VJ is back!

We had hundreds of kids at VJ tonight. I was freshly amazed by what an incredible ministry this is. Hiring buses to go INTO these local towns, to pick the kids up, put on a night for them...and share the Gospel with them.

How fun to do the bus run around Monnow Way again and see so many Bettws kids' faces and catch up about how their summers went. Gappers, they miss you and asked about you loads. Want to know when you'll be back. How soon should I tell them? =)

Dai Hankey (pronounced "Die") spoke (and rapped) tonight. He asked the kids, "Who do [they} say Jesus is?" I was so pleased at how well they listened. Not perfectly, but they didn't clap for him to get off the stage half way through his message....this is improvement from last VJ.

He told the kids to feel free to come chat with him after the message was over if they had any questions. He's the one in the white top sitting on the steps in the picture below. One girl, Zoey, who was the first girl I met at my first VJ last year, went up to him immediately. Please pray for her heart. I was so blessed to see a little queue of kids come up after her (what a brave move!) to talk to Dai and ask questions. Oh, LORD, soften their hearts and rescue them. Open their eyes to their need for You.



Sweet Becky Tappin.

It is a temptation to be discouraged by nights like tonight. No "good conversations" with anyone about the Gospel. Many attempts to engage with the Bettws girls who used to follow me around...now, too cool to talk to me. Hundreds of smiles and "Hey! How was your summer?!" (complete with American expressiveness) with very little responses. Left standing alone while the girls follow each other out of the circle to the loo or to get a can or some penny sweets.

But as I rode on the bus ride to drop the kids off, all I could remind myself of is that God is working. He can use even my most feeble attempts to love on others and care for them in ways I'll never know this side of heaven. He doesn't need me, that's for sure. But He has put me here. I even told the bus driver that so often I look around and wonder how I got here.

I did not choose Him. He chose me and apponited me that I might go and bear fruit; fruit that will last.

I hope in this truth. I cling to it. I don't see it. I don't understand it...but like a quote that I heard earlier this week, "Trust is not based on our ability to understand the circumstance...." Because our God is a humble God, He chooses to use sinners to be a means by which the Gospel is shared that others might come to saving faith. I am one of those sinners. And even if they won't listen, I'm here to proclaim and demonstrate how Jesus has changed my life.

To Him alone be glory.