Long Story Short: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God

Long Story Short is the best material for family devotions I've ever seen. If you're looking for something careful, creative, and Christ-centered without being corny, confusing, or condescending look no further. Pastors would be wise to buy this book by the boxful and get a copy into the hands of each family in their church.
Justin Taylor
Blogger (Between Two Worlds); managing editor of the ESV Study Bible

This is simply an outstanding book, and Christian families need it right now. I have never seen a devotional book that is so well suited to family devotions and to children, even as it is faithful in relating biblical truth. This book will help any Christian parent lead family devotions that will be memorable, faithful, and practical for Christian living. I'll admit this too, parents will find that they love the stories, illustrations, and learning suggestions along with their children. Marty Machowski has written a wonderful book.
R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Parents, you know that teaching your children God's Word, especially with children of varying ages, is never easy. But Marty Machowski has just made it easier. Long Story Short guides your family through Old Testament stories, each one highlighting the love and faithfulness of God and the hope of a Savior to come. To use this guide is to have an experienced father and pastor assisting you every night. These moments together, informed by Marty's book, will help your children understand and be amazed by the grace of God as revealed in the Old Testament.
C.J. Mahaney
President, Sovereign Grace Ministries; author of many books, including The Cross Centered Life

I love the simplicity and practicality of Long Story Short. Marty Machowski gives parents a valuable resource to make disciples in our homes by highlighting the gospel story and the Hero of Scripture. I plan to strongly encourage the use of this book throughout our entire network of churches.
Scott Thomas
President, Acts 29 Network

In Long Story Short, Marty Machowski provides what my wife and I needed when we were struggling to find good tools to disciple our young children. We got by, but this resource would have helped us so much. I envy the parents who will have it available to them. It is simple, interactive, and faithful to Scripture. It avoids the pitfalls of moralism that is prevalent in much of the children's Bible literature today. Marty insists that you and your children meet Jesus and see the gospel of grace in every story. I can't recommend this resource enough.
Dr. Timothy S. Lane, Executive Director,
Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation; coauthor of How People Change and Relationships: A Mess Worth Making

Transform Your Family with Ten Minutes a Day in the Gospel Story

Christian parents know the importance of passing the gospel story on to their children, yet we live in a busy world filled with distractions. Schedules collide, there is homework and yard work and dishes and laundry, the car's oil should be changed, there are phone calls to make and before you know it, everyone is getting to bed late again.

The Bible can seem like a long story for an active family to read, but when you break it down into short sections, as Marty Machowski does, family devotions are easy to do. Long Story Short will help busy parents share with their children how every story in the Old Testament points forward to God's story of salvation through Jesus Christ. You won't find a more important focus for a family devotional than a daily highlighting of the gospel of grace. Clever stories and good moral lessons may entertain and even help children, but the gospel will transform children. The gospel is deep enough to keep the oldest and wisest parents learning and growing all their lives, yet simple enough to transform the heart of the first grader who has just begun to read.

Ten minutes a day, five days a week is enough time to pass on the most valuable treasure the world has ever known. Long Story Short is a family devotional program designed to explain God's plan of salvation through the Old Testament and is suitable for children from preschool through high school.

Marty Machowski, the author of Long Story Short, is an experienced family minister and children's minister. It is obvious that he loves children and the Lord. This resource has 78 weeks of family devotions, taking participants from Genesis through the book of Nehemiah. Each day has a review from the day before, Scripture to read, a few questions to discuss, and something to pray about. Every once in a while the book encourages children to ask questions of their parents, drawing out what they are like. The book is thorough; very few children will get through this study without knowing Scripture in a deeper way, and learning how to apply passages in the Bible to their everyday lives.

Perhaps one of the best resources of this book is found in the introductory remarks. There, Marty Muchowski coaches his readers on how to conduct family devotions, and the family altar in general, based on the developmental level of their children. For instance, he shares how the use of Long Story Short will look different for preschoolers than for grade school children (p. 3).

As I read through this book, I loved the concept of this resource and the quantity of material. I would have liked a higher ratio of active learning to discussion, with a few more devotions containing little learning activities and games that the whole family could enjoy and then reflect upon. Currently these activities are used once a week, but I would have like to have seen this principle used every day. I also would like to see Long Story Short as a hole-punched book so that it could be put in a three ring binder as it gets frequent use. Nevertheless, these are minor points.

Long Story Short is a rare find. There are very few guides for family devotions that are this thorough and this good. Anyone wishing to try to establish a family altar needs to have this book on their shelf. – Clint Walker, www.ChristianBookPreviews.com