Sky VBC: Day 4

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Day four of Sky Vacation Bible Camp (VBC): Where we are learning that everything is possible with God! Here’s what we did today…

I liked seeing kids remembering to bring in offerings for our mission projects. Our “Share a Smile” offerings can help ensure that there is enough funds to buy supplies, food and transportation for the campers in Liberia. So far, $136.36 has been donated to Camp RAWANA! And every one can relate to the need for school supplies, our local mission project. (See the needs list down below.)

At Up & Away Sing & Play we started off singing songs. (This is routine now, isn’t it? But still fun!) Did you know that this coming Sunday, we’ll be singing in the church service at FUMC? Put on your VBC t-shirt and please do join us at 9:30!

Let’s see, who was our Bible Buddy for the day? Apollo the caterpillar.
Wait a minute. Caterpillars don’t have wings. What is a creeping caterpillar doing as the Bible Buddy for a VBC about SOARING through the sky?
Oh, that’s right. I guess they do eventually become butterflies.

That reminds me of the way Jesus died yet came to life again (Matthew 27:32-28:20). When things seem hopeless, if it seems like you’re stuck crawling rather than soaring, there is hope! Our Bible Point for today is:

No matter what happens… trust God!

Here’s a Bible verse worth committing to memory…

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Romans 8:38a

What a beautiful promise! We said our verse out-loud a few times. It sounded convincing!

Other routines of our morning? Sharing our God Sightings with our flight crew, adding more “clouds” to the chart (the more we focus on God Sightings the more joy we feel!), a visit from Flash, and a Sky High Hint. (That’s the hint on the right photo below. Ask your child about it.)

Then it was off to the stations. The preschoolers visited…

• Games – We discussed what an “obstacle” is and then we went through an obstacle course!
• Bible Adventures – We heard our Bible story and used a balloon to describe what happened to Jesus. Even when a balloon is deflated, it can “rise” again.
• Bible Buddies – Oh no! Sklyer’s rocket for the contest didn’t work! But Skyler is okay with that. He can try again next time. He knows to trust God and not give up.
• Crafts – We made caterpillars. They were covered in love.
  

Meanwhile elementary kids visited…

• All-Star Games – Such inventive games! Today’s was called “Cloud Movers.” Ask your kids about this one.
  
• Wild Blue Bible Adventures – We went back through the clues we found yesterday and reviewed the story about what happened to Jesus. (Kids even remembered about Pilate’s house and the fake trial of Jesus!) Then we continued the story, hearing about how criminals were killed: cruifiction. We learned that Jesus could have stopped the chain of events leading to his death, at any time! But he choose not to. He went through all that pain on purpose. Why? For reasons such as: ___enter your name here___. Ask your kids about carrying the cross, shouting crucify him, and creating an earthquake.
• Sky High Movie & Missions – Today we wondered about who made each of the contests Chadder and Jayla were in, so “exciting” and why? We discussed when we had faced scary situations. Then we looked at pictures of the Cestos River in Liberia and the Huron River. There were big differences in how each of those rivers are crossed!
• Imagination Station – Today was a quiet day. We decorated special picture frames for the photos of our crew. What a keeper!
  

Today’s focus for our “older” elementary kids in the Grad Group was to learn about our global mission to Camp RAWANA in Liberia. We also put together snack packs for L.O.V.E. Thy Neighbor, a program which packs Saturday lunches for the homeless. And we collected and counted school kits.

Mid-way through our time this morning we all gathered at Sky Dive Diner. Our snack was called “Inseparable Swirls.” I wonder if your child can tell you why it is called that? (Can the chocolate be separated from the whipping cream?)

At the end of our morning everyone gathered together again for Fly Away Finale. We went “flying” around the Sanctuary while singing “We Will Fly.” Our Grad Group reported on the status of school supply kits being collected for the Bryant Community Center. Our hope is to create 25 early elementary (K- 2nd), 25 late elementary (3rd-5th), 30 middle school, and 20 high school kits. Here’s our list of needs:

Lastly, we discussed how Apollo (today’s Bible Buddy, wanted to fly but he had to wait; to trust God’s timing. We’d like to be able to fly! Flying feels like we are connected to God. But it is hard to connect with God because of our messy sins. We helped create a dramatic illustration of this concept. Ask your child what are some of the ways we tried connecting with Jesus? Did they work? What finally did work?

Today’s Links of Interest (click on the highlighted words):

• Other posts about VBC.
• Slide show of photos from Thursday.
• The music video for We Will Fly.
• Sign Language links to some words from our key verse: Convince (use “know”), Nothing, and Love.

See you tomorrow! Our final day!
~~Carol (on behalf of the VBC Team)