Like a box of new rubber bands, we were still in the box and unused. We knew Who had purchased us (Jesus) and we knew the extremely high cost (the cross) that had been paid, but we still did not know our purpose. We arrived, unpacked and quickly realized that the box had been opened! We were ready to see how God would use us. Once out of the box, the stretching began.
Praying out loud in a group? Ouch. Prayer walking in neighborhoods that desperately need to know about God's love? Ouch, ouch. Knocking on doors to invite strangers to Vacation Bible School? Ouch, ouch ouch! Then the seemed chaos or VBS crafts - trying to hold everything together - smiling, nurturing the kids, paint and glue EVERYWHERE! Ouch! Sometimes we slipped and things fell apart, so we re-stretched with God's grace. A little less painful, but still outside the box.
Now the week is coming to a close. The stretching is not so fearful, almost welcomed because we know our purpose now and know we are not doing it alone. It felt so good to be useful - not easy - but God is good.
Thank you to BUMP organization leaders and teams for this experience. I have known these three little "rubber bands" since they were in my pre-school Sunday School class and watched them grow up in church. I have seen tremendous spiritual growing in the past few months because of our BUMP preparation, student workbooks, devotional materials and on-site support. We felt that our heads were well-prepared. We found our hearts here.
As we pack up and go home, it is my prayer that we see because of our stretching we are bigger than we were at the beginning of our BUMP experience and that we never have to go back into the box.
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