News from The (Kid's) Stack

Hello fellow bookworms and casual readers! The news this week is slim, in that I'm still working my way through several of the books from my stack (and e-reader), but I did manage to finish one of the books I've been reading with the kids, so that will be the focus of today's post. If you don't know who Tony Evans is, keep reading. If you work with kids in any way (parent, teacher, grandparent, church leader, etc.), keep reading. If you've been looking for a way to explain why Ephesians 6 is important, keep reading. If you don't fit into any of those categories, but you'd like to understand more about the armor of God, keep reading! 

Today's review from the (kid's) stack covers A Kid's Guide to the Armor of God by Dr. Tony Evans. I first heard Dr. Evans when I was a freshman at college, up in prim and proper New England. I usually sat in the balcony for chapel, and I will never forget his voice carrying up to the rafters as he passionately spoke about how the "skinny white boy you see painted in pictures, was not the same Jesus who overturned the money tables in the temple and called people a 'brood of vipers'..." And we all jumped when he slammed his hand down on the podium and shouted, "NO! That's not MY Jesus! MY Jesus calmed the storm with a word! MY Jesus kicked the money changers out of His Father's house! MY Jesus isn't someone who's afraid of His own shadow!" Let me just say that it was a memorable chapel, and I loved every minute of it! 

I can't remember exactly when I picked up his Armor of God book for kids, but I believe it might have been on special during an Amazon Prime day, a few summers back. I recognized his name, and even though I knew the kids weren't ready for all of those concepts yet, I thought I might as well pick it up and put it on the shelf for the day that they were. This past fall, one of our girls was asking me about the armor of God and what that meant, and I immediately thought about Tony's book, still stuffed in a drawer in our library, waiting for the right time to emerge. I sensed that the time was coming, but then Christmas was upon us and all of our Christmas tales took the place of the usual nightly reading, so it would have to wait. But when January rolled around and things got back to normal, I added Dr. Evans book to our reading rotation, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect as our pastor announced that we would be working through the book of Ephesians this year. Well there you go!

A Kid's Guide to the Armor of God is a basic overview of the armor, as described in Ephesians 6:10-18, but simplified. Honestly, if you're an adult who isn't sure how it all works together, or what it even means, or if you know a new Christian who needs a basic overview, this is a good book to get you going, written on a level that makes it palatable, even to those who don't have a full understanding of all the "Christianese" that is often thrown around in other books. Our kids (ages 8-12) particularly liked the questions that are asked throughout the book, because it made them think through what we had just read, and they were often a catalyst for further, deeper, theological discussions. Two thumbs up from this parent!  

Also in this series (although I haven't read them yet, but plan to):

A Kid's Guide to the Power of Words

A Kid's Guide to the Names of God

A Kid's Guide to the Names of Jesus

*   *   *   *   *

YOUR TURN! 

↓

What have YOU been reading this week?