[SPEAKER_03]: Christian parenting.
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to the Bible for Kids Podcast with your hosts, author Trisha Goyer, and author and co-creator of Veggie Tales, Mike Noraki.
[SPEAKER_01]: If instilling biblical values and kids is important to you, this podcast will give you the resources, wisdom, and hope to do just that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now let's join our hosts, Trisha, and Mike for this week's episode.
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, welcome back to the Bible for Kids Podcast.
[SPEAKER_03]: I am not Trisha Goyer.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm Dan Lynch and I'm normally behind the camera on these podcasts, but today I'm filling in for Trisha.
[SPEAKER_04]: All right, Dan, it's so good to have you on.
[SPEAKER_04]: And I'm Mike Naraki, I'm in my normal seat here, and Dan and I are excited to welcome Carl Lafferton back on the podcast of Carl's been on before.
[SPEAKER_04]: Today he's going to be talking about his new devotional beginning with God.
[SPEAKER_04]: But before we do that, we like to start every Bible for podcast with the Bible verse.
[SPEAKER_04]: So Dan, please take it away.
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1, 19 through 20, for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between yes and no.
[SPEAKER_03]: He is the one whom silest Timothy and I preach to you, and as God's ultimate, yes, he always does what He says.
[SPEAKER_03]: For all of God's promises have been fulfilled and Christ with the resounding yes, and through Christ, our amen, which means yes, a sins to God for His glory.
[SPEAKER_04]: right, amen.
[SPEAKER_04]: Carl Afretin is publisher and CEO of the Good Book Company and is a member of Life Church Heck Bridge in South London.
[SPEAKER_04]: He is the bestselling author of The Garden, The Curtain, And The Cross, and God's Big Promise Storybook, Bible Storybook.
[SPEAKER_04]: He also serves as the series editor of God's Word for you series.
[SPEAKER_04]: Before joining TGBC, he worked as a journalist and then as a teacher
[SPEAKER_04]: Carl is married to Lizzy, and they have two children.
[SPEAKER_04]: He studied history at Oxford University.
[SPEAKER_02]: Carl, welcome back.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, it's great to be with you Mike.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thanks very much for having me.
[SPEAKER_02]: And, um, uh, treats have you on the front of cameras that were done.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, a little different spot for me this time.
[SPEAKER_03]: But hey, we appreciate you joining us from across the pond, I guess, across the waters from England.
[SPEAKER_03]: And hey, it's a great time for both of us.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's morning for Mike and I, and closing up the end of the day of the week for you.
[SPEAKER_03]: Let's start by just reminding our listeners a little bit about your life, your family there, and some background material.
[SPEAKER_02]: Sure, so as Mike introduced me, I work at the good book company, all right, kids books, have two kids to now, 13 and 11.
[SPEAKER_02]: Not quite sure whether time went, but we're into that phase now.
[SPEAKER_02]: And sweet phase, if I do all the phases of been sweet, I keep thinking, maybe the next one will be not quite so great.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then there's been so far by God's grace.
[SPEAKER_02]: So.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so that's me and yeah, we live in South London.
[SPEAKER_02]: We just started a new church plant last Sunday with our first meeting and live church average.
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's been exciting to enjoy alongside work and writing.
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, that's wonderful.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I believe the last time we had you on, I think it was maybe our afternoon and you were gracious enough to get on at like 9 or 10 at night or something like that.
[SPEAKER_04]: So we'll have to have to follow this pattern where we both see sunshine and each other's background.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I'm great.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm grateful for you sucks in me and then it's time for it.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, well, thanks.
[SPEAKER_04]: Thanks for being on.
[SPEAKER_04]: So yeah, let's dive in and just, you know, with the first question, you know, why is developing a devotional habit in the early years of a child's life important?
[SPEAKER_04]: Can you tell us a little bit about that?
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think, I mean, firstly there's a sort of theological reason, which is that the Lord Jesus and that famous little story invited the children to come to him and said, you know, the kingdom of God can belong to a little child just as much as two people of more mature years such as ourselves.
