I spent the better part of Sunday decorating a room at Burnt Hickory Baptist Church for this week’s Vacation Bible School, and came away awed by the creativity and organizational skills of the women involved. It crossed my mind more than once that they should probably be put in charge of the oil spill cleanup down south.

It’s been years since I participated in VBS with my older daughters, and the differences between the mid-90s and now are fairly astounding.

Much of the curriculum material for this year’s Saddle Ridge Ranch theme is now on CD. You sign up online, mostly. Volunteer teachers were all over the church’s die cut machine. I hated to admit I’d never even seen one. And amidst all the decorating excitement of today you could hear the Blackberrys buzzing and ring tones ringing, the moms using their technology to keep things running smoothly both at the church and at home.

When it comes right down to it, however, the spirit and meaning of VBS is the same as it was 40 years ago. Busy moms like me put things aside for a week and try to plant a few seeds in the children. I remember the impression it made on me the first time I heard a VBS director mention that some of the kids she’d met had never set foot in a church before and some had never even heard of Jesus before coming to VBS. This might be the only chance they have to learn that they are loved, no matter what. And that can be pretty important to a kid these days.

We didn’t have VBS where I lived, growing up in Nebraska, but I wish we did. It’s a lot of fun, even when the temperature climbs close to 100 degrees.

As far as "teaching," the thought of sixteen little faces (kindergarteners) waiting expectantly for directions is just a bit intimidating. I only hope that all us moms and grandmoms can do right by the children whose lives we’ll touch this week.