One of the things I’d love to see happen as our children grow up is for them to have a passion for reading solid books that shape a Christian mind, sharpen one’s eye in the reading of Scripture, and stir the heart with affection for Christ and the gospel.  Our oldest son, Hunter, has to go to bed at the same time as the other kids.  But, since he is eleven now, there’s a new perk about bedtime.  If he wants to, he is allowed to read as much as he would like to before falling asleep (from a select stack of books).  He just finished reading through The Big Picture Story Bible.  Now, he’s reading The Jesus Storybook Bible.  They are beautifully written, Christ-centered, redemption-focused readings of Old and New Testament stories.  Happily, at least for the time being, he is enjoying them very much.  And I enjoy seeing a book in his bed when Paula and I pass by in the morning on our way to the coffee pot … and our own reading time.  The hope is that the more he reads good stuff the more he’ll want to read, and that as he matures, the benefits of that reading and reflection will be used by God to shape his heart and mind, and stir up more and more Godward affections.

Over the past year we’ve been going through some books about some long dead, but not forgotten, hymnwriters.  So, last night when we were all at Applebees, our youngest, Ellie, looked at a picture on the wall and said, “That’s John Newton!”  It wasn’t, I’m sure.  I’m guessing Joe Dimaggio?  But we’ll take the fact that Newton’s name shows up in her ‘free association’ games as a fair start!

But alas, of course, not all the great writers are dead.  [My friend, Rodrigo Ribeiro, could use to be reminded of this fact.]

So, if I could pass along to them some favorite modern authors that I would love for them to get to know and learn from (as they will all be teen agers before we know it!), I’d mention some of the names that I’ll be passing along in weeks and perhaps months to come.