I have a Book Review....I love Books we all know this! I love Christmas time even more, so I was thrilled to have a chance to read a book from David Nicholson called If He Had Not Come. It’s a hardcover children’s book, originally written by Nan F. Weeks with 40 colorful pages of Beautiful artwork. Kaden kept rubbing the pages expecting to feel texture, we loved the illustrations by Charles Jaskiewicz. This book was written for Kiddos aged 6 and up. I feel like that's about right, maybe younger Kiddos might not grasp the concept of the story.
Christmas is an extremely important time of the year for me. When I was a child growing up my parents decorated, cooked, baked, sang songs, entertained and shared the Joy Christ had put in their hearts with anyone who would come over for hot chocolate and some cookies. When they died before I was a teenager that all stopped. Growing up in foster care I never experienced that kind of celebration again until I started a Family of my own. Every year since we have celebrated like it's the last Christmas we will ever have.
Last December we had a traumatic event unfold right before our eyes, needless to say we lite up our tree only 2 times during the whole season. There was no cookies, no singing and defiantly no cheer. One thing we did do is celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savior. Kaden and Mahala carefully assembled our little manger like every year before. And like Magic... on Christmas morning Baby Jesus arrived in his precious bed of straw for all of us to celebrate his existence.
Last December we had a traumatic event unfold right before our eyes, needless to say we lite up our tree only 2 times during the whole season. There was no cookies, no singing and defiantly no cheer. One thing we did do is celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savior. Kaden and Mahala carefully assembled our little manger like every year before. And like Magic... on Christmas morning Baby Jesus arrived in his precious bed of straw for all of us to celebrate his existence.
Long story extremely short this book tells a story that made me go back in time to last Christmas. All of our traditions were thrown out the window because of our trauma. All but the one, Christmas morning there was Jesus in our manger. We had Hope, Faith and Thankfulness in our hearts.
Now, let's fast forward 10 months and ask how does this relate to the story in this book. Well, the little boy named Bobby goes about his normal Holiday traditions all the way up until Christmas Eve. He falls asleep repeating 5 words he read that Jesus had said in the Bible,"if I had not come." After he wakes in the morning he runs downstairs so excited and can't wait to see his presents. Instead he finds nothing, nothing at all. He sets out on an adventure to search for answers. All he finds is a world without Love, without Patience, a world full of people filled with Anger and lack Compassion. He runs across a sick elderly man and tries to help him. But, while navigating around a town he knows well, he discovers a world with out Jesus also means a world without a lot more then just presents and Christmas trees.
I don't want to share much more....you need to read it for yourself and share with your Family this Season. As in the book I realized that a world without Jesus simply would be just one trauma or event after another. It reminded me that even during all we went through last year the one single thing that brought my Family joy was the celebration of baby Jesus in that manger.
Now, let's fast forward 10 months and ask how does this relate to the story in this book. Well, the little boy named Bobby goes about his normal Holiday traditions all the way up until Christmas Eve. He falls asleep repeating 5 words he read that Jesus had said in the Bible,"if I had not come." After he wakes in the morning he runs downstairs so excited and can't wait to see his presents. Instead he finds nothing, nothing at all. He sets out on an adventure to search for answers. All he finds is a world without Love, without Patience, a world full of people filled with Anger and lack Compassion. He runs across a sick elderly man and tries to help him. But, while navigating around a town he knows well, he discovers a world with out Jesus also means a world without a lot more then just presents and Christmas trees.
I don't want to share much more....you need to read it for yourself and share with your Family this Season. As in the book I realized that a world without Jesus simply would be just one trauma or event after another. It reminded me that even during all we went through last year the one single thing that brought my Family joy was the celebration of baby Jesus in that manger.
Along with the Amazing story a bonus in this book is all the Interactive Topics in the back for Families and Sunday School Teachers. These topics and questions can be used for discussion after you read the Story together. You will find all kinds of questions for any age range your Kiddos are in. Some of the questions in the going Deeper are scripture based and some are questions to get you thinking. The Gospel message in the back clearly shows in a ABC format how anyone can seek Salvation. Receiving Jesus as their Savior is a Beautiful and Magical way to end this book.
We read this book day 1 together, but later on I found Kaden and Mahala reading it off and on. They both have been saved already, but they both loved the Gospel Message almost as much as the story. We have sat together and pondered just about what our life would be like without Jesus. I'm thankful that it is not our reality and only a fleeting thought. Please go online and connect with them on Facebook! This is a great addition to your traditional Christmas stories. It's always nice to bring the attention away from just presents and Santa cheer during the Holiday Season.
If He Had Not Come can be purchased for $18.95 and is also available in ebook format for $3.99.
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