Mike Nappa - Instant Family Devotions: 52 Bible Discussions for Anytime, Anywhere Use

Who Is Watty Piper Anyway?

The interesting thing, really, is that Watty Piper doesnt even exist.

Still, if youre like many American families, Mr. Piper has had the most significant faith conversation with your children since their preschool daysdespite his status of nonbeing.

You see, our dear Watty Piper is the pseudonym some enterprising editor at Platt & Munk Publishers dreamed up in 1930 to use as the byline for a childrens picture book. The story in that little tome had been around for decades, told in one form or another as a folktale for kids. When Platt & Munk decided to retell it during the Great Depression, it resonated with the can-do spirit of America and became an immediate classic. Some eighty-plus years later, its still a staple in most family libraries, nurseries, and daycare centers.

So what did Watty Piper write? Well give you a hint:

I think I can, I think I can...

Yep, Watty Piper is the fictional author of The Little Engine That Could .

This is the story of a small roundhouse utility engine that dares to accomplish what everyone else thought was impossible: singlehandedly pulling a long chain of railcars up a steep hillside. Chances are very good that you read this bookrepeatedlyto your own children. And if you didnt, one of their teachers or babysitters or librarians or aunts or uncles did.

In fact, that Little Engine recently ranked in the top half (number thirty-one, to be exact) of The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived . The authors of this list describe the Little Engines impact this way: She chants to herself as she pulls, repeating her belief in her own ability, perhaps the first mantra of positive thinking.... She teaches us that we should believe in ourselves, to believe that we can do it.

Now, The Little Engine That Could is a fine, inspiring storybook... unless its the only place where faith conversations happen in your kids lives. Unlike a little engine, in real life we cant simply believe in ourselves and hope thats enough. True faith must be grounded in God aloneand only then can we accomplish great things.

Likewise, most of the books and television shows and radio programs and iPod playlists and DVR lineups and movies and more that your kids consume are fine forms of entertainment for your kids... unless theyre shaping your family members beliefs without the benefit of a rich tradition of family faith conversations to go along with them.

And thats why Instant Family Devotions exists.

No, were not suggesting that you burn all copies of The Little Engine That Could , or saying you should smash your television set or check out from American culture and literature. Thats absurd. But we are saying that talking about faith in the context of American family culture is important and influences both the here and the hereafter.

And so, Instant Family Devotions was created to help your family do just that. To help you and your kids add a few fun, faith-building conversations to your twenty-first-century lifestyle. To help you take charge of the faith-growth opportunities that come during the raising of a child. To help you join the ongoing conversation about God that goes on every day in your childs mind and life. To help you be readyanytime, anywherewith a few creative, Bible-centered family devotions to share with your kids. To give you an easy-to-use tool for making fun, family faith memories thatll last a lifetime.