Grape-ful for Vacation Bible School by Cindy Browning

 “I just like to smile. Smiling’s my favorite.” Buddy the Elf

“I just like vacation Bible School. Vacation Bible School’s my favorite.” Cindy Browning

It’s true! I really like VBS! I always have. And guess what? I think that God does too! How do I know? Well, I know that He loves children.

My childhood summers always included VBS, sometimes more than one. As a teenager, I served as a helper. As an adult, a teacher. As a parent, I was the chauffeur for little attendees. Vacation Bible School has always been the highlight of my summers.

Years ago, the church I attended decided that the theme for that year’s VBS would be Bible Times. We emptied the fellowship hall to create what we imagined a little Judean village to look like 2,000 years ago. We set up a tent to serve as an ancient Judean bakery where snacks would be served. We set up another tent where we would pretend to sell pottery and wares. We had another tent space for the Bible lesson. We dressed in robes and sandals and head coverings. We had big plans to travel back in time the best we could.

About a month before we were to set up our little village, adult small groups were asked to donate various items. Our small group leader for the Young Marrieds class announced that they would provide the grapes for the wine press. A wading pool would be filled with grapes and the children would stomp on the grapes as one of their activities. Now, at that time, there must have been a grape shortage, because grapes were expensive. I couldn’t believe that a bunch of young adults with hardly two nickels to rub together would have been volunteered to buy a swimming pool full of grapes just to be stomped. So, I thought we could get local grocery stores to donate enough grapes that we would only have to buy a little--if any at all. I volunteered to go around town asking for donations. I didn’t have much luck. Each store only offered a little bunch of grapes that I was to pick up closer to VBS time. When the day came for me to collect what had been donated, my little bunches were not amounting to much. I maybe had enough to fill a bucket, but certainly not enough to fill a kiddie pool.  At the last stop, which was Albertson's, I went to the produce department and waited for the manager to come out so I could get the grapes he promised. When he came out, he said, “I had several boxes of grapes come in that I cannot sell. They're just too ripe, and I'm going to have to throw them away. You wouldn't want these, would you?” What?! Yes, yes, yes! I did want them. That was exactly what we needed--grapes that were just right for stomping. And for free! I took those boxes, filled up the pool, and kept the good grapes to serve as snacks. I know without a doubt that God provided those “stomping” grapes for us! He enjoys VBS too!

I could go on about how God has blessed Vacation Bible Schools throughout the years. If you want to see the widest smiles and hear the most joyful laughter, it is the place to be. If you want to hear earnest prayers and sincere praises, it is also the place to be. The sweetest singing can be heard throughout the church during that week. Jesus draws near to children and children are drawn to Him. Do you remember what happened after Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem a week before His crucifixion? Children could be heard praising Him in the Temple. And Jesus had a reminder for the adults:

Matthew 21:15-16 (CSB)

When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that he did and the children shouting in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and said to him, "Do you hear what these children are saying?" Jesus replied, "Yes, have you never read: You have prepared praise from the mouths of infants and nursing babes?"

Before you know it, preparations will begin for next summer’s Northside VBS. Come Spring you will see a table set up promoting opportunities for you to participate in one of the best weeks on our church’s calendar. Don’t pass it by. Stop. Check it out. See where you might like to participate. Be “grape-ful” for the opportunity to serve.  If you decide to come and be a part, you might just say that Vacation Bible School’s your favorite too!  

*Pictures are from Northside Church VBS 2024

 

The Attributes of God: God Is Sovereign

     

Each month, our Northside women meet in small groups for prayer, fellowship, and to read and discuss a devotion written by our writers' group. This year we're studying the book of Exodus as we delve into the character of God. The following is from our March devotion:

"God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the Israelites, and God knew." (Ex. 2: 24-25, CSB)

    The book of Genesis ends with a reminder of God’s promise to the children of Abraham. Joseph reminds his brothers, “...God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Gen. 50: 24, NIV). Turn the page to the book of Exodus, and you see that things have not gone well for the Israelites. God allowed their numbers to flourish, but a paranoid Pharoah eventually takes the throne of Egypt. Viewing the Israelites’ numbers as a threat, he enslaves them out of fear that they will unite with Egypt’s enemies. How could God allow this to happen to His chosen people? Didn’t God tell them they were the people by whom “all the peoples on earth will be blessed?” (Gen. 12:3). For nearly 400 years, the Israelites were kept in bondage by the Egyptians. Why would a sovereign God allow His chosen people to languish in hardship? 