[SPEAKER_02]: Then as parents, it's our task and our privilege to invite children to come to him by hearing from him as we read the stories and scripture to them and with them.
[SPEAKER_02]: So there's a theological reason.
[SPEAKER_02]: Actually, it's something of developmental reason as well.
[SPEAKER_02]: The younger years are the ones that set kids.
[SPEAKER_02]: world view in the sense.
[SPEAKER_02]: So to be able to mention the between two and six is where they're working out how the world works and what they're placed in the world is and they actually develop far more in those years than they ever will again in their lives.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so those are the years where feeding into them.
[SPEAKER_02]: the truth about God's Word, the truth about who God is, the truth about Jesus, love for them, the truth that is done rather than the beginning, all God's promises are made yes in the Lord Jesus.
[SPEAKER_02]: If we wait until after that developmental stage, then they're missing out and we're missing out and helping them.
[SPEAKER_02]: So that, and that's the third reason would be the practical reason that it's always easier to start regular devotions at home today than it will be next month.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so if we've got two, three, four year olds, we may think, you know, well, actually a bit a lot easier to start when they're a bit older and, you know, maybe they're better at sitting still for a while or whatever.
[SPEAKER_02]: but actually in my experience and talking to other families and starting when they're little is much easier than getting to five or seven or nine and saying, hey kids, now we're going to start something that we've never done before.
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, three reasons that I think that the best time to start regular family devotion time is when they're in their little years.
[SPEAKER_04]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, I think two, you know, kids just love routine, especially when, you know, they're kind of, you do start earlier.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_04]: To get them in that habit.
[SPEAKER_04]: And obviously, you know, train up a child in the way they should go and they won't depart from it when they're older.
[SPEAKER_04]: So love that.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I see that with my grandkids a lot in the way my my various children are now parenting them have grandkids everywhere from you know six months to almost 12 but let's let's tag along with that question with something you know Carl what's what's one thing that you wish someone had told you about doing devotions as a family when your kids were born so before you
[SPEAKER_02]: Great question.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, I love Sanctuary's one.
[SPEAKER_02]: The piece of advice that somebody did give me when when our first was born and those most grateful for was, remember that everything's a phase.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so when things are going really well, don't get too proud.
[SPEAKER_02]: And when things are seen like them or a struggle, don't despair, you'll come through it.
[SPEAKER_02]: That has anchored me in both directions as it were.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think the thing that I wish somebody had said,
[SPEAKER_02]: was more is going on in your kids' minds and hearts than you tend to realize at the time.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so, particularly with Bible devotion time, I mean, there's some nights where we tend to do it at their time and that when the kids are small, some nights it'd be great, some nights it'd feel like I'm really not sure that that five to 10 minutes has been a big win for us.
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, but actually then, you know, a few months later when the kids say something and I think, oh, you, you know, that was seeping in that has percolated down.
[SPEAKER_02]: You have been sort of thinking about it in your, in your little world, in your little way.
[SPEAKER_02]: And
[SPEAKER_02]: And so that the Holy Spirit, when we are sharing God's truth with little ones, the Holy Spirit is, is doing things that we can't see and he's doing it in surprising ways and maybe it's to keep us humble that in my experience at least he often tends to work on the
[SPEAKER_02]: on the times when we feel things have gone least well.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so I wish somebody had told me when the kids were born, you know, as you read your Bible with them, as you get them to engage with it, as you try and get them to sit still to do that, more we're going on than you realize, and just trust it to the Holy Spirit and keep going.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, that's great.
[SPEAKER_04]: And there are so many things that are going on.
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, it's been a number of years since my kids were that little,
[SPEAKER_04]: things just get so busy, and there's so much to handle, what are some specific habits or strategies that might help facilitate, you know, devotional time, you know, with your children when life gets busy like that?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's hard the early years, isn't it?
[SPEAKER_02]: Because you're not just busy.
[SPEAKER_02]: You also tend to be fairly exhausted as a parent.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so you're kind of fighting against your own energy levels and as well as time to get devotions to be part of your family routine.
