I’ve just returned from Munchkinland. It’s a wonky, little place I’ve been visiting every day for about a month. The visits won’t end anytime soon since only 25 of the 64 devotions I’ve been contracted to write are completed.
They’re for a book to be published by Tyndale House late this year, a 365 day kids’ devotional. Hence the daily visits to Munchkinland as I invent ways to make the Bible come alive for youngsters. Doing so involves thinking like a kid, finding topics important to them, and describing situations relevant to their lives in a multi-cultural, trendy-but-timeless way, while selecting trendy-but-timeless names for the characters.
You’d think that after 18 years as a kid, 25 years as an elementary teacher, and almost 27 years as a parent I’d know my way around Munchkinland. But getting there is a lot like being swallowed by an F-5 tornado and plunked down beside a yellow brick road. My empathy for Dorothy increases by the hour.
My bag of kid-scenarios is emptying fast. In record time I have burned through my personal childhood crises and half of my teaching career’s playground dramas. I have maybe a week’s worth of school tales and a handful of anecdotes about my two kids to write into the book before writers’ block high centers me.
So please, if any of you live in Munchkinland, fill your email ruby slippers with suggestions and double-click them my way. Otherwise, be prepared for the resurrection of the wicked witch. If that happens, stay out of her way. And pray for Hiram’s patience. He’s going to need it.
