Through Gates of Splendor

"The will of God is always bigger than we bargain for."  Jim Elliot 1952


There are certain books that I feel close to- like family.  Through Gates of Splendor is one of those books.  It was written by Elisabeth Elliot, wife of Jim Elliot and missionary to the Auca Indians of Ecuador.  In it she recounts the story of five missionaries, who because of their passion for the gospel, and their love for people, boldly flew into the jungle to share the message of hope to an unreached tribe.  All five men were martyred for their faith on that fateful day- January 8, 1956.  That was 57 years ago.

Before I read Through Gates of Splendor, I read Passion and Purity: Learning to Bring Your Love Life Under Christ's Control (also by Elisabeth Elliot).  Both books had a profound and lasting effect on me in high school.  Elizabeth is a gifted writer and communicator and she was able to clearly convey  her thoughts on dating, courtship and marriage in a way few others had done before.  Her relationship with Jim was a model for me as I formulated my ideas about finding and being a God-honoring mate.


If you have a middle or high school student these two books should be high on the reading list for them.    They inspire Christians to live with holy abandon.  Enjoy!


"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

Review: Veritas Press Pages of History Volume 1: Secrets of the Ancients

Veritas Press has produced an excellent history textbook for logic stage students who are studying the Ancients.  I recently received a preview copy of Pages of History Volume 1: Stories of the Ancients which unfolds the tales of history like a fast-paced  novel.   History is, after all, a retelling of true stories from the past.  The antithesis of a dry textbook, authors Bruce Etter and Alexia Detweiler have given home schooling parents and students an engaging history lesson in the form of a thorough yet accessible book.

Veritas Press publishes unashamedly Christian material. This book starts with Creation and weaves the events from the Bible into the stories of history.  Best friends James and Lance find themselves transported to the Garden of Eden where they learn that even though people were created in the image of God (Imago Dei), mankind is now separated from God because of Adam's sin.  All of history is a stage on which God's redemptive plan for man is being carried out. Etter and Detweiler artfully chronicle the boy's adventures as they explore history from this vantage point.

Time periods, subjects, definitions and concepts are all introduced through the characters in the story through the narrative so kids hardly even feel like they are"doing history".  To me, this is one of the the best ways to learn.  It's much more appealing to find out what happens next in your history novel than to read the next chapter of a history book!  If you have a reluctant historian in your family Pages of History might be just what they need to bring history to life.

The book explores all of the major topics of ancient history that you would expect in a good textbook for this age group and it provides many opportunities to stop and have important discussions. For instance, Chapter 5 has an excellent segment concerning laws and codes (Hammurabi and the Ten Commandments) which leads to the concepts of fairness, natural law, the purpose of law and restitution versus detention.  (Good family dinner table discussions ahead!)

Children who read Pages will have a good understanding not only of world history but also of church history, a subject that is often left untaught or taught later in a student's studies. Additionally, it will be clear to them that the events of the Bible happened in history!  This seems like an obvious concept but sometimes children don't put the events of the Bible into historical context.  They don't realize that Abraham lived during the time of the Mesopotamians and that while the Greeks were developing their ideas of democracy, Israel was a divided kingdom to whom God was sending prophets like Amos, Isaiah and Habakkuk.

This book could be assigned for individual history reading but I think it would be even better if read aloud as a family.   The target audience is students ages 11-13 but it is appropriate for multi-age teaching. Younger children will enjoy listening to the story and I believe the adventure plot coupled with the history and Bible will lend itself to questions and dialogue.  To me, 9-11 (approximate grades 4-6) is the perfect age for this book.  It would be a good history supplement for logic stage students ages 12-13 (Grades 7-8) because it does raise more of the "why?" questions students of this age are dealing with.

If you are looking for a traditional history textbook with reading plans, project ideas, assignments, discussion questions, headings, timelines, charts, dates, terms, maps, quizzes and tests, this may not be the book for you. update see note** It wasn't designed to be that sort of history book.  This is a conversational book that is easy to read and that engages the reader or listener through the dialogue and plot.

** 11/19/2012 Since I originally posted I have new information. As you'll notice from the comments there IS a workbook that is going to be published to go with the book!  This will be a great help to families who would like to use the material as their main textbook.  Look for it plus Volume 2 and the audio book for Vol 1 in May of 2013.  

I would have enjoyed seeing more maps in the book since history always happens in a place.  Additionally, there are not very many pictures and the illustrations of the boys in the story are line drawings which are fairly simple.  I am a visual learner so visual appeal is high on my list but it may not be a problem for other people.  Overall, the content greatly overrides these minor negatives.

 At 445 pages, you can read about three pages a day and finish it in approximately 160 school days.  I don't think your kids will let you get away with just reading three pages a day though- it's just too much fun!

The book ends with a cliff hanger and a note:

"...to be continued."

Students and parents alike will be waiting on the edge of their seats for the next book, which I assume will start where this one leaves off after John Knox at the Reformation.

Pages of History: Volume 1 Stories of the Ancients will be released on Friday, November 22, but you can pre-order your copy today.  Go to this link.  (I will not benefit from your purchase.)

Nota Bene: You don't have to be a home schooler to enjoy this book. It would be an excellent Christmas or birthday gift for a grandchild, niece or nephew!

Got Adolescents?  If you've got children who are ages 10-15 you should check out my review of Focus on the Family's Passport2Purity- another fabulous resource.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments!

