Nicholas' New Bible

From the day they were born, people have been giving the kids Bible story books, and those are the books to which the kids refer as their "Bibles". It occurred to me a couple weeks ago that Nicholas doesn't really have an actual Bible to read and take with him to church. [OK, he does have one, but it has Max Lucado's "Hermie" the caterpillar on it, which just isn't COOL to a 7 1/2 year old boy!] Now that he is reading, we agreed that it's time for Nicholas to have a Bible, an actual Word-of-God Bible, not a paraphrased Bible Story book (although we're still fond of those!!). I got input from a few people and found myself at the Christian Bookstore after lunch, looking through numerous Bibles geared towards children. I finally settled on the NIV Adventure Bible (thanks, Lisa!) in a sleek blue and black--no reason God's word can't look cool, too! When Nicholas got home from school, I showed it to him right away--he was excited about it, but more excited about going outside and burning off some energy. That was about what I expected, so imagine my surprise when he came in, on his own, before dinner and asked if he could read his Bible! I told him the pages are fragile and he needs to be careful ("I know, Mom, that's how the pages in the Bible's at church are!") and set him loose. He immediately opened to a colorful page with several scripture references in answer to common questions, such as Why do people die?, Why are there angels? and Is the devil real? The kid spent a good 1/2 hour looking up each scripture reference ... asking us questions about which books were where ... and reading to his hearts content. To say I was "proud" doesn't encompass all I felt to see him sitting in that chair, reading his new Bible. I am SO very proud of Nicholas--I see him striving to make wise choices daily, and struggling (mostly with himself) when he doesn't. I'm so grateful that he enjoys reading, and that tonight's book of choice was his Bible. I'm sure there will be times that it collects some dust, but for now, it's one of his favorites, and I can't think of a better choice!!





Incidentally, I got several questions about the devil tonight, as Nicholas was lying in bed:

Nicholas: "Do you believe in the devil?"
Jennifer: "Yes, he's very real."

Nicholas: "Are you scared of him?"
Jennifer: "No, because I have Jesus in my heart, and Jesus is way bigger and stronger than the dumb 'ol devil!"

Nicholas (in a whisper): "Did the devil kill Jesus?"
Jennifer: "No way! God let Jesus die--that is the only way anyone could hurt him--he died on the cross for our sins, but only because God let it happen. The devil isn't strong enough to hurt Jesus."

Nicholas: "Do you think he's big or small?"
Jennifer: "Oh, I don't know, I have never seen him. What do you think?"
Nicholas: "I think he's small, and I don't like that because then he can sneak into my room at night while I'm asleep and get on my bed."
Jennifer: "Well, if he does, Jesus would kick him out before you even knew he was there! Jesus won't tolerate that devil coming near you--he will fight for you!"

He still looked a little nervous but seemed to accept my answers and laid back down. My precious, deep-thinking boy ... I pray that he sleeps well, knowing he's in the care of Jesus!