happy stories, june 2015

I've had a pretty great couple of weeks.
last week we had our annual elevation summer camp- and it went perfectly. great weather, great leaders, great students. it was the perfect mixture of fun and serious.

 

like every year, we spent a lot of time at the lake, we went to the outdoor movie theater, and we had out door teaching and music. we also had jiffy pop and smores over an open fire.

this year I taught on joseph, and talked about how God gave Joseph a dream for his life- and how Joseph got clues of God's dream when he was a teenager.
at the end of the camp, I urged the students to dream and consider what God's dream might be for them and their lives. I encouraged them to paint a picture of how God might use them in the future. the students sat quietly for about 15 minutes and painted their pictures. I walked around and peeked over some shoulders to see what they were making. some drew teachers, some drew doctors, and one drew...me. it was a painting of my little green youth room, with tvs on the wall with the (678) logo on them- and at the front of the room was a man teaching the students- except it wasn't me- it was the grown up version of himself.
his dream was to be like me.
how cool is that?
when I was a teenager, my dream was to be just like my youth pastor, and by God's grace- that dream moves past me and forward to this student.

when I got home from camp, I got this cool father's day card and went to Malibu grill to get ribs and French fries! I think the painting is supposed to be of me- even though I don't like wearing ties.

jane got to go to her last VBS this year- and she didn't get sick this time! she loved all of the teaching and the music.

on the second to the last day, we got tickets to go to a giants day game, but she refused to leave town until VBS was over. she said, "VBS is more important than sports, DAD!" I told her that I agree 100%. The game was a blast, and it was so cool to go to the place that we have seen so many times on tv.

 

on the way home from the game I snapped this picture of a happy kid with her mermaid toy in her hand and with a cherry lollipop in her mouth-

 



the other day we were driving to dinner and we saw a news reporter outside of our house- jane was so excited and we stopped to meet her and to take a quick picture- she showed us her news van and told us how she films her stories:

 

back to VBS- I was delighted to watch my wife lead so many volunteers and be respected for her leadership abilities and not just for being the pastor's wife. I was also thrilled to see so many of my current and former students serving God and helping kids.

 

 

my favorite story of the week happened on the last day of VBS. I picked up Jane and took her to lunch. I asked her how everything went and she told me about the songs and the dramas and the games. and then she said, "in the big group someone asked the teacher how old David was when he became king." apparently the teacher walked around the room and asked students what they thought his age might have been when he was crowned king. Then Jane said, "then I raised my hand and said, 'well, I read in my adventure bible that he was 30 when he became king.'" apparently someone googled it and confirmed that jane had it right.

 

I almost wrecked the car.

I said, "wait. there was a question about the bible- and YOU answered it?!" I was beaming with pride. I high fived her. I said, "Jane- that is awesome! I'm so proud of that!" she said, "I'm feeling my cheeks get red!" MY KID read her bible and knew the answer to the bible question. to me- that is the coolest thing ever.

 

jane was telling me that she wants to serve at VBS next year and keep on serving until she is a senior citizen like miss carol. I told her that I plan on serving kids until I'm a senior like miss carol too.

 

what a great week!

God is love.

-rev-rob