CHAPTER 3
The days seemed to creep by for Mike and Gene. They had to find something to do to kill the time, so they both would go up and visit old man Bishop at least once a week. Sometimes he would give them small things that were not worth a lot, but for two young boys, anything that was new to them was a treasure.
One day while visiting old man Bishop, he asked if the boys were excited about Vacation Bible School?
“I can’t wait for Vacation Bible School to arrive. I have been planning on it since last summer,” was Mike’s reply. “Last year they said they already had everything planned out for this year and the theme this year is going to be SCUBA Diving.
When Mike said SCUBA diving, Gene acted as if someone had poked him with a knife. He jumped up and said, “Did you say SCUBA diving?”
“That’s exactly what I said, Gene.”
“Well, just how does this Vacation Bible School work?”
“From what I’ve heard people say, the theme will be about SCUBA diving. They are going to show a movie about SCUBA diving and tell what you have to do to learn how to dive. Everything is going to be centered around the Gospel, of course.”
“Oh, that’s just great,” answered Gene. “More preaching and more of what it takes to get saved. I just wish people would stop trying to get me saved. I hate for people telling me about Jesus dying on the cross for my sins and that I am going to Hell.”
Mr. Bishop looked at Gene and said, “You mean, you are not saved?”
“Well, Mr. Bishop I am kinda saved.”
“Gene, there is no ‘kinda’ saved, either you are or you are not. That first day that I went to church with you and the Fishers, I thought for sure you were saved. You had the look of being content and you knew all the words and phrases of a Christian. You also had that walk of confidence that a Christian has, when he or she knows they are saved. Now you are talking are a heathen. Gene, since you are talking like a heathen, then I will treat you like a heathen.” Gene had no idea what that meant.
Right then, old man Bishop started telling Gene about the Gospel and what it takes for a person to get saved. Since you do not know if you are saved or not, maybe it is best if we take care of that question right now. Gene, would you like to ask Christ into your heart?”
“NO! Now tell me more about Vacation Bible School.”
“At the end of the week, there is going to be a SCUBA diving instructor at the church and he is going to be giving away free passes for one hour of training at his dive shop."
”You get one hour of free diving at his dive shop?” Gene asked.
“That’s right. All you have to do is to call and tell them that you are interested in diving and the instructor will set a time for your family to go down and see if you like to dive.”
“Wow, that’s for me! When does Vacation Bible School start?”
Mr. Bishop said that VBS would start in three weeks.
“Mike, I don’t care what I’m doing or what I have planned, you need to remind me about VBS.”
“You know, Gene, I tried to get you to go last year and you made every excuse under the sun for not going. You promise you will go this year?”
“I promise I will go this year. Also, I know that everyone is going to try and get me saved, but I can’t miss the SCUBA stuff!”
“GENE, MR. BISHOP WAS CONCERNED SO MUCH ABOUT YOUR SOUL; HE WAS WILLING TO LEAD YOU IN A PRAYER OF SALVATION. YOU MADE IT VERY CLEAR THAT YOU DID NOT WANT TO BE SAVED. FROM THAT DAY UNTIL THE DAY THAT MR. BISHOP DIED, HE PRAYED TWO, AND SOMETIMES THREE TIMES A DAY FOR YOUR SALVATION. ALSO, MIKE AND HIS FAMILY WERE PRAYING EVERY DAY FOR YOU. ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS TO OPEN YOUR HEART JUST A LITTLE AND I WOULD HAVE GIVEN YOU THE DESIRE TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN. BUT YOU NEVER WOULD OPEN YOUR HEART. NOW YOU WILL SEE HOW MANY TIMES DURING VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL YOU HAD A CHANCE TO ACCEPT. BUT THEN, YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID, DON’T YOU?”
“Yes, Lord, I continued to reject."
During the next two weeks, Mr. Bishop had many opportunities to talk to Gene. Each time the subject would come up about Christ or anything religious, Gene made it very clear he was not interested.
Sunday night was very warm and beautiful; just the kind of night two little boys always dream about. Mike and Gene were outside, sitting on the driveway, when Mike decided he would go in and get a blanket. He spread the blanket out and he and Mike laid down so they could look at all of the stars. “Gene, tomorrow VBS starts. Are you still planning on going with me or will you forget like you did last year?”
