I find myself in this truly strange place of feeling totally inadequate to do VBS this week at my church. I am going to be a small group leader for kids ages 3-6 and yet I am scared to put it simply. But why i wonder? All my life I have dealt with kids and I have loved most of it. But maybe its because I am stepping out of my own little comfort zone, out of my box and this time I have to make it count. Its weird really because I don't remember being this concerned in Belize or Cambodia, and yet it seems like I should have been. Maybe the laungage barrier makes that difference. I go, I play, I pass out gifts, I play, I smile and I leave. There is no conversation because I cannot speak their language and yet I find myself saying Jesus loves you little one. and I only hope it made a difference....and now I am here and I am at my church and I am just a bit nervous but I am trying to remember the purpose I have....For Jesus and for the cross...... SO i am praying that God will equip me and all of us helping to point these children to the cross and to show them a small portion of Jesus in our own attitudes and actions.
This morning I was going over my notes from NA and I came across John Pipers message, "Fighting for faith with Gods Word" and somehow it struck me as what I needed in light of VBS.
1. the fight for faith is a mortal fight to the death.
2. the fight of faith is a fight for joy.
- John 1:12, it is not enough to know Him as Savior, as a utility but as a treasure.
- Matt 13:44, conversion is stumbling on the treasure of Christ
- Believing in the treasure
- Believing the gospel in its fullness means treasuring Jesus
3. We fight for faith not to get God to be 100% for us but because He is 100% for us
4. the fight for faith is a fight to see Christ
hmmm makes me think I should go and relisten to this message, I know that over the course of NA it spoke to me the most.

God will work and He will do His mighty thing for us..... and suddenly after writing this I find myslef not so ill-equipped as I felt before. With God on our side, who can be against us?