[SPEAKER_02]: I guess a few things looking back and trying to set a time
[SPEAKER_02]: that it happens each day, you were saying, oh, they might, you know, kids love routine.
[SPEAKER_02]: They like to know that this happens, then that happens, they never happens.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you can build it into your family routine, just like brushing your teeth or whatever it is that happens every day, that's great.
[SPEAKER_02]: So trying to set a time, trying to do it in the same place each night or morning or whenever your kids are there, best and you have time.
[SPEAKER_02]: I guess maybe not trying to do it straight after there,
[SPEAKER_02]: favorite activity, whether that's watching TV or playing with a particular toy, whatever it is, you know, you don't want to be transitioning out of, hey, this was super fun and now I'm going to make you stop.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think another thing, like, particularly when you've got little ones, life is busy, things happen, you're going to miss a day or two sometimes, but if you miss a day, try not to miss two.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you miss two days, don't let it become three.
[SPEAKER_02]: get started again.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's easy to just give up if you miss a few.
[SPEAKER_02]: Another thing is just to sound excited about it.
[SPEAKER_02]: When I was writing these beginning with God of Devotions, I was wanting them to be exciting in and of themselves and the activities and the questions and their stickers at the end and so on each day.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think the way parents talk about what we're doing,
[SPEAKER_02]: If we sound the excited about something, kids tend to get excited about it.
[SPEAKER_02]: So if we say, hey, we're going to listen to God's speech to us now.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hey, let's sit down and open up the story.
[SPEAKER_02]: But by the way, we've got the beginning with God devotions.
[SPEAKER_02]: And hey, let's pray because God's going to be showing us something exciting.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you sound excited about it, kids will probably be excited as well.
[SPEAKER_02]: Whereas if you make it sound like another chore and all the chores that need to be done in the day, then that's probably how we're going to sit.
[SPEAKER_04]: Right.
[SPEAKER_04]: And I think it's so important for kids to be looking forward to it, you know, and being engaged.
[SPEAKER_04]: This is time that I'm spending with mom and dad and, you know, I'll be I'll be having fun with them and being close with them and it's just, it's, you know, something that they, you know, look forward to.
[SPEAKER_04]: I think it's wonderful.
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, it is time for our first break.
[SPEAKER_04]: So we're going to do that and we'll be right back on the Bible for kids.
[SPEAKER_04]: Finding the perfect gift for the people you love most should feel joyful, not stressful.
[SPEAKER_04]: But between busy schedules and crowded stores is easy to lose the joy of giving.
[SPEAKER_04]: That's why Christian parenting created the 2025 Christmas Gift Guide, a one-step collection of thoughtful, faith-filled gifts for every age and stage.
[SPEAKER_03]: Inside the gift guide, you'll find meaningful ideas for kids, parents, grandparents, and friends, all designed to point hearts back to the true reason for the season.
[SPEAKER_03]: Plus, we've included some of our very favorite advent resources from family activities to devotionals just for kids, so you can keep Jesus at the center of Christmas.
[SPEAKER_03]: Best of all, it's completely free.
[SPEAKER_04]: Check out the guide today at ChristianParenting.org slash Christmas and make this Christmas you're most meaningful and least stressful yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hi there listeners, I'm Trishagoyer, the co-author of an exciting new book, Wonders of the Ocean Realm.
[SPEAKER_00]: Imagine this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Five captivating stories that blend you deep into the world of marine life, and covering the fascinating life cycles, habits, and habitats of ocean creatures, all while revealing God's amazing design and creation, it's a faith and science adventure like no other.
[SPEAKER_00]: With breath-taking, full-color artwork on every page, wonders of the ocean realm weaves together scientific wonder and spiritual truth, making it the perfect treasure for your curious middle schooler.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't wait, wrap your copy today at tindale.com or wherever books are sold.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's explore Gaza's underwater masterpiece together.
[SPEAKER_04]: Welcome back to the Bible for kids and Dan and I are speaking with author and pastor Carl Lafferton.
