Last night I read The Story of King Jesus to my daughter for the first time. Well, I read printouts with not-quite final art that my publisher gave me last week. Still, it was a moment I’ve been looking forward to for a long time.
It’s been two years since I shared the first draft of what became The Story of King Jesus. Then Scot McKnight picked it up and shared it on his blog. Many, MANY rewrites later, it was a book proposal…and finally (after more rewrites), an actual book with a publisher and a release date and everything (ahem, March 2015). But it’s always been—and always will be—something I wrote for my daughter. This is how I want to introduce her to our faith.
She’s picked up bits and pieces about Jesus over the years. She knows Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, though she wonders why she’s never seen him in person before. We’ve read some Easter books together, as well as excerpts from The Jesus Storybook Bible and the Children of God Storybook Bible by Desmond Tutu. But this was her first time hearing the whole story of Jesus in one sitting—including the story of Israel, which he brings to fulfillment.
I think one of the reasons we reduce the gospel to a handful precepts or sound bites is because we’re not sure our kids are up for something bigger. Or because we don’t think of the gospel as being primarily a story. Or maybe we worry our kids won’t have the attention span for something more than a few quick bullet points about sin and salvation.
I want to prove these assumptions wrong—because, frankly, this kind of gospel doesn’t work. It doesn’t stick. Stories stay with us for life. Bullet points, not so much. Our kids need a better story.
Last night, my daughter stayed with The Story of King Jesus all the way through, even though it’s longer than most of her bedtime books. She even had me read it a second time. OK, that may have been a bedtime stalling tactic. And granted, she’s a focus group of one. But she’s also a bit younger than the target age group (4 to 8) for my book, so I was thrilled to see how she engaged with it.
She was absorbed in the story and the art (thank you, Nick Lee). When we got to the part about the crucifixion, she grabbed her owl nightlight and held it close to the page so she could look more closely. On our second time through, she started repeating some of the key lines—completely on her own.
I have no illusions that everything got through on the first or even the second read. But she was absorbing, processing, engaging with the story. After we finished, she said it was her favorite story she’s ever read. (Though earlier that evening, she said the meatless chicken nuggets we had for dinner were her favorite food she’s ever had. The night before, peanut butter sandwiches were her favorite.)
As for the “most clueless dad” moment of the night… afterward she asked me, “When will it be put together?” I assumed she was asking a deep spiritual question about the state of the world. After all, God fixing the world—putting it back together—is one of the recurring themes of The Story of King Jesus. So I proceeded to stumble my way through a response…until she cut me off and said, “No, dad. When’s the book going to be put together?”
But she also asked me when Jesus is coming back, which gave us a chance to talk about how we get to be part of making the world right and good until he returns. We talked about how God gave us a job to do: love each other with all we’ve got.
The bottom line is, last night, I got to talk to my daughter about bringing heaven to earth.
I know it can be terrifying to talk to your kids about faith. We’re afraid we’ll say the wrong thing and screw it up for them. But it can also be a wonderful, rewarding experience. It can be like bringing a little bit of heaven to earth right here and now—especially when we let go the pressure to extract a decision from our kids now and just tell them the story and watch it begin to click in their own imaginations.
I think—I hope and I pray—that’s what started happening for my daughter last night.
UPDATE: I just found out you can already pre-order The Story of King Jesus through Amazon…
Ben Irwin 
As a father of daughters…. who are now probably a bit too old for kids books (I’m reading LOTR to one and David Eddings’ “Belgariad” to the other)… I wonder what life would be like if I had such a book in the early years?
If you don’t mind having an older father read your story, I’d love a copy to evaluate and review once it comes time.
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Definitely, Robert. I’ll be sending out review copies a bit down the road. Will make sure you’re on the list…
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Anxiously awaiting the release of your book. 3 of the grandkids will be your target audience!
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I’m having a hard time deciding who this story is a better reflection on – the awesomeness of you, or of your daughter. Or of her Mom, who undoubtedly plays a huge part in this story too. I’ve decided it’s awesome for all of you, and hopefully milllions more people once it’s available.
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I’m years from children, but I’m purchasing as soon as possible. I’ve been praying for the last year or so about writing a children’s book about worship (my primary area of study). You’re accomplishment is inspiring on a few levels. First of all, it can be done! Praise! But also, it’s proof that we’re primed and ready for a better story, the real story of Jesus. Blessings, I cannot wait to get my hands on this.
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Of course, a typo. *Your
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