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About the Book – Christmas traditions become a treasured part of a family s heritage, passed down from generation to generation. This brand new, four-week devotional guides your family on an unforgettable Advent journey, exploring some of the most wonderful prophecies in the Bible and how God fulfills them in Christ. From Bible devotions which tell the Christmas story through the eyes of the prophets to an original Christmas short story called Bartimaeus, Prepare Him Room helps you build family Christmas traditions around Christ. The memorable and meaningful activities, songs, and stories of Prepare Him Room will become the fabric of your family s Christmas memories. So gather them to watch the amazing gospel story unfold every December for generations to come! Also available is the Prepare Him Room Christmas CD with songs from Bob Kauflin and Sovereign Grace Music; and a corresponding Sunday school curriculum, Prepare Him Room: Celebrating the Birth of Jesus in the Classroom by Marty Machowski.
About the Author –
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Marty Machowski is a Family Life Pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, where he has served on the pastoral staff for over twenty years. He is the author of the Gospel Story for Kids series including The Gospel Story Bible, Long Story Short: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God, Old Story New: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God, and the Gospel Story Curriculum. He and his wife Lois and their six children reside in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Sarah J. Bland-Halulko lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and twin daughters. Influenced by her mentors and life experiences, her favorite forms of artistic expression include pen and ink drawing, watercolor, and photography.
My Review – God has blessed His church with many people, not least of whom is Marty Machowski. Marty has written several books to help families and churches teach their children well. Now, Machowski offers, ‘Prepare Him Room–Celebrating the Birth of Jesus Family Devotional’.
Families of younger children (age 11 and under) will benefit greatly from this book.Prepare Him Room provides three sections for each of the four weeks of Advent. So, for example, if your family started usingPrepare Him Room on Sunday, November 30, you would do three sections that first week and so on. Then, there’s a final reading for Christmas Day. Plus, Marty adds a new story called ‘Bartimaeus’ that will help bring it all together for all listeners. There are activities, songs, even recipes (in some of the sections) that will help make memories as well as help young participants treasure up the incarnation within their hearts. Families of slightly older children can still benefit. I would recommend having the older kids read the chapters to their siblings or be in charge of songs or baking. Grandparents: you, too, can be actively involved by purchasing these for your grandchildren, either as gifts or for you to use (if you live nearby).
One of the things Machowski does so well in his books is tie the Old Testament and New Testament together. Drawing from Old Testament prophecies and showing their fulfillment in the New, the author helps all to see that God’s Word is a whole; that the story of redemption is the singular theme.
If your church is looking for ways to help Advent remain alive, not becoming stale in the same old, same old routine, then order the curriculum version of Prepare Him Room. There are class ideas along with a teaching CD which will prove helpful. One of the challenges each year, on these major church holidays, is taking a story that is so familiar it’s almost become mundane. How sad, that the incarnation of our Lord should be reduced to that. Allow Marty Machowski to help breathe fresh air into this account and have families invigorated for this Advent season.
As a father, grandfather and a pastor, I highly commend this book to you.
Here is a video that will help get a better sense of what Prepare Him Room is all about:
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Prepare Him Room may be purchased here:
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”