[SPEAKER_03]: Hey Carl, we talked a lot about some of the kind of the fundamentals of devotions and some of the habits and getting into them with young children and stuff.
[SPEAKER_03]: Let's talk a little more specifically about your new book, which is very exciting.
[SPEAKER_03]: How does beginning with God introduced children to the bigger story of the Bible rather than just isolated stories?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, a couple years ago, a road story that Bible goes to be promises by the storybook, which my big aim with that, it's kind of, you know, so that two to six year old range.
[SPEAKER_02]: And my big aim was to teach all the classic stories, you know, Noah and Daniel and Ruth and Esther and beating of the 5,000 and so on.
[SPEAKER_02]: But to do that in a way that,
[SPEAKER_02]: showed how those stories fit into the one big story of the Bible.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so the way we did it, we sort of stitched it together by majoring on the promises that God makes and keeps and say they're in the lycums that pop up and so on on the pages.
[SPEAKER_02]: Just so that hopefully kids come out, understanding
[SPEAKER_02]: Obviously more and more as they get older through that two to six age range, but understanding that God makes promises and keeps promises and that's the story of the Bible and then when Jesus comes, He's the one who keeps all God's promises.
[SPEAKER_02]: So...
[SPEAKER_02]: So beginning with God then, these devotions, they go alongside that story, but Bible, and they pair with it.
[SPEAKER_02]: So they're starting in Genesis, and then you've got 92 stories all the way through to Revelation.
[SPEAKER_02]: So simply by walking through in that way, hopefully, kids will be seeing that wherein one big story, and then we've got an exciting story each night that fits into it.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then the other thing we've done is at the end of each devotions, that's about five to ten minutes, spending on your kids and how still they sit and so on, at the end, there's a sticker that you have to find in the middle of the book, and you peel it off, and you put it in the right place at the bottom of that day's page.
[SPEAKER_02]: And where God is making or keeping up promise, you get a particular color around the edge of this circular sticker.
[SPEAKER_02]: And again, that's just a engaged kids with it,
[SPEAKER_02]: His devotion is needed to be engaging as well as faithful.
[SPEAKER_02]: But secondly, it's just a reinforced society that we're not simply reading one isolated story as you put it down.
[SPEAKER_02]: We're actually reading a story that's building on God, making His promises or keeping His promises.
[SPEAKER_02]: And very exciting then when He gets a revelation, they've got all kinds of colours around the circles, because all God's promises are being finally fulfilled as kids get to the end of the 92 and get into revelation.
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, yeah.
[SPEAKER_04]: That's so cool.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_04]: And, you know, along this way, you're, you know, you're ultimately discipling your kids, you know, you're needing, you know, showing them, you know, God's promises, you know, creating, you know, setting the world view for for your kids.
[SPEAKER_04]: As you look back, your, your kids are a little bit older now.
[SPEAKER_04]: As you look back,
[SPEAKER_04]: Did you, do you find like you, you know, there's any doovers that you wanted discipling your kids in that sense, you were, you know, kind of maybe, you know, things that you could have done better when you were when they were that age.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, well, I mean, the obvious answer is, you know, I wish I'd been more godly.
[SPEAKER_02]: My wife always says that, you know, getting married is quite a humbling experience, because you know, you're realizing there is a simple issue I haven't spotted before.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then having kids is the most humbling experience, because suddenly you're realizing, oh goodness, the Lord is, you know, I'm planning for these kids disciple ship.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I don't really feel like I'm ready for that.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I guess there would be many.
[SPEAKER_02]: I guess I wish I'd prayed.
[SPEAKER_02]: allowed more in front of them.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I tend to pray in my head, but I wish when the kids were little.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, my wife was a lot better at this than I was, but just just praying in front of them very short prayers, you know, did Lord help me with this or did Lord thank you that this has happened or whatever.
[SPEAKER_02]: I wish I'd done that more to help them see that that's what the Christian does.
