Triple Dog Dare Devotional by Jeremy Jones~ First Wild Card Tour with review

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books.  A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured.  The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between!  Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card author is:

Jeremy Jones

and the book:

Triple Dog Dare Devotional

David C. Cook (October 1, 2011)

***Special thanks to Audra Jennings, Senior Media Specialist, The B&B Media Group for sending me a review copy.***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jeremy V. Jones is an award-winning journalist who has served as senior associate editor of Breakaway magazine. He has authored several books, including Toward the Goal: The Kaka Story and The Keeper: The Tim Hoard Story. He also writes for magazines such as Clubhouse and Christianity Today. He resides with his wife and two children in Colorado.                              

SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Boys want action. They don’t want to sit around and talk—that’s for grown-ups and girls. They engage life and relationships by doing something: skateboarding, playing games or re-creating favorite movie scenes. So why should faith be any different? That’s why Jeremy V. Jones created Triple Dog Dare: One Year of Dynamic Devotions for Boys—to provide the action boys need in order to grow their faith.

The Bible is full of action. Remember how David slew Goliath, Daniel faced those lions, Paul survived a shipwreck and Jesus stood up for a woman about to be killed? God made boys to take His truth and do something with it, to man up and change the world. These action-packed devotions for boys ages 9 to 12 are filled with godly truth and bold spiritual challenges that transform time with God into the adventure of the day.

Triple Dog Dare connects God’s Word to boys’ hearts and hands with real-life scenarios and activities. Each day is filled with short Scriptures, concise biblical truth and a daily dare, all challenging them to put their faith into practice. Scripture readings from every book of the Bible open up the action-packed Word of God. Whether it’s drawing comic strips of biblical battles, dreaming up a life list of goals, making snack packs for the homeless or producing Bible-based movies, boys will go on daily dynamic experiences with God, taking faith off the page and setting it into motion. Themes cover the daily realities of pre-teen males, including bullying, peer pressure, girls, sibling rivalry, honesty and more.

These exciting devotions will inspire boys’ hearts toward godly characteristics such as integrity, generosity and kindness. Parents will appreciate watching Christ-like traits emerge as each dare is undertaken. It is a manual that will deepen boys’ friendships with Jesus as they look forward to spending time with Him every day. So if you know a boy who is up for the challenge, triple dog dare him!




Product Details:

List Price: $14.99
Reading level: Ages 9 and up
Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: David C. Cook (October 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0781404576
ISBN-13: 978-0781404570

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER (Click on images to enlarge):

My take on this devotional:
This is a neat little idea to get boys to not only study the Bible but to jot down their ideas about what they learning and thinking. This devotional is geared toward for ages 9 thru 12, and while your young man might need a little encouragement to use this devotional, I think that once he gets into the habit of doing it he is going to enjoy it because it's filled with the stuff that he is going to be interested in. I think the title alone is an attention grabber, who doesn't remember the triple dog dare, and most boys just can't resist that challenge. The straightforward introduction makes it clear what the book is all about. Its about doing faith, putting their relationship with God into action and making God's love real. Everyday of the week there is one Bible verse or passage, some short thoughts about real life situations or connection to God and three Triple Dog Dares, which are ideas on how to put the theme of the day into action. At the bottom of the page there are two questions, What did you do? What did you learn? as well as a space to write down the results from your previous days dares.
The weekends are quite different , there are Make Triple Dog Tracks which are sections that give ideas on how to make something. There is also a section titled From The Triple Dog Pound which are stories about men from the Bible. I think one of the stand out things for me was the fact that at the end of each week there is a page called "your page" which encourages the user to do different things to make there devotional more personal. I think the various themes that are used in this devotional are certainly relevant, and hopefully will allow boys to think about the issues.
Overall a great book, with an eye catching cover that will allow boys to cultivate a wonderful foundation for a life long relationship with God.