The No Hum Drum

One of the PVC pipes lying in the grass 

Vacation Bible School was starting in a week and I had pretty much given up on getting the No Hum Drum made for the first night of closing. I was disappointed but couldn't justify paying the sixty plus dollars it was going to cost to purchase the supplies to make the thing. I'd even called one of the other churches using the same program to see if they'd like to help share the cost.  But they didn't think they'd have time to include the No Hum Drum into their evening program.  Oh well, I might just have to let this one go.  

Vacation Bible School is a big deal for our church.  A year after we moved to this area,  I did census work here on the south side of Elmira where we live. One call in particular still stands out.  I was getting ready to knock on the door of a run-down duplex when I heard a long stream of expletives directed at someone on the other side.  A young child answered the door that afternoon and I knew he and a couple of other siblings huddling in the corner of that small living room had to be the targets of an angry mother's tirade. I'd never heard children verbally attacked with such venom and it broke my heart.  I think it was at that moment that I knew we had to do whatever we could to reach as many of those children from our community as we possibly could.  They needed to know that they had value and were loved.  Vacation Bible School became a vehicle for that.

And so for the last several summers we have put everything we possibly could into making that one week in August something that the children would anticipate all year long.  Those working on the sets and props begin several weeks earlier, aiming for what they call the "wow factor."  We've had ships and caves and castles and mountains filling our sanctuary, and there is no greater reward than watching the children's faces fill with awe as they come through the "portal" on that first night.  

And that's why I wanted that No Hum Drum so badly.  Besides it being a truly cool prop, ending the evening on a high note ups the odds that they'll be back for more and hopefully bring some friends with them. But after visiting a couple of hardware stores and calculating the cost, disappointedly I figured I'd have to come up with something else.    

   

A few years ago our church bought an old building across the street and had it demolished to put in a parking lot.  At the far end of that parking lot there is a grassy area where I take Rudy the dog every morning for a few minutes and sometimes in the evening, a routine that we've been following for at least two years or more.  It was on the Monday morning exactly a week before the start of our VBS that I saw them. Two long pieces of PVC piping were protruding from the grass just a few feet away from where I stood, both the exact length and width that I needed for my No Hum Drum.

When I ran to show Larry what I had found he reminded me that the pipes had been there the entire time.  I knew he was right.  I was aware that there were a couple of dirty PVC pipes lying in the grass close to where Rudy and I walk each morning.  But on this particular day I actually saw them, I mean really saw them.  At first I couldn't quite believe that the very thing I needed to make that prop was right in front of me and had been all along.  But my Father, knowing that I would have need of that very thing in the summer of this year, already had it covered.  It just took me awhile to realize that he had.    

The No Hum Drum got made just in time.  A friend cut one of the pipes into the exact lengths I needed and another was so enthusiastic about the project that he bought the elbows needed to connect it all.  A nice bright paint job finished it off.   And as expected, the No Hum Drum was the perfect ending to that first night of Vacation Bible School.  The kids loved it. And just in case you're wondering exactly what this thing does, just ask anyone who was there. I'm sure they'd be glad to tell you all about it!       

The No Hum Drum finally completed