[SPEAKER_02]: Normally, we do it in our heads, but of course, if we do it out there, then our kids will pick
[SPEAKER_02]: And I had a very humbling experience once when a guy at church said, do you think you're more hard on your kids when you're around other Christians than when
[SPEAKER_02]: you're at home and it's just you and I said well do you mean he said I sense that maybe you're trying to sort of make your kids behave better to look like a better dad and front of others.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I thought about it and realized that he was right and I was grateful that he'd said it that I was I was quicker to be harsh with them because I I wanted to project the A.M. a great dad look how well I had my kids are kind of look and that was
[SPEAKER_02]: I was grateful to him, I was in, of course, correct, but I kind of wish he had that needed to say it, because that said something pretty bad about my heart.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think one thing that my wife did intentionally that I learned to pick up, but I'm super glad that we did it, was repenting to our children, safe.
[SPEAKER_02]: If I get something wrong, if I, you know, just just, and I'm snappy with them or forget something, saying to them, you know, I'm sorry, I've messed up there, I need to ask you for forgiveness and I'm now going to repent to my Lord, because I know that he always says.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, when I ask him to forgive me and then praying out loud to our father in front of the kids.
[SPEAKER_02]: So again, they were seeing, oh, like, this, you know, dad talks about Grace, but he's trying to live it as well and so he's able to say, sorry, we're able to be forget to forgive each other.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he genuinely repents to his father and if I'm telling my kids, you need to say, sorry, sometimes and you need to repent.
[SPEAKER_02]: if they're not seeing their parents do it, then I think their ends up being a bit of a mismatch.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think that's something that I was grateful that Lizzy sort of thought about and did intentionally and I was able to sort of just carry on her co-tales.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, that's beautiful.
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, you know, I think of, you know, my own, you know, experience and, you know, I guess any of us only has the example that we're shown by our own parents.
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, many times, and I just remember, you know, when our kids were born, just that feeling of, oh, there's no manual for this, you know, one of these, so you kind of go off your, your best experience.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's just that wisdom to come back and say, okay, if I had the chance to take a couple steps back, you know, what would I do?
[SPEAKER_04]: And so yeah, just that encouragement to young parents, you know, to get, get, get that wisdom from, you know, somebody who's slightly older and, you know, slightly ahead of the game to look back and say, okay, these are these
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so that's interesting.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's something I picked up on that I should have said.
[SPEAKER_02]: An answer to your brief question is, use older parents.
[SPEAKER_02]: Find in your church, parents who are a few years on from you in terms of the age of their kids and maybe some who've got adult kids and can look back with the benefit of all that hindsight.
[SPEAKER_02]: And who have clearly parented intentionally and wisely and carefully and just learn from their experience, learn from their mistakes, just get everything you can from them.
[SPEAKER_02]: we were very grateful for all the parents who we could just say, hey, we're struggling with this, what should we do?
[SPEAKER_02]: And they could either say, oh, I will worry about that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, here's what we did, or here's what I wouldn't do, and that's super helpful.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and I think the only kind of bug example.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, yeah.
[SPEAKER_04]: So.
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, and I think that really speaks to, you know, sort of being part of a community and a church body, you know, and at that, you know, multi-generational, you know, kind of make up, you know, just to say, hey, we can be resources for each other in this way.
[SPEAKER_04]: Right, right, right.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, hey, let's, let's shift a little bit and talk a little more about the book.
[SPEAKER_03]: And what was Trisha was on here this morning and said, I mean, because she's the perfect example for this, having, I think, 11 children to 10 or 11.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I may have added one.
[SPEAKER_03]: She has kids across a very wide spectrum in terms of ages, so how can parents and families adapt beginning with God so that it's engaging for the youngest, the ones of the middle, the full family unit?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, well, I mean, it's irritating that it because publishers write these devotions and so on and we say, hey, it's for, you know, in this case, sort of two to seven year olds and you go, but my kids are five, seven and nine or two four and six, you didn't fit my categories.
[SPEAKER_02]: I thought I'm not gonna pretend that if you've got 10 kids, you know, a couple years apart that any devotion is really gonna span that whole gamut of 20 years.
