Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts; let them proclaim your power.I am a Christ-believing mom of two elementary aged boys and I'm always on the lookout for good Bible resources to teach them God's word. I'm also always praying for those teachable moments when we are "at home and on the road, going to bed and getting up..." But so often I feel like I'm reading them Bible stories that either are too baby-fied or sterilized, or I'm reading them from the Bible in a language they don't speak.
I love the Bible. I believe it to be God's word. I believe it to be God's story, history, and the written revelation of His plan to love and save mankind through Christ. I believe the message of every story to speak ultimately of Christ. I believe it to be the authoritative truth in a world full of man's finicky and measly opinions. And of all the things I want to do in this life, I want to proclaim to my children (and the children in their generation) the truth of God, His power, His story, His salvation, and His purposes for them. Recently I bought a great child's story Bible written by a woman who had heard the stories her mother told growing up. I was using it to read to my kids at night, and although for the most part its good, some things did not line up with what I understood the message of scripture (as perfectly revealed in the God-Man Christ Jesus) to be.
Today at a church gathering, a man and his family who live in Papua New Guinea and translate the Bible into the language of native-people they live amongst, talked to us about his heart in doing this. He talked about how God is communicating with people and has been for all of time- how God desires to meet us where we are and make Himself available to us. He talked about how God speaks the language of the people He's revealing himself to as He did to Israel thousands of years ago. He talked about how this conveys the message that God wants us to understand Him, He doesn't desire to keep His message (as revealed in the Bible) for some elite group. He sited Isaiah 45:19 where God says:
I publicly proclaim bold promises. I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner.After listening to him I was so inspired! It's been in my heart for years... since my boys were born. The desire to make something like Hannah for my boys. The desire to leave them something that would show my love for them. I know this comes in both giving them my life and in giving them the great news as God has revealed it in the Bible. This blog is my attempt to announce to my boys the truth of God's amazing power shown in the sending of their Savior as revealed in the scriptures!
P.S. Just as an aside, One of the best resources I have found for reading Bible stories to early elementary aged kids is The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones and Jago.
