Is VBS Worth the Trouble?

Is VBS Worth the Time and Trouble ?

Once there was a little boy who lived in a rural community with his mother,
father, and younger brother. This family was not affiliated with any church and
rarely attended religious services of any kind. In the summer, some neighbor
children would invite this little boy and his younger brother to go with them to
VBS at the church of Christ in the city. “Going to church” was a new and exciting
experience for this little third-grade boy, and he would stand at the end of his
driveway waiting for the neighbors to come by and pick him up. When the
neighbor’s station wagon stopped at his house, there would already be several
other children in the car who had also been invited to the Bible school.
When this little boy first heard the story of Jesus from a sweet, God-fearing
woman, and when he first learned of and sang about the preciousness of the B-I-
B-L-E, it was a life-molding occurrence. As the week of Bible classes came to a
close, this little boy and his brother would plead with their parents to take them
to “church” the following Sunday. Sometimes their parents would take them,
sometimes not. But the neighbors kept calling each summer for the next few
years. And the station wagon would always be filled with eager children. For the
little third-grade boy, this week of VBS would be “church” for the year. The
pleading, however, finally paid off. The little boy’s mother began attending the
services of the church in their rural community each Sunday, and the little boy
was able to go to Bible classes. Before very long, the mother obeyed the gospel
and became a Christian.
Where are the neighbor children now who invited the little boy and his brother to
VBS? They are both faithful members of the church, married, and have little
children of their own. Where are the parents who picked up countless numbers
of neighborhood children and diligently brought them to Bible School? The
father now serves as a faithful elder in that church. What became of the godly
woman who first taught that little boy about Jesus? Though aged, she is still just
as sweet and godly, and has exercised the same good influence over numbers of
other little children. The little third-grade boy’s mother is still faithful to the
Lord, attending the same congregation where she became a Christian. The little
boy’s brother is a faithful member of the church.
And the little boy himself? Well, he became a Christian at age 14. His name is
Mark White, and he now preaches for the Cy-Fair church of Christ in Cypress
(Houston), Texas – trying his best to find other little boys and girls, and men
and women, who will listen to the story of Jesus.
______
Torturing the Bible

People sometimes claim: “You can prove anything by the Bible.” There is a sense
in which that is actually true. If you take scripture and twist and distort it you
can totally change its meaning.
2 Peter 3:16 speaks about those who were guilty of “wresting” Paul’s writings.
Other translations call it “twisting” or “distorting.” Greek scholars tell us that this
word could also be rendered “to torture.”
A classic example of such mishandling of scripture can be seen in the history of
the construction of the Panama Canal. For many years there was speculation
about the possibility of cutting through the Isthmus of Panama to provide quick

access between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. When the United States
undertook this daunting task there were skeptics who opposed the idea. One of
the “arguments” they put forth was based on the statement of Jesus in Matthew
19:6: “What God has joined together, let no man separate.”
As ridiculous as that may sound, it apparently seemed like a valid objection to
some people. A simple look at the context shows Jesus was talking about
marriage and not canal building.
Tragically, there are countless other examples of how people have twisted the
Bible to make it say what the Holy Spirit never intended.
- Leonard White


Tomorrow

He was going to be all that a mortal should be - tomorrow.
No one should be kinder or braver than he - tomorrow.
A friend who was troubled and weary he knew,
Who'd be glad of a lift and who needed it, too;
On him he would call and see what he could do - tomorrow.
Each morning he stacked up the letters he'd write - tomorrow.
And thought of the folks he would fill with delight - tomorrow.
It was too bad, indeed, he was busy today,
And hadn't a minute to stop on his way;
More time he would have to give others, he'd say - tomorrow.
The greatest of workers this man would have been - tomorrow.
The world would have known him, had he ever seen - tomorrow.
But the fact is he died and he faded from view,
And all that he left here when living was through,
Was a mountain of things he intended to do - tomorrow.
- Edgar A. Guest

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