Word on the Street

Can I just start out by saying that WOW, I'm tired. It definitely has been a long second week of summer, but it has been a really good one! It feels like I have been going none stop since last Sunday morning. Oh, wait...I feel like that because it's true! We definitely stayed busy this week! It consisted of Vacation Bible School (IE sitting behind a computer for many hours, counting and recounting people, "sorting" trash, sitting behind a computer for a few more hours, being dunked 101 times in a dunking booth, cleaning and organizing the supply closet, answering a lot of dumb questions...I could go on, but I'll spare you!) My week also consisted of getting ready for kidz kamp next week, making fun of and messing with Shelton, watching small child play softball, eating in almost every restaurant in Milan, taking almost 8 hours to get home because my car was overheating, learning some new things, laughing a whole lot, enjoying the time I had with people who mean a whole lot to me and the best of all...Dying my hair pink and turquoise! Yes, I have very colorful hair for a few weeks! :) The week was capped off by throwing a lingerie shower for the best friend and simply having fun with the girls...I wasn't lying about it being a long week!

Over the past week there has been many GREAT moments and many random, but funny memories made! Even though it was a crazy busy and long week, it was really good and I walked away with a little different thinking... If I were to be honest I would say that VBS week is usually one of my least favorite weeks of the summer. It is not because of the 1,001 kids running around or the crazy teachers getting on my last nerve, but it's usually because of the curriculum. You see, while Bible college was great, it also brought out a few tendencies in me that get in the way from time to time. Bible college pretty much taught me to pick everything apart. While this is a good thing, I tend to take it to the extreme. I tend to critic each piece of curriculum I come in contact with and find it hard to like something unless I or someone I work with has written it. Over the years I have found that VBS curriculum stinks. I pretty much thought it was all stupid and very shallow. I have this thinking that the only reason Southern Baptists do VBS is for the numbers and not for the evangelism/discipleship, but that's a totally different story...

Anyway, I walked into this VBS with the same attitude towards the curriculum, but WOW, I was wrong! The VBS that we used was called

"Inside Out and Upside Down on Main Street Where Jesus Makes a Difference Everyday."

Each day there was a skit that involved three different actors, Hedi Claire- Super Slueth Extrodinar who came to main street to investigate because she heard people were being turned inside out and upside down. Then there was Justin Time the streets bus driver and Chef Pierre the owner of the Brown Bag Bistro. These two characters helped point Hedi towards Jesus and showed Hedi that they were different and people were changed because of Jesus. In the midst of her investigations she learned a certain lesson each day which was reinforced with a parable during the Bible teaching time. Hedi (and the kids) learned about a certain topic each day. The topic or word was known as "the word on the street."

The word's on the street were gratitude, compassion, forgiveness, grace and faithfulness. While I knew all of these words and how they applied to my life, it did not stop God from teaching me a new lesson. It was kind of funny how with each day the word would come up over and over again. IE on Monday the word on the street was gratitude. Around 6:40am while getting ready to head to the church my hair was halfway straightened and the power went out. Yeah, at that moment it was a little difficult to show gratitude and be thankful! While the words were made known each and everyday, they were not fully made known to me until I began my trek back home on Friday.

It had been a long week, I was tired and I had 101 things to do when I got home. I left Milan around 3:30 pretty excited that I would make it home before 8. Ha! The drive was going great. It was so good to be in the peace and quiet and just think that I never even turned my radio on! I was about 72 miles from and I noticed that a light on my dashboard came on. I checked out all my gauges and discovered that my car was overheating. I pulled over at the next gas station I found and slightly began to panic. I was in the middle of nowhere 72 miles from home at this sketchy gas station with no lights that was closing and it was getting dark outside! Yeah, it was a load of fun! As I sat in my car watching the smoke bellow out from under my hood I was furious wondering why in the world this was happening to me because I was exhausted and I just wanted to get home. While having a not so nice convo with God one word came to mind...Gratitude. This was just a minor bump in the road because I had so much more to be grateful for. I soon turned from frustrated to panic as the smoke kept on pouring out so I did what most girls would do in a moment of panic, I called my dad. I fully expected him to be loving and tell me that everything was OK...Wrong! (Sorry dad!) He pretty much told me that he would get there when he got there and my only option was to sit and twiddle my thumbs...NOT what I wanted to hear. The word compassion came into play here...I'm pretty sure at some point I sent Niki a text that went something like "I think my dad is the one who needs to hear the compassion lesson from Tuesday!" Just keepin' it real. So after I was not so nice to him I had to apologize for my reaction and ask forgiveness for what I had done. He graciously forgave me and showed me grace by coming and saving the day. At the end of the day he was faithful to his "daddy duties"... :)

Each word on the street was clearly portrayed to me in the 3-4 hour debacle that I found myself in. Coincidence? I think not! At the end of the day when I finally made it home and in my own bed :) God opened my eyes to something. Many times in life I encounter a situation or a person or even VBS curriculum and think "This (or they) have nothing for me..." I think God just laughs at that. So many times we put God in a box and tell Him how and with what He can speak to us with and through. I never thought that a simple word for each day would effect my week so much in so many ways. I guess that's just God using ordinary things to teach extrodinary lessons... A heart to heart by way of long johns...

I don't know about you, but I sure am glad that I serve a God who is bigger than any box I can put Him in. I think it's time to put our boxes away and simply let God be God. Who's with me?