Like most children, both of my boys love books. Lucas loves them. Finn is just starting to love them.  Books hold their attention in ways that few things can. Books give them language, plot, twist, humor, questions, concern, and pleasure in ways that stimulate their mind to bigger understandings of the world and their place in it. The don’t just read the stories for information, entertainment, and curiosity, they read it, digesting everything that is happening at once. The stories get into their marrow in such a way that some particular stories emerge in their vocabulary, imagination, and world-view at the most surprising times: in line at the grocery store, car rides of longer than 15 minutes, right before bed time, etc. These are the moments in which you find out what is truly going on inside the mysterious and complex world of a child.

Recently, Lucas received a few books in the mail from his grandparents in which he was written into the story. As we read the story to him, he slowly (but with great enthusiasm) realized that his name was literally written into the plot. Imagine, being 3, having your parent read about Super-Man or Spider-Man or The Cat in the Hat . . . and you go from being an outside observer to a principle actor– a character embedded within the story. You are mentioned. You act, think, contemplate, fear, and move as the story moves. For Bible nerds, this is what’s behind the seemingly awkward ending of the Book of Acts.

When one of Lucas and Finn’s grandmothers (Grandma Sugar) carefully put together these outfits pictured above . . . she intuitively knew that boys (and girls) love and long to be characters embedded within a meaningful story. Super Finn and Super Lucas. Fearfully and wonderfully made as the Psalmist boasts.

And so it is with the Scripture given to us by God. Insert your name into the story. Where’s your place? What’s the plot? Don’t be a reader and consumer of the story for you were made in God’s likeness to work with God in bringing the story to a better place. There is a plot large enough for all. A script with lines for every person. Enough music and dialog to keep us singing and talking about God for years to come.