All last week I got to help out with Camp Compass (our church’s version of Vacation Bible School). I didn’t have a permanent position but was a fill-in for people who needed help or leaders who couldn’t be there. They called me a “Gumby.” I had a great week talking with 4th graders and doing whatever needed to be done. If Tyler wasn’t in Jr. Camp Compass I carried him around in his Baby Bijorn and as you can see, he was a happy little camper.

They had a childrens music guy there named Rob Biagi who does a bunch of catchy songs with choregography. I still can’t get some of them out of my head! The teaching was centered around characteristics of God’s love–giving, kind, caring, forgiving and forever. Bobby had the opportunity to teach the 4th-6th grade group (the Sharks!). My favorite lesson he gave this week was the day on giving. He brought out a great point from the familiar verse, John 3:16–

“For God so loved the world that He gave
His only only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life.”

We are very familiar with this verse but rarely hear about John 3:14-15–

“And as Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man
be lifted up,
that whoever believes in Him
should not perish
but have eternal life.”

This verse is a reference to Numbers 21:5-9 where the Israelites were complaining and the Lord sent firey serpents among the people and the bit the people and many of them died. The Israelites turned to Moses and told him they had sinned against the Lord and begged him to ask the Lord to take the serpents away. So the Lord said to Moses–

“Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole;
and it shall be that everyone who is bitten,
when he looks at it, shall live.”

Bobby brought some gummy worms and gave one to each camper. At first they pretended the gummy worms were fiery serpents trying to eat them. So Bobby held up a gummy worm they could look at and live that represented the serpent Moses had put on a pole. Bobby asked how many of the campers had complained before and every one of them raised their hand. He explained that we also needed to confess this sin against the Lord and look to Christ to live. In fact, the gummy worm Bobby had held up was taped to a cross. Suddenly it wasn’t just a Bible story, but an example of the repentance and faith in Christ we all need to have to be saved. It is encouraging to me how a story so simple that children can understand has such serious impact on our eternity.