[SPEAKER_02]: But I think what I was trying to do with beginning with God was say okay how can the very youngest engaged with this?
[SPEAKER_02]: So how can what what is there here for a two-year-old and then if you've got you know spanning through sort of eight and ten-year-olds how can we make sure that they have something that they can be included as well?
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think for the younger ones that basically the the way it works is you have a kind of a starter activity that's completely optional say busy
[SPEAKER_02]: It's already now.
[SPEAKER_02]: You've got to start a question and start to prayer.
[SPEAKER_02]: You read God's big promises Bible story book and then there's just four very simple questions about the story and about what it means for us and what it shows us about God.
[SPEAKER_02]: Then there's a Bible verse and then there's a simple prayer.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so actually in that in the four questions there's always one that is
[SPEAKER_02]: super simple so the answer is either yes or no or maybe it's a question where the answer is very simple the question is very simple and then it's the answer is God or Jesus and that's for the two years old is just started to be able to talk because they can shout yes or no or God fairly easily so parents can sort of locate that question they are I'm going to target that deliberately to my youngest one
[SPEAKER_02]: And then with older ones, once they're reading, most Jessens always get them to help with the reading, kids tend to love that.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, when you get to, you know, it's reading this story from God's Book Promises by the story, but give it to one of the older kids and say, hey, can you can you read the Bible story tonight?
[SPEAKER_02]: Because that is an important task and I'd love you to do that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hey, here's the prayer that we finish off with.
[SPEAKER_02]: Could you read the prayer tonight and just kind of be inviting the older ones into helping you disciple their little brothers and sisters and kids love a bit of responsibility almost by nature.
[SPEAKER_02]: But also then you're just discipling them and how to decipher younger ones.
[SPEAKER_02]: So how you're fully
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not going to pretend if you've got a 15 year old that this is going to be the well targeted devotion for them.
[SPEAKER_02]: But even if you have got a 15 year old, you can be helping them to see, oh, hey, I have a role with discipling your under ones here.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so hopefully that way you can invite all your kids, whatever their ages are in to beginning with God.
[SPEAKER_04]: Wonderful.
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, it is time again for a break.
[SPEAKER_04]: So we're going to take a short break and we will be right back on the Bible for kids.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible for Kids Podcast is part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network, a group of 29 shows to help you let go of perfection and embrace the perfectly imperfect parent God created you to be.
[SPEAKER_04]: Raising kids to know and love Jesus isn't easy, and we're not meant to do it alone.
[SPEAKER_04]: That's why this network exists.
[SPEAKER_04]: To be your digital village, full of encouragement, expert advice, and a few laughs along the way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Over the last year, our podcasts have been downloaded 5 million times, but that kind of impact only happens because of generous listeners like you.
[SPEAKER_04]: Christian parenting is a non-profit, and every resource is funded by people who believe in this mission.
[SPEAKER_04]: If this show has encouraged you, would you consider giving back head to cpgive.org to donate today, that cpgive.org.
[SPEAKER_04]: Hi, I'm Mike Nurekki, co-creator of Veggie Tales, voice-of-lady to cucumber, and author of The Dead Sea Squirrels.
[SPEAKER_04]: Young readers will love the nutty misadventures of ten-year-old Michael in his friends, as they navigate school, learn about the Bible, flee from squirrel nappers, and more.
[SPEAKER_04]: The Dead Sea Squirrels is packed with clean humor and excitement, perfect for enticing even the most reluctant readers.
[SPEAKER_04]: Along the way, kids will laugh out loud and learn wholesome biblical lessons from
[SPEAKER_04]: Don't miss all 12 Dead Sea squirrels' books, available wherever books are sold.
[SPEAKER_04]: Plus, stream the animated series on Minotid A.
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, welcome back to the Bible for Kids podcast.
[SPEAKER_03]: We're talking with other Carl Leiferton about his new devotional book, beginning with God.