“I said I was planning on going and I am going to do exactly what I said.”
“Okay, it starts at nine and it is over at twelve. We will have the best three hours of our lives.”
“How many stars do you think there are in the sky, Mike?”
“I don’t know, but I know that one of these days I will know the exact number, if I want to know. But I think I will have more important things to do in heaven other than wondering how many stars are in the universe.”
“Oh, I forgot, you have to bring God and Heaven into everything we talk about.”
“I can’t help it, Gene. I am a Christian and I am supposed to tell people about Christ. But more important is the fact that one day, we will take our last breath on earth. The preacher said, once we take our last breath, we will then be breathing air in Heaven or in Hell. I know that I am going to breathing heavenly air, but, Gene, what about you?”
“Mike, why don’t we just look at the stars and stop all the talking? It is so peaceful and silent, I just want to remember this moment.”
“Gene! Gene! It’s time to come in and take a bath and then it’s time for bed,” Gene’s mom called.
“Okay, Mom, I’ll be there in one minute.”
“Don’t forget we have to be at the church at nine.”
“I’ll be up and ready to go,” was Gene’s reply.
The morning sun came up and was shining brightly when Gene heard his alarm go off. “Oh, I don’t want to get up, I want to sleep all day long.” As he lay there, he started to think about the theme in Vacation Bible School. He jumped up and went straight into the kitchen and asked his mom if she could fix him something that would stay with him until lunch?
“I take it you are still planning on going to VBS?”
“I told Mike I was planning on going and I am going to keep my word.”
“Gene, listen to the things that the teachers teach you and what the preacher says. If they ask if you would like to accept Christ, don’t be quick with your answer. Think about what Christ did on the cross for you.”
“You’ve never said anything like this to me before, Mom. Are you alright?”
“Gene, when I was a little girl, I went to church all the time with my mom and dad. We loved going. However, I knew there was something wrong. I always had a void in my heart. One day the preacher told everyone that if a person was not saved, there is a void and the only way to fill that void is to accept. I knew I had to accept and many, many times I wanted to go forward, but my parents told me not to embarrass them in front of the church. You see, my dad was one of the deacons and because he was a deacon, they thought that his kids were all saved. One Sunday morning, I asked if I could go forward and accept and my dad said that everyone thought that I was already saved. He said if I went forward, it would make him look bad. I never went forward. (Thelma stopped the story there without telling him that in her heart, standing in the pew, she accepted Christ as her personal Savior. She did not tell anyone about accepting. She just kept it in her heart).
“Gene, if you have that same void, open your heart to the Lord and He will give you the light that you will need to accept. This will be the easiest time for you, with all the other kids.”
“Mom, I believe what dad told me. He said there is no Heaven or Hell and he said that there is no way one man could take all the sins of the world and place them on himself. If one person could take my sin, why wou
ld he?”
“Gene, Christ has taken your sin and my sin and every person’s sin that has ever lived on earth to the cross. That’s how much He loves us. He was willing to die for us.
“Also, don’t believe everything your dad says, because he can be wrong sometimes.
“I’ll fix you some eggs and bacon and I also have your favorite, chocolate milk,” said his mother with a sad look on her face.
After breakfast, Gene brushed his teeth and made sure his clothes were just right. As he walked out the front door, he hollered and said he would be home a little after twelve.
The short drive to the church only took ten minutes, but during that ten minutes, Gene did nothing but talk. The subject was on scuba diving. He said everything his little imagination could come up with and most of the ideas were really fantasies about what he assumed was real SCUBA diving.
Once at the church, Mike and Gene took off running and playing and talking with their friends. At five minutes before nine, Pastor Mark Foster walked outside and began to blow his whistle. “It’s time to come in and get settled. Let’s go!” All the children from pre-school up through the sixth grade came into the church and had a seat.
Mark walked to the front of the church and asked for everyone to get quiet while he talked. “We are so excited about this year’s Vacation Bible School and the theme we have picked. Some of you already know that the theme is SCUBA diving. But what you may not know is that I have my master diving certificate. This means that during this week, I will tell you all about diving and then those of you that would like to have a free hour of diving can go to the dive shop. At the dive shop, you will have professionals to help you and I will also be there.
