My Paycheck From God

I remember when I was a kid how much I looked forward to the Summer and all the different activities sponsored by the local schools and churches.

One particular Summer I recall, was the Summer I attended Vacation Bible School (VBS). It wasn't held at my church or even called VBS back then, rather, it was simply called Summer Bible School (SBS) and it was held at a nearby Baptist Church that a couple of my friends belonged to.

The reason I remember SBS so well that year is because that was the first time I ever received a paycheck; a paycheck from God!’

To make this story a whole lot clearer, that week at SBS, my friends and I and my sister were assigned certain tasks to perform. Our reward would be that we'd receive a paycheck from God. Seemed kind of far fetched to us, God giving us a paycheck, but when you're young and very impressionable, nothing seems impossible and you accept what you're told without question; and to put in simple terms, you just don't ask, HOW?

Well, like all good Christian children, we worked hard and performed our tasks without any problems. We planted flowers in the church garden; swept the floors in the church hall; placed tablecloths on the tables inside the church’s recreation hall and even made beautiful paper centerpieces to be used for their next upcoming social event. That's just an example of the few tasks we did that week, but in between performing those various type of chores, we had lots of fun and did many fun things too. We drew pictures, sang songs, listened to stories and played games. We baked cookies, put on skits and wrote letters to our Moms and our Dads. It was a ‘glorious’ week and I didn't want it to come to an end, but it's like they say, ‘all good things have to end sometime’ and unfortunately, this was no exception to the rule.

When the day came for my sister and my friends and I to collect our paychecks, we didn't waste any time getting in line. We were all curious to see how much God had given us! It was all too fantastic! A signed paycheck from God for them and ME! I still wondered though how they got God to sign it and the only thing I could come up with at that age was simply, the checks were left overnight in the church office and in the morning they were all signed. There had to be some explanation! I mean, God wouldn't have just signed them in front of anyone. They would have seen Him!

As I grabbed my envelope and hurriedly tore open the seal, excitement stirred within me and I was filled with anticipation. I was actually receiving today my first paycheck ever and it was from God! GOD yet! I took my paycheck from the envelope, stared at it for a long moment and then began to read what was written on it ....

To: My Most Precious Child, Michelle Sexton
In the amount of: Eternal Life
Signed: GOD, Your Heavenly Father

Well! I may have been young and somewhat naïve, but I got it! Yes! I got it! and I've never forgotten that day! I went home very happy that day with my paycheck in hand and I was very proud!

Many, many years have passed since I got my first paycheck from God and over the years I earned many others working different jobs, but no paycheck has ever meant to me as much as that paycheck meant to me that day. When I left SBS with my sister and friends that afternoon, I wasn't disappointed. No! Not in the least! Something occurred to me on my walk home. Something very important! Working for God didn't end there at SBS; working for God was a lifetime job and if I wanted to have what was written on that paycheck, ’Eternal Life’, I had to earn it!