[SPEAKER_04]: So Carl, you're talking a little bit before the break just about kind of, you know, like a span of kids, you know, span of kids, how to kind of get them involved, younger kids have notorious short attention spans, so how did you address the challenge of that in this book and, you know, with with the format of each devotion, you know, for kids with shorter attention spans.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, all kids are different on a, but I think in the main, having lots of little sections, so you're always doing something slightly different.
[SPEAKER_02]: So here's the only question, great.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's talk about that for 30 seconds.
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's pray another 30 seconds.
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's read the story for the Bible story book.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, a couple of minutes.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now we're on to, can you remember what happened in the story and some questions about.
[SPEAKER_02]: So you're constantly feeling like there's movement, there's changed there's progression.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that keeps the pace up.
[SPEAKER_02]: To be honest, it wasn't my idea, but I think it was genius to include stickers because kids know that there's going to be a sticker time at the end, they're going to need to find the sticker, they're going to want to peel it, they're going to stick it on the bottom of the page to help for way to recap the story, but also just I think that means at least in my experience if kids know they've got a sticker coming, they're far more likely to sit still listen, engage because they know they're going to get to the sticker time if they do that.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then the last thing is I think sometimes, you know, kids, kids are just riggally and rather than saying, oh, still, so they're just saying, right, we're going to pause and we're all going to jump up and down five seconds, so many times you can jump up and down and just getting it out of them and you know, recognizing that they need that and then you can get them sitting down again is probably better than saying, you know, hey guys, sit down, this is important.
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, few things that.
[SPEAKER_04]: I love it.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, just that multimodal type of learning where you're not just concentrating.
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, we're going to just do this, but just kind of to very, to keep them interested on topic, but still, you know, kind of get the wiggles out.
[SPEAKER_04]: And I think that's awesome.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yep.
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, Carl, let's talk about how written prayers help nurture, you know, the heart and prayer for children.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, sure.
[SPEAKER_02]: So the, I mean, the written present is a super short that like, made two sentences at the end.
[SPEAKER_02]: So that you have the same question that the beginning.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for the Bible.
[SPEAKER_02]: Please.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll just know you better and love you more as we hear this story.
[SPEAKER_02]: But then at the end, it is a prayer, a very short prayer that's in response to what's been in the Bible story.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think it, I wanted to put some sort of,
[SPEAKER_02]: stepped right, you know, written prayers in because kids learn by what they hear and what they do and what they repeat.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so by having prayers that go beyond what they might naturally pray, which is awesome, but you know, my son prayed for a whole year, did go thank you for cars.
[SPEAKER_02]: And you know, that was great, but we wanted to move him on from that a little bit.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think having that sort of variety of Thanksgiving confession,
[SPEAKER_02]: as well as asking for things in set prayers just setting them up for a habit and an understanding that you pray these different types of prayers.
[SPEAKER_02]: And also I suppose that we have just heard God speak to us and it's a Bible story but we've heard a Bible verse as well so we have literally heard God speak to us and then it's good to teach kids that then we speak back to God about what we've just heard him say to us and so again it's just setting these habits and patterns of a healthy
[SPEAKER_02]: from before they could even remember starting doing it is just much better to introduce them to that then, then try and start it when they're six or eight.
[SPEAKER_02]: So 12 or whatever.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, yeah.
[SPEAKER_04]: And I felt like as I've gotten older to just the whole idea of kind of the liturgical prayer or something set, and it's just the equivalence of, we sing hymns, we sing songs, and those are written out.
[SPEAKER_04]: And so we're repeating those and repeating those
[SPEAKER_04]: And it can be the same thing, you know, and it's not like, okay, I'm being less authentic or anything.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm just, you know, this is a form of worship as I'm repeating as I'm repeating this prayer.
[SPEAKER_04]: And I think that's a great habit to get kids into.
[SPEAKER_04]: Actually, what ways might you encourage kids to seek Jesus throughout the day outside of a devotional?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: I just think just talking to them about things, you know, trying to link, you know, have their experiencing the world to Bible truths as simple as, you know, I mean, it's, it's conquers season over here.