    God’s sovereignty means that He is the ruler of all things. He has power over all creation— as well as all of time — and works through human events according to His divine purpose. To believe in a God who is sovereign implies a belief in a God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present. For God to be sovereign means that there is nothing and no one greater than Him, and nothing and no one can interfere with His plans. Job 23:13 says, “But he [God] stands alone and who can oppose him?” The Psalmist sings, “But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations” (Ps. 33:11, NIV). Isaiah was told by God Himself, “The LORD Almighty has sworn, ‘Surely, as I have planned, so it will happen” (Is. 14:24, NIV). Scripture is clear: God is in control. So why, as we read the opening chapters of Exodus, does it look like God has lost control of the situation in Egypt?

    God’s timing is not our timing (Ex. 1:8-14). Humans are impatient by nature. We want our needs met now. We want out of difficulty now. We want our technology to work when we need it, and we expect our online orders to come when promised. Our modern, fast-paced culture may have made our impatience more pronounced, but impatience has always been a human failing. We need to be constantly reminded that God—the eternal God—takes a long view of things. He promised Eve that a Savior was coming to redeem mankind on the day she and Adam sinned in the Garden. He fulfilled that promise—and He fulfilled it at the perfect time—but it was thousands of years later. God promised Abraham a son and offspring as numerous as the stars in the sky, but Isaac was not born for another 25 years! Sometimes God uses this time of waiting to stretch and grow us and teach us to trust in Him. Other times it may be because He can see things that we can’t. Sometimes we don’t know why God makes us wait. We are finite beings, and we may never fully understand why the everlasting God chooses to do things the way that He does them. But just as God is sovereign, God is also good and loving and compassionate. Remember the first half of our theme verse for this year: “The LORD—the LORD is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love” (Ex. 34:6, NIV).

    God is at work even when we can’t see it (Ex. 2:1-10, 23-25). You can see God’s fingerprints all over the story of Moses. The coincidences are too many to ascribe to chance. He rescued Moses from death as an infant, reunited him with his mother, and even elevated his social position, but who would have guessed that this was God’s response to the cries of His people? Even though we may not see God working, it does not mean He isn’t at work.

    Your circumstances are not a surprise to God (Ex. 3:1-10). When God calls to Moses from the burning bush, he identifies himself as “the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex. 3:6, NIV). He is reminding Moses that He has not forgotten the covenant promises He has already made. Part of the promise God made to Abraham centuries ago included this warning: “Know this for certain: Your offspring will be resident aliens for four hundred years in a land that does not belong to them and will be enslaved and oppressed. However, I will judge the nation they serve, and afterward they will go out with many possessions” (Gen. 15:13-14). The enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt did not leave God scrambling for a Plan B. The children of Israel are still the children of the promise even while in bondage. 

     Sometimes, when we look at our lives and all we can see is a mess, God is in the middle of working out a beautiful story. The story of Moses and the Exodus echoes across Scripture. In the book of Acts, Stephen, in his gospel-filled speech to the Sanhedrin before he is stoned for the cause of Christ, holds up the story of Moses as a foreshadowing of Jesus. He quotes Moses’ prophecy from Deuteronomy 18:15 when he tells the Israelites, “God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.” Moses was a prophet who served as mediator between God and His people. He went into Egypt and rescued His people from bondage. Yet, the leadership of Moses was not always well received. Moses was imperfect and just as in need of a savior as the rest of us, but God’s sovereignty over the life of Moses pointed people to Jesus, Our One and Only Savior, thousands of years later.

    God’s Sovereignty in our lives does not excuse us from obedience. God chose Moses. From the very beginning, God knew Moses was the man who would lead His people out of bondage. He also knew each time Moses would succeed in his faith journey as well as all the times he would fail. Even before He called to Moses from out of the burning bush, God knew each objection Moses would make, his insecurities, and what he would need to complete the task set before him. God knew the story from beginning to end, but it was still Moses’ responsibility to move. It was still his choice to say “Yes.” It can be easy to fall into the trap of believing that because God is sovereign, the choices we make don’t matter. You may wonder if we even have the ability to make our own choices. Deuteronomy 30:19-20a says, “This day I [God] call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice and hold fast to him.” In this verse, God gives choices and consequences. Just because God knows what choices you are going to make, it does not absolve you of responsibility in making those choices. This is where God’s sovereignty intersects with His eternality. He sees the whole timeline; and, on a personal level, He sees your whole timeline. He already knows when and how often you are going to fail. And He chooses to love you in spite of yourself. Even better than that, it’s God who makes the first move in relationship with us. He chose you first. Ephesians 1:4 tells us He chose us “before the foundation of the world.” Despite knowing everything about us, God still chooses to reach down and use flawed humans to participate in the story He is writing across eternity.