God Comes to Us Like a Caterpillar

Jesus' parables are great stories--but how do they apply to me? To my life? This can be a question kids ask--maybe not out loud, but when they hear the pastor drone on about the parable of the mustard seed for the third time in a year, it can seem dry and even unimportant. However, in Kent Chadwick's God Comes to Us Like a Caterpillar, Jesus' parables are retold in a way that will interest your grade-schooler and pre-teen.

For instance, the parable of the lost drachma from Luke 15:8-10 is retold in this manner:

Jesus said, "If a girl has ten dollars yet loses one in her room, won't she turn on all her lights and clean her whole room and hunt for it until she finds it? And when she finds it she'll call to her brothers and sisters and mother and father and say, 'Hey, isn't it great? I found the dollar I lost!'"

Seventy-eight unique parables from the Gospels are re-told in interesting ways throughout God Comes to Us Like a Caterpillar.

What I Like: The book is very well organized, and you can tell the author took great pains to try to be as true to the original parables while spinning them into modern language. Several of the stories are funny, all are thought-provoking.

All of the stories list the part or parts of scripture the original story came from so you and your kids can go back and see exactly what Jesus said. I really appreciated this since there were several stories I didn't remember.

Each story ends with a short question or two to get the reader thinking about how the parable applies in his or her life. This is why I believe this could be a good family book or even devotion, as long as your kids are old enough.

What I Dislike: There's nothing about this book I dislike.

Overall Rating: Excellent.

Age Appeal: 9 - 12

Publisher Info: Wisdom Press, 2010; ISBN: 978-1452889221; Paperback, 118 pgs. $10.00

Buy it at Amazon.com for $10.00.
Also available for the Kindle for $5.00.