My VBS Experience

I believe it was the summer of 1994 when I was invited by Cokesbury (our curriculum publishing arm of The United Methodist Church) to join a crack-team of writers in Nashville, Tennessee for a week-long, think-tank, writing-academy to create the Vacation Bible School curriculum for 1996.

Now, here's the thing. I am old now. My memory ain't what it use to be. And I honestly can't recall what the theme was for the VBS that year, nor the names of any of the people who joined me in Nashville that summer. Although I do recall that I was reunited with Ron Foster, an old friend from Duke Div school, who was living in Maryland at the time.

But to make a long story short, in a week we created the VBS curriculum for The United Methodist Church. All of us writers were paid for this work, though I certainly can't recall how much filthy lucre I took home (but it wasn't much, hombre). I was called to Nashville because I had been writing much of the high school SS curriculum for Cokesbury around that time (and I mean, a LOT OF IT).

However, that summer in Nashville, I don't remember much except laughing hysterically, having some nice meals each night, and living out of a tiny cubicle in a woman's dormitory (no women, however, darn it!). And, surprisingly, although I don't remember people, I remember the books I was reading at the time. Instead of socializing with people most nights, I returned to my tiny cubicle to read Bernard Malamud's novel, The Assistant. And, although I don't remember the VBS theme, people, or situations around creating that curriculum, I still recall rather lengthy sections of Malamud's novel.

So, in case you are wondering about my sanity, and what my mind comprehends and retains, now you know.

I think like a book.