The Story

Summer is such a great time to try new things, right? Without the pressures and time constraints of our school year, it's my time to work on some projects around the house, read a little more, and maybe try to change some of our habits. I have a smidge more brain space available in the summer.

This summer, Berean bookstore is sponsoring a summer reading program. You can read eight books at your level for a prize, but you can also read the Bible for 15 minutes every day for another prize. I've been wanting to work more Bible time into the kids' lives, so a little extra motivation got us started.

The kids know the stories from Sunday School, children's church, and Awana. They hear the stories from us often. But I don't want them to have a disjointed knowledge of Scripture. I want them to begin to see how it all fits together. A few years ago, I did a Kay Arthur study on Covenant, and it was AMAZING. (I'll save that for another post.) We're maybe not ready for that kind of depth, (the Jesus Storybook Bible is awesome for this, but we've done that a few times and I wanted actual Scripture this time) but we need something more than what we've been doing.

So, I picked up an NLT because I felt the translation was easier for them to understand. We started with Esther, my favorite story. I love stories where seemingly unrelated events come full circle (hence my love for A Tale of Two Cities), and Esther is the perfect example. It makes me giddy, quite frankly, to see how God worked in that story.

After Esther we kind of floated around. Colossians, 1 Peter, Matthew, etc. But I realized while we were all enjoying it, it was still disjointed.

While looking for Father's Day gifts, we came across The Story. It takes the NIV translation and weaves together different stories into 32 chapters that feel like a novel. Dad has taken over this reading time; they often do it during breakfast. 

 

I love seeing how excited the kids are to dig in every day. I want them to grow up with this as a regular part of their day and not to see it as some daunting undertaking or a burdensome task.

We finished our official reading plan this weekend, but the 40 days of reading has created a new habit in us. 

His loot from Berean.

She chose a set of best friend watches.

At this point in The Story, the kids are reading about Joshua battling his way into the Promised Land. Just as God is showing me many truths in Joshua.

Praise God!