Life of Beth=:) (Chapter 2 - Saved by a Schoolbus)

Between the end of my 2nd grade year and the beginning of my 3rd a lot of big changes took place in my young life. From kindergarten through 2nd grade, students were placed into their homerooms on a more or less random basis. Each of my homeroom classes in those grades had children of all different learning levels, and the mix of kids changed from year to year. In 3rd grade, when they consolidated all the elementary kids into one school (there had been 3) they sorted us out by ability. Little did I know then that from that point on I would be taking most of my classes with pretty much the same 30 or so kids until I graduated. Small town schools - gotta love 'em.

I had always had a small group of neighborhood friends to hang out with when I was very young, but in 2nd grade I gained a Best Friend. There is nothing like your very first best friend (at least, if you're a girl - maybe it's different for guys). Her name was Laura Bentley and her family lived on the next street up from mine, just down the alley. Her mom and my mom were friends, so we girls got to hang out a lot at each other's houses. Laura is the one who taught me how to climb the tree in my front yard, and we spent most of that summer up in it (to my parents' everlasting worry). We shared a love of magic tricks and even put on a magic show for our friends and families. Laura's mom made us beautiful magician's capes out of 2 old curtains. Life was very, very good that summer.

Now our church did not do VBS (Vacation Bible School -for those not in the know) programs in the summertime. But somehow my mom got wind of a group who was going to be doing a VBS program right in our neighborhood, at the other end of our street. Evidently some church group had gotten hold of an old school bus and was driving it around to the different neighborhoods over the course of the summer and inviting nearby neighborhood kids to come. It sounded like fun, and I'd never been before, so my mom signed me up.

I guess there must have been a handful of us who showed up. Every day that week I walked down to the other end of my street to sit in my small VBS class on the old yellow school bus. It was very much like my Sunday school class at church. We learned Bible stories about Jesus and did crafts and learned songs and had a snack. But there was one thing that was *very* different from my Sunday school class.

On the last day, they outlined for us the Plan of Salvation. Now, I didn't know it was called that, at the time. I'd only just turned eight. But I remember very clearly being puzzled, intrigued, and horrified all at the same time. Remember I'd been going to Sunday school faithfully for 2 full years now, singing in the choir. I had *never* heard of this before.

(an aside: It took me years to figure out the details, but I would make an educated guess that the VBS people were some flavor of Baptist. I grew up Methodist, and our church at least was very big on doing works for God. In retrospect, I must thank God for sending these good folks my way, as it probably would have been many years more until I heard this message.)

Though I wish they had not been quite so hellfire and brimstone about it, they outlined their message very simply. (Note: they must have been well taught - I just tried to outline it here and was failing miserably. Google "bible.org plan of salvation" if you want a good and thorough explanation).

Anyway, so I was utterly terrified of dying and going to hell (I don't recommend the fire and brimstone approach for children!) I mean, I was a pretty good kid who never made trouble. That even I wasn't good enough really floored me (yeah, I know, the pride thing - but come on, I was eight!) So right then and there I prayed the Prayer of Salvation. (Please Google that one too, I'm not even going to attempt it.)