Give My Heart: A Christmas Contest
GIVE MY HEART Christina Rosetti’s poem, In the Bleak Midwinter, isn’t my favorite Christmas poem–or hymn. But it does bring home one point that I find very relevant in our materialistic world and in my own life. What can I give Him, Poor as I am? If I were a shepherd I would bring a…
Read MoreThankful for Cheryl Harness
The Adventurous Life of Myles Standish, by Cheryl Harness. National Geographic, 2006, 143 pages. Age/interest level: 8 and up. Thanksgiving means a raid on the supply cabinet to find those orange and brown streamers, fat turkeys and apple-cheeked pilgrim boys and girls to staple to the bulletin board. But who were the pilgrims, really? As…
Read MoreThanksgiving! Books For Kids 10 and Under
Books To Consider Buying We are participants in the Amazon LLC affiliate program; purchases you make through affiliate links like the one below earn us a commission. These books would be a spiritual investment. More than the facts of the story, they help kids see God at the center of Thanksgiving. 1. Thanksgiving: A Harvest…
Read MoreThose Who Served–And Serve
Veterans’ Day is one of those holidays that sneak up on me. I intend to write a note to a veteran, wear red, pray a special prayer . . . and usually don’t. This year is no exception; otherwise I would have prepared this post a week ago to give any interested parents and teachers…
Read MoreKids’ Books & The Historicity of Adam
This week, the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary will entertain a panel discussion on the historicity of Adam. I came across this tidbit of news recently through a blog post by Jim Hamilton, Professor of Biblical Theology there. The Southern Baptists aren’t the only ones grappling with this issue either. Another blog post from a PCA…
Read MoreDangerous Journey, Part 8
Today’s Theme: Finishing Well From the clutches of Giant Despair, Christian and Hopeful escape into pleasant places of the Delectable Mountains. We see them refreshing themselves in a stream, quite unlike the dark river they will encounter at the end of the chapter. Soon they have their first glimpse of the Celestial City. And after…
Read MoreDangerous Journey, Part 7
Today’s Theme: The Key of Promise After surviving Vanity Fair and the hill of Lucre, Christian and Hopeful “espied a stile which led into a meadow, and seemed to be a short-cut.” But of course, there are no short-cuts in a Christian’s path, and what first seemed a pleasant way soon turned into a terrible…
Read MoreThe Pilgrim’s Progress, Part 4: Home At Last
If you’re just joining us, here’s the Introduction, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. For the Project Gutenberg online version, go here. The worst is over—in a way. In another sense, Christian’s greatest trial is still ahead, but for awhile longer he will be plodding along with Hopeful, encountering other travelers and engaging in…
Read MoreRR Podcast 8: Interview with William Boekestein
“Are you ready to begin your quest for comfort…?” So ends William Boekestein’s video of his newest book for kids, The Quest for Comfort: The Story of the Heidelberg Catechism. What a great book to introduce on Reformation Day, and a great question, since they take up many of the same concerns we’ve been addressing…
Read MoreDangerous Journey, Part 6
Chapter 6: Vanity Fair Today’s Theme: Faithful to the End As our narrator says, “Most fairs are merry places. But not this one–not for our travellers. For here one of them was destined to die.” What ought to have been a place of vibrant cultural exchange and beauty–with a British Row and Italian…
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