So Jesus said to the twelve disciples, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life, you are our only hope…” – John 6:67-68

Somewhere in a church near you this summer, there either has been or will be a VBS (Vacation Bible School). Small or large, spectacular or low-key, carefully crafted or loosey-goosey, pitch-perfect or lame, VBS is ubiquitous to summer anywhere and everywhere there are children who need to hear the good news.

And boy do our children ever need to hear the good news story.

And, boy oh boy, do they ever need to see the good news story being played out.

And, Lordy Lordy, do the parents ever need to see their children’s excitement and unencumbered belief and then be pulled towards the message of Jesus. Because what they have traded it in for is not nearly working, and not nearly filling the aching void that will only grow in the absence of something of meaning and substance.

Because we all live into a story; and the only one with any staying power, the only one with words of life is The Greatest Story Ever Told, and every substitute is a sham that (literally) doesn’t have a prayer of meeting our needs and fueling our dreams.

Telling the story:

So this week at Howard Memorial is VBS week. Andrea Drake (our Director for Children and Youth) and her team are channeling the children’s energy and creativity in and through a curriculum called, “The Great Jungle Journey.” The program is billed as “an epic cruise from Genesis to Revelation,” and is designed to equip everyone involved with faith, Bible knowledge and inspiration.

Here’s the thing. Our children will not capture the authentic spirit of the story – The Story – unless it lives in us too. We have to choose to follow Jesus every day and to live the truth of it out loud, otherwise the Jesus story is not life changing it’s just another take-it-or-leave-it option among many.

The evidence, friends, is too compelling. Peter and the other disciples understood this clearly when Jesus asked if they were going to walk away too, just like so many are today: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life, you are our only hope…”

“Only you, Lord, have the words of life…”

Peter

Only Jesus. – DEREK