The Whole Story & Five-Minute Devotions...

Finding a good Children's Bible can be very difficult. That is, finding one that actually portrays and walks through the storyline of Scripture, rather than arbitrarily selecting novel bible stories that make for great flannel board display, but are often highlighted in such a way that actually does a disservice to the over arching narrative of Scripture.

Unfortunately, the predominate model(s) used in the average Children's Bible, as well as most Sunday School and Children's Curriculums used on Sundays are often bite sized Bible chunks of individual stories that are disengaged from the larger Scriptural Storyline. As result, we learn niffy "morals," which have a place, about select Bible characters, but fail to make the connection of how that particular character, as well as the aforementioned story contribute to the dealings and pursuit of God with humanity.

Each night for the past couple of years Micah and I read through the Story of Scripture. We take about fifteen minutes each night. There are two particular children's Bibles that we use, one of which actually does a great job tracking through the narrative as a whole without irrelevantly getting stuck on the "popular" stories. We've gone through each of these Bibles at least five times.

Last month, after finishing another round through the Bible, we picked up something new off the bookshelf. A book recently given to us (Naylah actually) by Charissa's parents. It's probably the best children's devotional I've ever read. The author of the Five Minute Devotions for Children: Celebrating God's World As a Family, Pamela Kennedy explores the temperament and make up of various animals. She looks at how the act and interact, as well as other interesting tid-bits of their development process. She then relates that to our walk with God with a few thoughts and several questions. I've found the questions to be simple, yet they've provided a great spring board into deeper conversations with Micah about our walk with God and a host of other things... If you're looking for something to read with your children, this could be well worth the time and money...