“Our custom in this church is to present the Gospel during VBS week, using a theme we have picked. We also have a custom, during VBS week, where we pick one of our missionaries to support. Each day we would like for everyone to bring their pennies and put them in our two old kettles. This kettle is marked boys,” as he pointed to the one on the left, “and this kettle is marked girls,” and he pointed to the one on the right. “So, does everyone know what the challenge is?”
All the children screamed out, “Boys against the girls!” One little girl stood up and said that the girls had won three years in a row.
Gene glanced over at Mike and giggled and in a low voice he said, “You let girls beat you three years in a row?”
“There were always twice as many girls,” Mike defended. “This year we are just about even.”
“Since I am on the team, we are not going to lose. I have been saving pennies for a rainy day and I think that rainy day has just arrived. Plus, I am not going to let a girl beat me at anything,” commented Gene.
“We are going to divide into groups, and at eleven thirty, we will come back into the auditorium so I can give you a short message about SCUBA diving and the Gospel.
“At this time, Mrs. Adams will come forward and break you up into your groups.” The children were sent, by age, to their respective rooms with their teachers and their helpers. Gene and Mike went to their regular Sunday School room where their age group met.
Their teacher for the week was going to be Mike’s favorite, Dan. Dan stood at the door as each boy walked past and asked for their name. When it was Gene’s turn to walk past Dan, Gene turned and said, “I don’t want to accept today, okay?” Dan did not say a word, but down deep he felt that pain that he had felt when he tried to lead Gene in a prayer of salvation that Sunday morning a few weeks back.
After getting settled in their seats, Dan showed them a chart where they would keep track of the days they were present, how many Bible verses they learned, and how many visitors they had brought. He told them there would be contests in each of these areas, but they would talk about that later.
Next, they opened their booklets where the daily lessons were and discussed the information. There were puzzles to do that pertained to the lesson and their memory verses.
After what seemed like only a few minutes, they were rushing down the hall to the craft room, where they were creating all sorts of underwater items. This was one of the best parts of VBS. They even got to take the things home at the end of the week.
Again, they were moving. This time they were headed outside for a snack and some games. Gene really liked this part, because no one mentioned being saved, and there wasn’t any of that religious stuff, that he hated so much. Of course they prayed, but he never paid attention when that was going on. He just kept his mind on what would happen next.
The game they played was called SCUBA Relay. Each age group was divided into two teams, A and B. In Mike’s room, there were twelve boys, so they had two teams of six. Team A then divided up into pairs. Three pairs of the boys made up each team. When the relays started, each pair of boys had to hold onto a piece of rope. If you let go, you were given a five second penalty. Each pair had to run to the other end and pass the rope to the next pair of runners. At the end of the race, Pastor Mark would add up any penalty seconds and add that to the total time and the lowest time was the winner. The winning team received something special. After the relay race, it was time to go inside for the other fun thing in VBS, the singing.
“Now what are we going to do?” Gene asked.
“This is the best part of VBS. It’s the singing time,” Mike explained.
“You mean we are going to sing all of those slow moving songs that we sang in church the last time I came with you?”
“No, no. These are fun songs and most of them are fast. Just listen to the words and you will find that some are very funny. Wait and see.”
On the way inside for the singing part of the day, Gene noticed that everyone was getting back together, in their groups, in the main auditorium. Gene feared that they were going to have to sit still until Mark had finished with his message. All the while, he kept wondering, “When are they going to sing like Mike said?”
Mark walked to the front and looked at his watch. It was exactly eleven thirty. “At this time, before we sing,
I am going to tell you about some of the things that have to do with SCUBA diving. Does anyone know why we had a SCUBA relay with partners?” No one said a word. “The reason we had a SCUBA relay is because in SCUBA diving, you always dive with a partner. The quickest way to get yourself in trouble is to dive alone. By having a partner, you have to rely on him for security and he also has to rely on you for security.”
Mark had a tank, a regulator, and a BC (buoyancy compensator) lying on the floor next to him. He picked up the tank and regulator and pointed to a thing that SCUBA divers call an octopus. “If by accident, you or your partner were to run out of air from one of the tanks, you could share the air in your partner's tank with this extra mouthpiece, that is called an octopus. Without a partner, you would die.
