The NIV Dad's Devotional Bible, with notes by Robert Wolgemuth, posed so many possibilities when I first saw it in the publisher's book list. This version means to update an earlier (1999) edition, and bring notes from a noted layman, Wolgemuth. Unlike a Study Bible, The NIV Dad's Devotional Bible has complete pages of biblical text with the minimal-style NIV textual notes in the bottom margin. Font size is big enough, although the paper quality is less than it could be -- any notes the reader might add would easily bleed-through. Wolgemuth's "notes" come in the form of 260 daily readings, one for each weekday, inspired by some portion of the previous chapter or two, sometimes more, of reading. The conclusion has a number of other "helps", including a short summary of the main point of each book of the Bible with a focus specifically on its value for a dad. There's also a helpful section of questions kids might ask, with useful helps in answering those questions.Overall, the NIV Dad's Devotional Bible is a wonderful effort, but it fails to deliver on its promise on so many levels. Some of the notes seem rather forced in application, and the readings are so broad that so many opportunities are missed in exploring the devotional depth of Christian life as fathers and men. But that's probably because this is yet another specialty Bible that falls into the same traps that specialty Bibles fall into generally. Because the Scripture was written for the whole people of God, to reduce its message to a particular audience, is to diminish its message. So in the end, I was left wanting more.
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