[SPEAKER_02]: So the conquers falling off the trees and the kids are picking them up.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: Isn't it amazing that God made every single one of those conquers and none of them fall from the tree without him deciding that they were and knowing about it?
[SPEAKER_02]: Isn't God amazing?
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just making those links and then you know, if you're doing it at a Bible time, like the beginning with God every day, just referring back to it and saying, hey, can you still remember what the story was this morning that we saw?
[SPEAKER_02]: What was it?
[SPEAKER_02]: Can you remember it or, you know, particularly if, you know, you're out in creation and it was a story about God's creation and in
[SPEAKER_02]: link it or if it's you know if they're running around saying how strong they are saying yeah do you remember the other day we saw that story about Samson didn't we can you remember who made him strong and why did God make him strong and it's just trying to always be you know so I can do to run me six you know we don't just sit down for five minutes 10 minutes a day and say right we check that box we've done the good thing
[SPEAKER_02]: We talk about these things when we're sitting, when we're lying, when we're on the road, and I think that's something that, you know, all the time when you're with your kids, just be trying to chat the gospel with them, reminding them of the goodness of God, just in natural conversation.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think kids learn, I shouldn't say this, I'm just written a Bible deviation on them, but I think kids learn as much that way about who God is and why he's great as they
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, that's great.
[SPEAKER_03]: So much of a reminder of how we have to live out, you know, continuously in our daily lives, pray without ceasing, you know, comes to mind.
[SPEAKER_03]: One more question before we wrap up for today.
[SPEAKER_03]: So what's your hope for the long term impact of using this devotional in a family's life and particularly in shaping a child's view of God in the Bible?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so I suppose, I mean, my prayer would be that,
[SPEAKER_02]: there would be families in 10 years who have teenage kids by then, you know, that family, their kids can't remember a day when they didn't sit down as a family and do family devotions, because they, you know, they started with beginning with God and God's be promised by the story, but when their kids were like 234.
[SPEAKER_02]: and it's just rolled on from there.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I suppose my big prayer have been in 20, 30, 40 years there at adults who say, I can't remember not doing a daily devotional and I can't remember not knowing that God speaks to me in His words and I can, I can
[SPEAKER_02]: understand his words and read it and hear his love and respond back to him and and that's something I've been doing since before I can remember and I don't do it with stickers anymore because I'm a I'm a grown up and I'm meant to be mature but I can remember but I can still remember the stickers I did in beginning with God and hey you know it might be in my 20 30 years there will be parents picking up beginning with God who didn't when they were kids and now they're doing it with their kids and that would be that would be awesome if that happened.
[SPEAKER_04]: That's lovely, and Carl, thank you so much.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's always a pleasure to chat with you.
[SPEAKER_04]: Before we go, can you share with listeners how they can get in touch with you and learn more about beginning with God and just the good book company in general?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, sure.
[SPEAKER_02]: The best thing to do is simply to go to our website, so they're goodbook.com.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you type beginning with God in the search bar at the top, then that'll take you to page and you can just find out more about it, see some of the insights, work, how whether it's going to work for your family, because all families are different, but hopefully there's something that can really help your listeners to just, well, to get their kids beginning with God, that's in place.
[SPEAKER_04]: Wonderful.
[SPEAKER_04]: Listeners, be sure to follow us on Facebook or Instagram at the Bible for kids.
[SPEAKER_04]: The Bible for kids is now a 501c3 non-profit and we'd love to have you join us in our mission of reaching kids with the message of the Bible.
[SPEAKER_04]: Visit theBibleforkids.com to explore our stored date or learn more today.
[SPEAKER_04]: We'll see you next time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for listening to the Bible for Kids Podcast with Trisha Goyer and Mike Nurekki.
[SPEAKER_01]: Be sure to connect with the Bible for kids on Instagram, Facebook, and at thebibelforkids.com.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Bible for Kids Podcast is powered by the Christian Parenting Podcast Network.
[SPEAKER_01]: Find out more at ChristianParenting.org.
[SPEAKER_01]: Our show is also available at waynation.com.