Tag: Bible stories

Action Attraction: The Action Bible Book Giveaway

ready to roar

“Take care of your backpack, please,” I said to my son.

“Okay, Mom,” he said. “But first can I read my Bible?”

Never expected to hear that in a million years. And read he does. Independently. And learn. Without prompting.

Enter The Action Bible. We gave him the book this past Christmas.

“Mom, did you know Jerusalem was conquered by a series of empires?” he said. “Babylon conquered Jerusalem, Persia conquered Babylon, Greece conquered Persia, and Rome conquered Greece.”

Oh, dear. Mom needs a refresher course. This isn’t kid’s stuff.

Brilliantly illustrated by Sergio Cariello, The Action Bible brings to life more than 200 Bible stories in the exciting style of the graphic novel. The result is riveting.

Here’s a sampling from a familiar story on pages 280 and 281:

Copyright 2010 Sergio Cariello. The Action Bible published by David C Cook. Publisher permission required to reproduce. All rights reserved.
Copyright 2010 Sergio Cariello. The Action Bible published by David C Cook. Publisher permission required to reproduce. All rights reserved.

The thrilling narrative and bright colors capture my son’s attention. And they remind me God is not some namby-pamby, sissy deity.

I’m as guilty as any kumbayah Christian of embracing God’s tenderness and mercy—the essence of His character, to the neglect of the ferocity of His determinant power. God is love, yes. God is also holy, strong, and just.

The struggles in the Bible and in our time are life and death battles. Humanity hangs in the balance. There’s violence and vengeance, plagues and murder. Fire ripping from the sky. Blood dripping from a splintered, wooden cross.

Want to brush up on your Bible stories? Never learned them in the first place? Here’s your chance.

Maybe you love the Bible. Want the kids (or adults) in your life to love it too, without your nagging? The Action Bible is a fantastic place to begin.

As milk helps us to develop a hunger for meat, The Action Bible whets the appetite for Scripture in those who would dare to read it.

So will the Words that come out of My mouth
not come back empty-handed.
They’ll do the work I sent them to do,
They’ll complete the assignment I gave them. Isaiah 55:11 The Message

God’s Not Dead. He’s surely alive. Newsboys.

We’re Giving Away a Copy of The Action Bible!

Here’s how to enter:

  • To enter the drawing for The Action Bible, simply comment on this post.
  • You have until midnight, Tuesday, April 3rd, to comment to enter.
  • Only one comment per reader please.
  • A winner will be randomly drawn and contacted Wednesday, April 4th.
  • I will personally pay to ship the book to an address of the winner’s choosing within the contiguous U.S. in time for Easter. International shipping cannot be guaranteed in time for Easter.
The Action Bible New Testament

Disclaimer

I’m not being compensated to promote this book.

I was so impressed with The Action Bible that I contacted the publisher David C. Cook myself. They were kind enough to honor my requests for permission to show the illustrations in this post and for a book to give away.

They also surprised my son with something I did not request, their new book The Action Bible New Testament. I am thankful for their graciousness.

Suggested Links to Like

Comment by midnight, Tuesday, April 3rd,
to enter the drawing for The Action Bible!

Posted on by Aimee 38

Ahab and the Unfairness Doctrine

The Waltons, image used with permission from sitcomsonline.com

Much as I hate to admit it, we don’t have daily family devotions. We don’t live on Walton Mountain either. Great if you do. I confess we don’t.

But we do love God and the Bible at our house. We’ve shared Bible stories with our son since he was itty-bitty.

Noah’s ark was his favorite for a long time. I told him how God brought two of every animal to the ark, a mommy and a daddy. He wasn’t satisfied.

“And the babies,” he said in his tiny three-year-old voice. “The mommies and the daddies and the babies.”

“Well, the Bible says a mommy and a daddy of each animal,” I said.

“And the babies,” he said. I dropped it, granting him liberty. No sense arguing with a three-year-old. Certainly there were babies when they departed the ark.

He’s six now. The Bible stories he likes are the bloody, gory, fighting ones.

We were running early one morning, so at breakfast I said, “I’ll read you a Bible story. You pick!”

“Read about when Queen Jezebel died,” he said.

I turned to 1 Kings 21, the story of Naboth’s vineyard. How King Ahab wanted it for a vegetable garden, but Naboth wouldn’t sell it to him. How King Ahab pouted and refused to eat.

My son’s favorite phrase these days is It’s not fair! No matter what it is, if he doesn’t like it, we hear the refrain It’s not fair! My husband and I are about to pull our hair out over It’s not fair! No sense arguing with a six-year-old.

So that morning I read the story my son had picked: His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, “Why are you so sullen? Why won’t you eat?”

As my child listened and munched cereal, I smelled a teachable moment.

In the whiniest Ahab voice I could muster, I said: “Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, ‘Sell me your vineyard: or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.’ But he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.'”

Then—God, forgive me and grant me liberty, I said: “It’s not fair! It’s not fair!”

Out of the corner of my eye I could see my son’s head pop up from his bowl.

I continued reading: Jezebel his wife said, “Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

As it goes, Jezebel had Naboth killed, Ahab took his vineyard, and Elijah caught the king and queen red-handed. Elijah spelled out God’s judgment against them saying dogs would eat Jezebel’s body. Told you it was gory.

We turned to 2 Kings 9 where the prophesy came true: But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands.

My son was quiet.

“It came true,” I said, “because God does everything He says He will do.”

The Whetstines

Then I dropped it. No sense arguing with that either.

As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is My Word that goes out from My mouth:
It will not return to Me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11 NIV

Proudly presenting The Waltons Theme Song by Jerry Goldsmith. Loved that show. What a week and what a way to end it!

Posted on by Aimee