Where do I start?

“It’s not easy to do something you’ve never done before!”

Most people I know would agree with that statement – especially when it comes to family devotions. For many Christians that topic produces plenty of guilt but not too much action.

• 85 percent of parents say their children’s spiritual welfare is their responsibility.
• Only 29 percent have made any plans.

I don't believe it's because parents don't want too. I believe it's because they don't know where to start. Emerging readers - children who have out-grown the Bible storybook – often have difficulty understanding and giving attention to the New Testament.

Homeschool Conventioner Touches Nerve

And Inspires Action

“I think I’ve found it,” the stranger announced as he stood in front of our book table waving a copy of Matthew’s Story, Based on the Gospel of Matthew.

The look on my face must have prompted his next comment. “I’ve been looking for something to read to my nine-year-old son at bedtime,” he explained. “I want something of a spiritual nature that will hold his attention and he can understand. I believe this is the answer.”

He purchased the book and left and we never got his name. In CBA Marketplace, a magazine for owners of Christian bookstores, a reviewer described Matthew's Story as "filling the gap between the child's Bible Storybook and the Bible." It is written in a first-person conversational, storytelling style and follows the chapters of the New Testament book of Matthews.

But he had planted an idea!