Got Adolescents? Passport2Purity is a Key Resource

There are some pivotal life choices made during the ages of 11-15.  That's one reason my husband and I decided to be very deliberate about setting our children up for success in navigating these often tumultuous years.  Just like most Christian parents, we have been actively training them from the time they were born, and praying for them each step of the way.  It is our heart's desire that they know the Lord and that they walk in the fullness of life they can have in Him all the days of their lives.  We want to help them understand the wisdom of following the precepts God lays out in the Bible.  We always remind them that they can learn things two ways, through personal experience or through other people's personal experience.  Not all lessons have to be learned the hard way.  Wisdom means hearing and heeding the advice and council of those who are further down the road and especially of God.

The best time to think about where you stand on sex, drugs, smoking,  bullying, and inappropriate activities is not when you walk in the door to a party or get confronted with a choice.  These are things kids need to discuss with their parents in a safe, open environment  way ahead of time.

Many parents dread the "big conversation" they know they need to have with their kids before it's too late.  We've been having age appropriate conversations with our kids as the topic of sex comes up but at some point, we knew we would need to lay out the facts clearly from God's perspective and help them think through the boundaries they wanted to set for themselves.   For both of our children, when they reached the age of 12 we  did some "official training."  By that, I mean we used specially made "so now you're growing up" guides during long weekends.  For our son, we used Preparing for Adolescence (Focus on the Family) and for our daughter we used Passport 2 Purity (Dennis and Barbara Rainey- Family Life).  Both of these were excellent experiences for parent and child alike.

Our  Passport2Purity weekend was truly one to remember.  A few weeks beforehand, I made reservations at a fancy hotel here in Hawaii and started previewing the materials.  I listened to the parent CD's and gathered the materials I needed for the five activities that went with the sessions.  About a week before, I told my daughter that we would be going on a weekend, just the two of us and that we would be having lots of fun and also discussing important stuff she needed to know about growing up.

Our big weekend finally came and we headed off in the car to have a special dinner together at a restaurant.  While we were there, I explained what we were doing a little more and gave her an Adventure Journal- which was part of the curriculum.  I also read letters to her that my husband and I had written telling her how proud we were of her and how important it was to us to help her grow up to be a young lady who loved the Lord.

We left the dinner and started listening to the CD in the car.   Dennis and Barbara Rainey have a very thoughtful, conversational style that is easy to listen to.  They pepper their talks with examples, anecdotes, humor and wisdom.  It isn't stuffy or boring.  This was the first of five sessions in which Dennis and Barbara Rainey lay out the plan for the weekend and build a foundation of the importance of recognizing God's word as the authority in our lives.

To emphasize the point of each session, the Rainey's gave instructions for a one-on-one activity that a parent can do with a child.  For this first session, I bought two different 100 piece puzzles.  One I left in the box and the other I took out of the box and put into a Chinese takeout container- minus a few pieces.  Then I announced that we were going to have a silent race to see who could finish their puzzle first and set the timer for 10 minutes.  You can imagine the frustration she felt when she realized that she didn't even know what she was supposed to be putting together- there was no picture to go by!  Of course, I got more of my puzzle done than she did, although she was a really good sport about it.  The point of the lesson was that  no matter where we go or what we do, God has given us His word as a guide.  The Bible is like our box top for all areas of life.  Without the guide, life doesn't make sense.  

God's Word is like a puzzle box top.

  Then we listened to session two which was about Peer Pressure and Running with the Herd. They encouraged kids to stay on the right track and influence others with positive peer pressure instead of succumbing to negative peer pressure.   During these sessions, the parent and child follow along in their respective books and the child fills in a few blanks as she listens.  These were thought provoking questions at the end of each session and they guided us into some very important conversations.  

I had prepared a few small gifts to give my daughter, just to say, I love you.  Each one was chosen because I knew she would appreciate it.  I wrapped these up and every couple of sessions, she would open one.  

On Saturday we had a nice breakfast and then did session three, Growing to Sexual Maturity.  Yes, there was some squirming but the Raineys did a great job of presenting the facts and they made it easy to continue to keep conversation open about these issues. (There is a separate CD track for boys.)  My favorite part of this discussion was when she asked me- "So...there are two of us kids... so you guys have done this TWICE?"  Funny, that's the same thing I remember wondering when my mom talked to me when I was a girl.  :)

After that conversation we were ready for some fun so we went to the pool and  took a walk on the beach.   

Beach wedding and beach bums.

Session four was "Staying Pure" which discussed establishing boundaries in life.  Finally, "It's a Date!", the last session, dealt with dating- sharpening convictions about dating and why parents need to be involved.  This last session was an important one because after presenting ways to stay pure and set boundaries, Dennis and Barbara give the kids an opportunity to make some decisions proactively- before they are in a difficult situation.  This was a very positive session for us.  My daughter was able to think through some issues, come to conclusions and convictions and cement them by writing them out in her journal.  I gave her a special necklace to help her remember the weekend and the decisions she made.  

To top our weekend off, we went out to eat and then to the theater to see a local production of The Phantom of the Opera.  It was fabulous. 

I knew that this weekend would be an important rite of passage but I didn't realize how much it would mean to my daughter.  When we came home after The Phantom, she was overcome with emotion and said that she felt loved and knew that she had two parents who were fully committed to helping her successfully make her way through whatever the future held.  The relatively small amount of time we invested in proactively preparing her for the challenges of adolescence and the teen years was already reaping the benefit of a closer connection with our daughter.

Have you used Passport2Purity?  I'd love to hear how your weekend went.