In SCUBA diving, you always have to rely on someone else. The same is true with the Gospel. Now most of you may not know what the Gospel is, so I am going to tell you what the Gospel really is and where to find it. It is found in I Corinthians 15:3, 4 - 'For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.' The Gospel is that Jesus Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and he rose from the grave the third day. The only thing that He wants you to do is to accept Him as your savior. Remember about you having to rely on your partner in SCUBA diving? The same holds true with the Gospel. You have to rely on the only person that has the power to save you, that being Jesus Christ. Just think: What would happen if something happened to your partner? You would have no one. But, with Christ, He is always there, if you need help. He will never leave you nor forsake you.
Do you want someone with you all the time? Do you want someone that will never leave you? Do you want someone that will listen to your problems? Do you want so
meone that you can lean on when times are bad? If you said yes to any of those questions, then what you need to do is to ask Christ into your heart. When we finish singing, I will give a one minute invitation and if you want to accept Christ as your Savior, we will have plenty of time for that.
“The first song is “I Am a Promise.” In SCUBA diving, many people don’t have the confidence that they can dive or even rely on their equipment. In the song, it says, “I am a promise, I am a possibility, I am a promise, with a capital P. I am a great big bundle of potentiality.” Each and every one of you has the potential to be whatever you want to be. But when you have Christ in your heart, HE guides and directs you in the direction that He would like for you to go. Jan will now come and lead in the singing?”
Jan Patterson stood up from the front row and said, “It’s time to sing!” All the children started to clap and to cheer. On the screen behind her, the words to each song were displayed. The first song, as the pastor said, was one of the children’s favorites, “I Am A Promise.”
When the songs were over, Gene was quite surprised that the songs went along with the lessons. They weren’t so bad after all. In fact, they were quite lively and had all sorts of motions with them. “Maybe this would not be so bad after all,” Gene thought.
After all the songs were over, Mark stood up and said, “Christ wants to live in each of your hearts. What we learned today about SCUBA diving should open your minds to the idea that you cannot depend on yourself, but you must rely on someone else. Let that person be Jesus. If you want Jesus to come into your heart, come forward and we will show you in the Bible that you can have eternal life.”
Out of the 146 children in VBS, 26 came forward and accepted Christ as their personal Savior. Gene was one of those that did not move. He had already made up his mind that he was not going forward for any reason.
Once everyone was back in their seats, Mark reminded all the children to bring their pennies for the missionaries the next day. “Also, why don’t you bring a friend or two and see how the Lord works with them?”
On the way out, Mike looked at Gene and asked if he liked the first day?
“I loved it! The songs were great and the story about the SCUBA relay and always having a partner was interesting. You know what I liked the best?”
“What?”
“No one asked me to accept Christ as my savior.”
“You mean Dan did not say a word about becoming a Christian?”
“I didn’t give him a chance. When we walked into the room, I told him I did not want to accept, so don’t ask.”
“Gene, did you really say that to Dan?”
“I told you I did.”
“I guess that is why Dan had that sad look in his eyes this morning. I didn’t know what it was, but now I know. He knows that if you never accept you will go to Hell when you die.”
“Ha! I’m having one of the greatest days of my life, so let’s don’t start on Heaven and Hell.”
At the front door, Mark thanked each child for coming and told them that he hoped they would be back the next day.
Mike and Gene were some of the last to leave the church. At the door, Mike thanked the pastor for everything and promised he would be back with Gene the next day.
“So your name is Gene?”
“That’s my name and I promise I will be back. I loved all the things about SCUBA diving.”
“Oh, you love SCUBA diving? So are you going to take the free one hour lesson?”
“If I can talk my folks into taking me, that would be a miracle in itself.”
“You can come with me, if they won’t take you, but they will have to sign a release statement for you,” the pastor told him.
“I guess that is settled. I am going to get a free, one hour of SCUBA diving.”
Mark stated that it is exciting to see kids interested in SCUBA diving and the things of the Lord. “How long have you been saved Gene?”
The statement caught Gene completely off guard. Mark had just eased into the question about salvation.
“Well, I, I.”
Mike looked at Mark and said, “Gene wants to put off accepting until he feels the time is right.”
“Gene, when do you think the time will be right?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I want to have a feeling or something like that. Then I will accept.”
