Tuesday, June 23, 2015

"Long Story Short" Book Review

I'm always looking for new ways to teach my kids the Bible.  We read Bible story books, devotionals, and of course the Bible itself.  One of the Bible story books that we love is The Gospel Story Bible by Marty Machowski.  Its colorful, fun, and very well written.  So when I heard about Mr. Machowski's devotionals for children, I just had to check them out!



Long Story Short is the first of two wonderful children's devotionals.  It 78 weeks long (that's a year and a half) and it covers the Old Testament.  Each week is 5 days' worth of devotions.  Day One is an overview of the Bible story/passage for that week.  It gives you the Bible passage to read, some explanatory information, and questions to get the ball rolling on a discussion time with your kids.  Day Two is a little more Scripture, a review of the previous day's information, and more discussion questions.  Day Three gives more Scripture and connects the Old Testament story to Jesus. Day Four is more review and a discussion of what God has been teaching you through the week. On Day Five, you read a Psalm of a passage from one of the OT prophets and discuss what you can learn about Jesus from that passage.

I love that Mr. Machowski is purposeful about pointing the reader to Jesus, even in these Old Testament stories!  He also does a great job of giving parents suggestions and hints to help them engage in meaningful discussions of the topics with their children.  This study was a little much for my two year old.  But that's not surprising as a two year old has a short attention span. Some days she listened well and other days she was distracted.  But my nearly four year old really seemed to engage in the devotions.  She answered questions and discussed topics with us.  We've decided to put this away until our two year old is a little older, but I highly recommend this book!  If you're looking for a thorough Bible study for you and your kids, this is a great option!

I received a copy of this book, free of charge, from New Growth Press.

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