Babylonian Dream Team

Recently I was asked to chair the decorating committee for our church’s annual Vacation Bible School. Saying no has never come easily for me, but this time, I was not quick in responding.  My job, if I said yes, would mean transforming our ordinary fellowship hall and several cinderblock classrooms into Babylon.  This has not been my best spring and early summer health wise, and I was hesitant to take on the task, but the Lord continued to nudge me toward this commitment.  I’m so thankful He did, as I would have missed out on so many blessings had I not listened to His leading and said “yes”.

(Our church steeple at sunset on opening day of Babylon Bible Camp)


                   (Our Dir. of C M, Dawn in the green below)

                 

First order of business was to meet with our new Director of Children’s Ministries, Dawn.  Having held this position myself for four years at Atonement, I was anxious to get to know Dawn better.  Children’s Ministries holds a special place in my heart as I have served on staff, full time in this capacity at two different churches.  It’s a job that requires a lot of energy, a lot of creativity, flexibility, ability to work with and encourage a large volunteer staff and a million and one other gifts and talents.  Dawn more than meets these criteria (thankfully God equipped me and saw me through my years on the job) and I was delighted to get to know her better.  That “working” lunch was blessing number one I received as committee chair.

                                                                                                            ( Below "Daniel's House")                              
                                                                                           

Having developed a plan, it was time to meet with the committee members.  Interestingly, the committee ended up all women, powerhouses all of them.  I was awed and amazed by their creativity, willingness to serve, self-motivation and joyful spirits as they used their gifts and talents to meet the goals of our team.  Despite working full time outside of the home, Robin, with some help from her husband Mike, built and installed an amazing “city gate” to greet the participants.  Jeri, who also works outside of the home, knowing my energy hasn’t been 100%, took the “shopping list” I had made and purchased everything we needed for the big transformation. Julia spent hours making beautiful stars to lead the Bible campers from the city courtyard area to the craft stalls.   Marta, Debbie and Lynn, all willingly pitched in to make build day happen more smoothly and quickly.   Thankfully, Mike, Chuck, Bob, and Ron lent some extra muscle and reminded me that sometimes being there at the last minute can be a crucial blessing.  And that leads me to blessing two, how inspired I was by working with such a remarkable group of people, it made me want to serve more joyfully and enthusiastically when asked to help or lend a hand in the future.  The work these people did was fantastic, but the attitude in which they served was outstanding.

                          (Below, Daniel, Luke Link, and the Palace Official, Fred Carr)

Finally, with all the decorations in place the doors were opened and the Bible Campers arrived for the first of five evenings in “Babylon”.  As I walked through the “city gate” I was greeted by musicians, chefs and crafters, story tellers,shopkeepers and “tribe leaders” all in Babylonian garb (testimony to another fantastic effort by the seamstresses in the church who made over 40 costumes for the event).  There were happy children making tiny hanging gardens, beading beautiful creations, singing, and listening to the story of Daniel as told by “Daniel” and the “palace official” in “Daniel’s house”.  Blessing three was seeing the fruit of our labor come to life!  All the hard work paid off, once again, when God called he also equipped and inspired, and what a wonderful, delightful outcome occurred.

I love the way God reminds me so often that I am always more blessed when I give, than I am a blessing.  I’m so glad I said yes to being the Decorating Committee Chairperson, I loved the journey to Babylon.  Hope you enjoy some of the pictures from this event.  Hoping also that you are called to be blessed soon in your corner of the world, don’t be afraid to say YES!

                         (Our star maker, Julia and me, below)