“If you are depending on a feeling to let you know that the time is right for accepting, you had better accept right now, because we know the Lord does not work with feelings to lead a person to Himself. Would you like for me to show you what the Bible says about accepting and what the Bible says about those people that reject?”
“No, I already know what it says. Mike tells me all the time. Maybe I will accept tomorrow.”
That night, Gene’s mother asked if he had a chance to accept.
“I had about four or five chances, but I just didn’t feel like it was the right time for me.”
“Gene, please don’t put it off. One of these days you will regret that you never accepted. You are so young and your heart has not had all the bad influences from the secular world, yet.”
“I will accept, Mom. I promise.”
The following day at VBS was similar to the day before, with the exception of the message that Mark brought. Mark said that each and every person that becomes a Christian must place their faith in Jesus Christ. He said that faith is something that we cannot not see, feel, or touch, but it is there even if we say that we don’t believe. “All day long, we experience faith whether we realize it or not. Children, what are you sitting on?”
The children hollered out, “A pew.”
“That is right, a pew. Before you sat down, did you stop to think whether that pew would hold your weight or not? Of course, you did not think about that, you just sat down. That is faith, because you did not think about it. What about the times that you turn on a light? You have faith that there is going to be light so you can see what you are doing. In SCUBA diving, you use faith, also. You have faith that someone put enough air in your tank so you can dive down and stay for twenty minutes and you can come back up. You also have faith that you can depend on your diving partner, if you get into trouble.
“Faith is with us no matter where we go or what we do. Ephesians 2:8, 9 - 'For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God-Not of works, lest any man should boast.' In this verse we see that we must have faith in order to be saved. Also, salvation is a gift; something that God wants us to have. You must ask yourself if you want a gift? Can you buy it? Can you steal it? Can you trade for it? Can you take it from someone else? The answer to all of those questions is no. It is free. You only have to receive it. Those of you that want to receive that free gift, come forward.”
The Holy Spirit was working very hard to get as many children saved as He could. The first day there were 146 children in VBS. But the second day, there were 177 that showed up for VBS. Never, in all the years of VBS, had there been that many children attending. When Mark asked for those that wanted to receive the free gift of salvation, there were 23 new children that came forward; But not Gene.
Starting on the second day until the end of the week, all the children brought their pennies for the kettles. Old man Bishop was the kettle keeper and the counter of the money. At the end of each day, he would give the total for boys and girls. On the last day, Gene brought all the pennies he had been saving up. The total was $22.12 in pennies. When Mr. Bishop made his final count, the boys had won by 37 cents.
Gene looked at Mike and said, “If it wasn’t for my $22.12 this morning, the boys would have lost four years in a row. You had better be glad I came this week.”
Mike nodded and said he was very happy, but that he was praying that his prayer would be answered.
“What prayer is that?”
“I was praying that you would open your heart t
o Jesus.”
“Well, Mike, don’t stop praying. Maybe one of these days your prayers will be answered,” and he chuckled under his breath.
“GENE YOU WENT TO VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL ALL WEEK LONG. YOU HEARD THE GOSPEL AND WHAT YOU HAD TO DO TO GET SAVED. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES YOU REJECTED?”
“No, Lord, I lost all count after the first day.”
“YOU HAD 22 CHANCES TO ACCEPT AND 22 TIMES YOU REJECTED. YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND OR KNOW THE WAY THAT I WORK, BECAUSE YOUR MIND IS FINITE WHICH MEANS YOUR MIND IS LIMITED. IF YOU COULD HAVE UNDERSTOOD MY WORKING, YOU WOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT THE THEME THAT YEAR WAS THE THEME I PLACED IN THE MIND OF MARK IN ORDER TO GET YOU SAVED. BUT, I KNEW YOU WOULD NOT ACCEPT, SO I USED THAT THEME TO GET A MULTITUDE OF OTHERS SAVED. YOU SEE, I PLACED THINGS IN YOUR PATH ALL YOUR LIFE TO OPEN YOUR HEART TO ME, BUT EACH AND EVERY TIME YOU REFUSED. I USED THOSE TIMES TO GET OTHERS SAVED. AT THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT, YOU CANNOT SAY THAT YOU NEVER HAD A CHANCE. YOU HAD HUNDREDS OF CHANCES.”