Listeners On the Road

Living on the mountain is beautiful.  Living on the mountain is peaceful.  Living on the mountain means we have to drive a lot to get anywhere.  Calculating the amount of time we spend in the car was making me uneasy.  Although the drive is a gorgeous one, it still adds up to a lot of minutes my kids are just sitting.  Then I remembered a new habit (more like addiction) we picked up last summer.  Why it was dropped, I can't remember, but it's back in full swing.  Books on CD.  Brilliant concept, I tell you!  We do lots of reading at home already, but boy are we mowing through some great books now.  We rent about five books on CD from the library every week, depending on how long they are.

This week, we listened to Heaven for Kids.  Do you ever read a book and think, this book is changing my life.  This book could change the world.  Everyone needs to read this book?  I stumbled upon it quite unintentionally.  Outside of barely recognizing his name, I was unfamiliar with Randy Alcorn's works, much less his theology.  Let me tell you, it was a happy surprise.  This is one we will most definitely rent on an annual basis.  Here's my bullet-point book review:

• For ages 6-130 (in my humble opinion).  My six-year-old son surprised me with how much he absorbed and enjoyed this book.
• It's a great point of reference.  When my children ask questions about important topics from salvation, to why we do what we do, to those hard-to-answer questions on eternity, this is an extremely helpful book to talk through.
• Salvation 101.  I remember being a child and having so many questions, lots of which I never asked, I just observed life and let my observations define my world view.  This book hits the most commonly asked questions children have on salvation and eternity and explains them in a very understandable way.
• Not just for kids.  I'm telling you, listening to the fundamentals again was rocking my world.  I was beginning to give up on wearing eye make up before getting into the car because most of it ran down  my cheeks with happy tears.  Ah, to step out of the push-and-pull, just-get-it-done mentality of everyday and into the reality of eternity and of what really matters everyday: relationship with my Father and His people.  Here come the waterworks again!
• Narnia in real life.  He references the Chronicles of Narnia all throughout the book to help the children visualize and understand more about salvation, Jesus, and heaven.  I highly recommend reading through the Chronicles first before (or right after) reading (or listening to) this book.

Books on CD have definitely changed my attitude toward our longer car drives; we all kind of look forward to them now, like a good round of storytime.