Blog post for Going Home Stories blog I WANT YOU TO KNOW. www.goinghomestories.com/blog

It’s been almost a week since I returned from the Houston area tour, and I’m still scrambling to catch up with everything and everyone.  So I hope you’ll understand why it may have slipped my mind to share the below article with you from the October 13th issue of the Galveston Daily News.  Now, that is no reflection on the article — it’s actually well done and captures the motivation behind the book, in my opinion.

Give it a quick read:

photo by Rick Cousins

Published October 13, 2012

Brilliant theologians and philosophers might relish an opportunity to do battle with well-known atheists or even among themselves over a variety of challenging questions.

But the wisest ones might hesitate when faced with queries from the smallest questioners. How do you tell a child what God is like in a way he or she can comprehend?

That’s the reason Kirk Jackson penned his new picture book, “I Want You to Know the Wonder of God,” which he will be reading and signing at 3 p.m. today at Island ETC, 2317 Mechanic St.

It all started with a quite confused younger version of Jackson.

“I grew up in the Houston area attending two different churches within my family, and the theologies of these churches were on very opposite ends of the Christian spectrum,” he said. “This resulted in a lot of spiritual confusion throughout my childhood.”

In fact, it left him saddled with not only cynicism and doubt, but also a surprising new motivation. He now knew he wanted to create a book to provide his children with a way to begin to know God in terms that they could identify with.

Like most first-time authors, Jackson has a day job, several in fact. He has his own video production company and volunteers with the nonprofit Los Angeles Team Rubicon. When he’s not working on these and his new children’s series, he’s also in preproduction for a future documentary on the historic highway Route 66.

He grew up in Friendswood, Tiki Island and elsewhere, and was the technical director for both The Strand and Island ETC. He’s now based in California.

Unlike the adult TV audiences his documentaries draw, Jackson knows children tend to absorb information in very literal, concrete and immediate terms, a practice that is not generally considered to be terribly amenable to theology.

“When they try to comprehend God, they tend to latch on to the Old Man in the Sky personification without always realizing that they have evidence of God’s presence and love all around them,” Jackson said. “God cannot be fully understood and never will be, even by theologians or scholars. The book is not meant to fully explain God, but rather help children on their journey and their exploration of faith.”

“Wonder” is intended for adults to read to their children, age 3 and up. Second-graders generally will be able to read it by themselves.

Illustrator Gwynne Simmons teamed with Jackson on the book. Her art is lighthearted, whimsical and rich with the saturated color kids may associate with TV cartoons, but her depictions of children offer more expression and character than most seen mass-produced broadcast efforts.

Most authors face a gamut of agents, publishers and editors, but Jackson had a second collaborator and ally in his quest for print. As the book came together in his home office, Jackson’s young son toddled in and appraised the stacks of his father’s drafts, galleys and notes. The younger Jackson then appointed himself to the dual posts of test market and constructive critic.

Jackson’s picture book just received the gold medal in the Religion/Spirituality category from Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards. It is available through Amazon.com in addition to several local stores and churches.

In addition to the signing, Jackson plans to hand out copies of the book to children at Shriners Hospitals for Children-Galveston.

“I never doubted the presence of God or that my prayers were heard,” he said. “And I never wavered from my belief that God was always with me.”

photo by Rick Cousins

Link to article on Galveston Daily News website.

Blog post for Going Home Stories blog I WANT YOU TO KNOW. www.goinghomestories.com/blog