When a Song and the Bible Bring You to Tears…
Friends! Don’t you love it when a song transports you back to a special place? I can remember where I was, for example, my junior year of college at The University of Kentucky, living in the “4-girl room”, hanging out the window waiting for my knight in shining armor to pick me up…
I was listening to Daryl Hall and John Oats’ “Your Kiss On My List…”. Ahhh, pure bliss! (This would’ve been in 1981, believe it or not….) Here’s the song in case you don’t know it.
Today, on another note, I’ll share with you a sweet (and more recent!) memory from a trip to the Newport Aquarium with our oldest grandchild, Claire….
…that led to the discovery of an excellent Children’s Bible,
…that led to a moving worship song,
…ALL of which brought me to tears a few days later en route to where else but Kroger?
So the week before Thanksgiving of 2022, John and I thought it could be fun to have a special day with Claire. We picked the Newport Aquarium for our destination, packed snacks and books and headed to pick up Claire.
She also brought a backpack full of books which tickles me to no end. I sat in the back with her so we could read together. She had recently started reading on her own and wanted to read to me—again a total treat!
I thought her backpack felt extra heavy. Akin to a Mary Poppins’ carpet bag, out came the first HUGE book which wound up being pretty much the only book we read. Claire read story after story to me from author Jared Kennedy’s The Beginner’s Gospel Story Bible. (See pic of cover above.)
We read about Jacob and Moses and David and more. I only helped her with the longer words… The stories are numbered and site the Book of the Bible it comes from. Illustrator Trish Mahoney uses vivid colors and simple pictures to help the reader see what’s happening.
About every other page, the author poses a question. This part became my favorite part of every story. For example, Story 9 is “Miriam Watches the Basket.” The question for it is, “Who watches you and keeps you safe?” And then we read, “God watches over His people just like Miriam watched over Moses. God’s people are safe with Jesus just like Moses was safe in the basket.”
Press pause and we exited the car for the Aquarium. I think we loved our time there as much as Claire did. One of many surprises was she loved the SHARKS more than my beloved penguins. She kept returning to the tank where you could pet the sharks. No thank you, but she loved this activity!
Before exiting the Aquarium, you had a choice to cross the shark tank via a dangling net made of what we hoped was strong rope, or you could walk around that net and bravely photograph your loved ones.
And, like most places you visit, you land conveniently in the Gift Shop…I’m happy to report Claire chose the biggest penguin they had, and of course, Poppy bought it for her. She also chose a smaller, pink one for her sister, Charlotte.
After grabbing lunch, we hopped back in the car and headed for home. We read a few more stories from the Children’s Bible and then tackled some other books which I can’t recall as all of this happened sixteen months ago! It’s just now dawned on me I needed to share this story to show you the Children’s Bible…you can never have too many!
So the P.S. to the story, was a few days later, I was, as mentioned, driving to Kroger when a worship song came on by Elevation: Same God. While it played, it hit me like a ton of bricks: The characters from the Bible that are mentioned in the lyrics were all the ones Claire had read to me about!
That’s when the tears began to flow. It was the most precious gift as I’d never ever dreamed nor imagined we’d have a grandchild who could read to us, much less have one who would read the Bible to us! We praise you Lord.
So, if you’re in the market for a children’s Bible, I can’t recommend Jared’s enough (The Beginner’s Gospel Story Bible). It not only teaches stories from the Bible, it reinforces truths we all need to be reminded of.
And give a listen to Elevation’s song, Same God. (See link near top of post.) It, too, has timeless truths, all great reminders and boosts to our faith.
Today, as of this writing, John and I are keeping two of Woody and LT’s babies, Mary Abbott and George. It just so happens George is turning three this week so we will have a birthday lunch while they’re here. It also just so happens our Girl Scout Cookies we got from Claire have arrived so they will be a birthday dessert. (“Lolly” may need to change her name to “Thin Mint Queen.” LOL)
Now you know how we like to close! Run, don’t walk to your nearest bookstore and grab The Beginner’s Gospel Story Bible. Your children and grandchildren and friends will thank you. It makes a great gift, too!
‘Til next time!
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