Life of a Not So Ordinary Genie: VBS 2013 God's Incredibles

As usual VBS is something I look forward to every year. The reason why is simply because of the kids and because of God.

I grew up in VBS. Never missed a year since I was 4 or 5 except for 1 year where I had to go for YLDP. Anyway, to sum it all up I've gone through 14 VBS and it was all incredible. Loved VBS to the bits.

So here's a little insight on VBS. VBS is short for Vacation Bible School which in simpler terms it's a 5 days children's camp held in church. When I was a kid, VBS was all about fun. Praise and worship, aerobics, puppet shows, game time, cheer, and of course lessons. As I grew older, VBS meant kiasu because we always want to win. A competitive mindset that Ps Nicholas say we could all gain Singapore citizenship because we kiasu and kiasi. That's somehow true but kiasu-ness aside, we could really see the difference between kids back then and kids now and also kids learning and desiring more of Christ which is the most important part of VBS.

Every VBS we have a theme and many teams. This year our theme was God's Incredibles. Often when we think of superheros, we think of characters like Spiderman, Superman, Batman and all sort of Marvel characters or other cartoon heros like Mr Incredible and many others that are fictional. Little did we realize that in this life, in this earth, there all real superheros and incredibles. No, they don't fly and no, they don't have superpowers like we expect but they are just ordinary people like you and me. People who are willing to make a difference in our society, people who are willing to make a difference in the lives of others.

5 incredible people that we learn during VBS were:

Friendly Abe (Abraham)
Adorable Mae (Mary)
Incredible Josh (Jesus)
Trusted Rita (Ruth)
Humble Moss (Moses)

And if you realize, this people that we've learnt about are real people with real stories. Ordinary people that are called by God to do extraordinary things. When God called, they obeyed and they did what they were called to do in FAITH. Each of them had tremendous faith and their faith had brought them a long way till now their stories has been passed down generations to generations and they are role models to ordinary people like us which God can call to do extraordinary things.

In this year's VBS, we were taught 3 simple words that we should always remember and hold on to. These words BELIEVE, BEHAVE, BECOME. You might think that these are just like any other words that we use everyday but these 3 words have incredible meaning. We were taught to BELIEVE in Christ and when we believe in Christ we are called children of Christ and as a child of Christ we are called to BEHAVE like one. Show good fruits and then we should learn to BECOME more like Christ, living a life as a living testimony so that other may see and they too may believe, behave and become.

In all the years of VBS, this year, the kids were given time to hear from God and respond to God and testify. Believe me the outcome was incredible. It has reminded me once again that I worship a true God, a living God and a incredible God. We see kids testifying about God asking them to change how they behave, we see kids testifying about the things that God has shown them and we see kids testifying about how God asked her to pray for the victims of the typhoon in Philippines, we see kids testifying about God assuring her that He's not going to let her talent go to waste, and we see kids testifying about hearing God calling him by name. These are just ordinary kids, ordinary people like you and I and God spoke to them and they heard from God, they saw from God and they responded to God. If these kids can hear from God I believe that we too can hear from God when we are still.

What touched me the most during this VBS was during a time Praise and Worship. There was a time when the music just stopped playing all of a sudden yet the children continued singing with their eyes closed and knees bowed. On bended knees they were singing their hearts out. I'm sure they've touched the heart of God. Hearing them singing "From my heart to the heavens Jesus be the center. It's all about You. Yes it's all about You." again and again it was such a beautiful sight to see. Their childlike faith melted my heart. So proud of my little angels. Truly it's all about Jesus.

I'm truly thankful that I went for VBS despite of the contemplating. Being able to go to VBS this year was truly an answered prayer because before college started I prayed that if God is willing and if He wants me to go He would provide a way, provide a week without classes. When time came I was still unsure whether to go for VBS due to reasons like having finals the week after VBS and so I prayed once again that He will provide me with good midterm results and He did. So I really really thank God for His goodness to me allowing me to experience Him in a whole new level. Thanks be to God Who is worthy to be praised.