out but the root of it will always be at home and with your family!

 

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Remember in Snow White, when the evil queen says, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” What a blow to her self-image to learn that the fairest was Snow White.

We have all been like that queen, looking in the mirror for answers. I think it is accurate to say that we are the most critical about ourselves when we are looking in the mirror. When I was a new mother, I learned a valuable lesson about my self-image and looking for answers from my reflection.

As a teenager and into my twenties, I struggled with my looks and my confidence. I never liked what I saw in the mirror and was always trying to find ways to improve how I looked. I don’t know if a day would go by when I didn’t think about my weight, my hair, my clothes, and my need to feel worthy of the image I set in my mind of how I should look. It was a daily obsession.

I know many people can relate to this struggle. It is exhausting to live with— as a person struggling and with those witnessing it, daily, with you. My husband could only take so much of my constant questioning on how I looked, and one day he set me straight. I was having one of my many insecure days and complaining about my looks. My husband said to me, “Every day that you question yourself and me about how you look, you chip away at the confidence and self-worth of your two daughters.”

Wow! It was like the light bulb finally turned on in my head. It was one thing for me to feel personally insecure, but I definitely did not want to teach my daughters to see themselves through my insecurity. I also realized that not only was I driving my husband crazy, but I was dishonoring God, who created me. I started to understand that God sees me the same way I look upon my children.

Mothers often view their children with biased eyes. Each child has a little bit of the physical appearance of the mother and the father, and are unique in their own way. There is nothing you’d want to change about that individual, distinct appearance of your child. God is biased, too. He wouldn’t change a thing about you because he made you in His image. I realized that I wasn’t only chipping away at my own self-confidence, but I was separating myself from fully feeling the love of Christ.

I am raising my children in a society that tends to value appearance above character. They are learning that the world around them focuses on beauty, weight, fitness, and popularity. In the age of social media and selfies, it seems we can’t escape self-obsession.  If there is one thing that I can do right by my children, it is to look on myself with confidence and be proud of who God created me to be.  This might mean I have to grin and bear it when I put on a few extra pounds. I might have to realize that I will never have hair that can be advertised on a shampoo bottle. There may be days that I look in the mirror, and I don’t like what I see. However, I have learned that it isn’t about me. It is about my children who need to feel loved and confident. It is about my relationship with Christ and feeling worthy of the honor of His creation—ME!

My children will have days of doubt and insecurity. We all do on occasion. But I know NOW that I do not want to be an example of insecurity for my kids. I want them to know that Mom is happy in her own skin— in who God created her to be— and they should be too.

I no longer dwell on the things I cannot change, so that my children will realize they were created with a purpose— both inside and out.