All Aboard

Cape Town children were on spring break this week, which meant it was time for Holiday Club (akin to Vacation Bible School) in the various communities Living Hope serves. Assisted by a team from Brentwood, Tennessee, each club featured an Australian train theme, the Boomerang Express (because, as with a boomerang, life “all comes back to Jesus”).

The actual Bible lessons focused on the disciple Peter and his relationship with Jesus – leaving his job as a fisherman to follow Christ, walking on water, denying he knew the Lord after His arrest, witnessing His resurrection, and ultimately becoming an influential evangelist and church leader. Each day at our club in Red Hill, “Peter” (yours truly dressed in robe and headcloth) would show up and deliver a monologue based on that day’s story. Considering that I have no acting ability whatsoever, this was yet more evidence that with God all things are possible.

We hosted between 100 and 130 kids each day (about twice what we have during our normal after-school program), so it was a busy week, to say the least. Worship music and certain teaching segments were held in the local Apostolic Faith Mission church (pictured), but because of the numbers, we had to rotate kids to outdoor sites for crafts and additional teaching. This challenge was complicated by the fact that a steady wind of 30-35 mph blew throughout much of the week.

In typical South African fashion, the whole endeavor was barely controlled chaos. But that’s part of the fun, and as always seems to happen, things worked out fine in the end. The kids had a great time, ate well (600-plus sandwiches and at least twice that many apples, oranges and bananas) and learned what it means to be a committed Christ-follower.

On Wednesday our volunteer coordinator, Mike, came to visit the Red Hill club. When I told him I was playing the role of Peter, he said by the end of the week I would be “petered out.” And indeed I was.