Beautiful Feet

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!

                                                                 Isaiah 52:7

It was a warm July evening. We showed up early because it was going to be their first time in the community and we wanted to be able to meet them there. We found the janitor, who had the keys to the school, and then we unlocked the school building and waited. And waited. And waited. They were supposed to be there at six, but six came and went and soon it was seven, then eight o’clock. Did they get lost? Did something happen? Maybe we had the wrong time.  Cell phone coverage is spotty in northern Saskatchewan, so we had no way to contact them.

Finally, at almost nine, as I looked out the window of the school and down the dusty, gravel road, a large bright yellow school bus appeared in the distance. Surely, that couldn’t be them. I had never seen a VBS team arrive in a school bus, but as the bus arrived, it pulled into the parking lot of the school. 

One by one, the team members disembarked from their ride and looked around at their new surroundings. We helped them unload their VBS supplies for the week amidst a buzz of excitement mixed with a bit of apprehension and uncertainty.  This would be their first visit to the community of Deschambault Lake, about a four-hour drive north of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

Deschambault isn’t a very large reserve, with a population of about 900 people. However, as is common in remote communities across northern Canada, many of the residents are children, with 400 students enrolled in school there.

At the end of the week, we went back to Deschambault to see how the team had done and to debrief with them. They were overwhelmed with excitement as they shared about what had happened throughout the week, and how amazing the children were. They were already discussing plans for next summer and asking questions about making trips during other times of the year.

In October I flew some of the team members back to Deschambault and spent a few days with them as they put on activities for the children and youth during the evenings.

That was five years ago.  LAMP asks their VBS teams to make a five-year commitment, so that there is time for the relationships between the team members and community to grow. However, there doesn’t seem to be any indication that this team is ready to pack it in. Since they started, they have been faithfully returning to Deschambault three times a year and in that time, their ministry has grown as they’ve developed deep relationships with the people and children of the community.

I’ve watched as year after year more children show up to VBS, and more adults come out to events. When that school bus comes down that dusty road, it’s packed to the brim with clothing and donated items so the team can host a community “garage” sale and a dinner where they feed anyone from the community who wants to come out.

This past summer, back in the community once again, there were children everywhere in the gym.  Smiles abounded as girls dressed up as princesses in their “dress up” corner of the gym, or played in the makeshift cardboard house. Other children learned how to crochet, or were banging away at nails to make their own little step stool.

Toward the end of the day, the children gathered together and sat down on mats on the gym floor as they listened to the story of how Jesus welcomed the little children, just like them. This year the VBS was titled Forever Loving You (or FLY) centered around God’s love and how He loves each and every one of them.

I’m so thankful for the volunteers and for the faithful leaders that LAMP has, as their “beautiful feet” spread the good news of God’s love, peace and salvation.  If not for people like them, and like you, the children in Deschambault may never hear the good news of how much God loves them.