Lightspeed Ahead!

I am the VBS Director for my church and I have two weeks before VBS begins. It is both an honor and blessing to be in this role. I have always had a place for kids and 'backyard missions,' and what a better way to work in both areas as being a VBS Director.

As I say that though, there can be many ways that Satan can come in and steer my thoughts away from the blessing of such a ministry and this role. As this is year is my third year and in many regards the aspect of VBS has gotten easier as the system I put together for myself--one that doesn't include "re-inventing the wheel" every year--has eased the work load and stress level a great deal, I do have my human moments.

This year, I have run into a few unexpected technical difficulties like my laptop nearly crashing as its DC jack broke causing my laptop not to have any 'juice' to run on. When we discovered that it was going to take a little bit of money and 2 to 6 weeks to repair our 5-year-old computer, time for which I did not have in relation to deadlines for VBS, we decided to get a new laptop. It turned out to be a fun perk to the situation as due to the fact that Scot has his work computer and I am the only one who generally uses our home laptop, Scot got me a pink one. Yes, you read it correctly, a new pink laptop for which I am using to type this post now!

Now transferring everything from the old computer to the new one did go relatively smoothly; there were a few hiccups, however, including several of my VBS documents not converting correctly. This also included me having to re-type my volunteer spreadsheet that at the time included 70 volunteers, just as I was trying to prep for my second VBS meeting. Yes, one small moment of panic occurred there.

I have also had problems with my church's email provider. Yes, me and that server do not get along. I do not like how it saves emails and groups them when I never asked for them to be sorted in that confusing fashion. I am in constant fear that I may have accidentally overlooked an email or two or three!

The other night as I was trying to send a mass email out to my volunteers, which included a whole week of trying to do a mail merge and sorting through my server's contact list, I was having some difficulty but the end was in near sight as I WAS GOING TO EMAIL EVERYONE THAT NIGHT--yes, that was my goal of the evening. Ian, on the other hand, had other plans as he decided to scream his head off for nearly three hours straight, which is totally not like him. As he screamed and I could not sooth him and as I watched the time tick by and my laptop was sitting on the floor waiting for me, I grew upset. This was also coupled with the fact that just days prior Ian and I were experiencing a little G.I. troubles. When I thought his was just teething or from weening, I soon discovered it was viral, as I was stricken with the 'runs' just days after him. This just added to my stress as my days had been coupled with many runs to the restroom and trying to get Skye and Paisley to their activities, which included Paisley's dance classes and Skye's gymnastics performance that was great by the way!

Anyways...as midnight came and me and the pink laptop were still departed by Lil Man's unrest and screams, I grew more and more upset. Scot took Lil' Man from me and told me to go to bed that parenting was first and VBS was second, I got angry. With just a few more weeks left, I had no choice but to make VBS one of my priorities. And I was agitated at the fact that I was being told it couldn't be my priority now. After I tossed and turned, I opened up my pink little laptop and finished my mass email at 1 AM and then I fell fast asleep.

After sending that email in the wee hours of the morning, I was determined to go a weekend without doing any VBS at all, except for helping 'man' the VBS table on Sunday morning. That plan fell apart as Sunday morning, today, came. Yesterday, we headed out to have a fun family trip to Luray Caverns. After we got caught in a huge thunderstorm that included wind and crazy rain, we were forced to have our picnic lunch inside our minivan at a gas station. We made it to the caverns and had a great time. For dinner Scot wanted some Taco Bell (aka Taco Hell). We found a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut that sent me into a near OCD meltdown where I declared the place "disgusting and dirty." I made my remarks in ear shot of an employee who must have decided that my comments were accurate because she quickly went for the broom. After dinner, the girls proceeded to have to need to 'use' the restroom, but at least this time no little bum bums fell on the dirty nasty restroom floor! As we pulled away, I declared to my family that that place was "germy!' (Although, Paisley answered my remark that the place was "Taco Bell"). She simply didn't get the 'germy' part. As we headed down to lower elevations, my ears felt like they were going to blow off my head and my throat was throbbing once again. By the time we pulled in front of our house, the girls were sleeping and Ian was screaming. As I pulled him out of his seat, I quickly realized that he had a fever. Soon we realized that not only he had a fever, but I did as well. And just as a few of us at the VBS meeting had discussed how unlike years prior, I still had my voice, I am now currently losing my voice.

Hence, my plan to be at the VBS table this morning was thwarted, and I ended up sending out some VBS emails instead. As I was working on VBS and not feeling my best, I was slightly stressing and praying that Skye remains healthy for her Kindergarten Graduation on Tuesday.

I have also had human moments of worrying about how VBS will go this year and hoping that everyone enjoys themselves. This began several weeks ago, especially when I had someone say to me, although I don't think he meant anything by it, that he didn't "think that we could top last year's VBS." This statement undoubtedly sent my mind where I didn't want it to go because last year I was not the director because I just had a baby 2 to 3 weeks prior. So then I selfishly thought about me and how I wanted VBS to be great this year.

Anyways, I have had to constantly pray for myself and my attitude and my selfish tendencies. VBS is not about me. It is about God using anything for His good. Whether VBS is great or not, is not the point. He can use anything for His glory and to bless the kids, their families as well as the volunteers, and to show God's goodness and the Gospel.

As I have been planning VBS and its space theme--Lightspeed Galaxy, being a mom, which has included such things as putting on my son's first birthday party and more, has launched my life and the last few weeks into what feels like 'lightspeed' mode in many regards, but God is good. Forging on; Lightspeed AHEAD!