Buck is a dog who grew up in sunny San Diego, California, but suddenly finds himself thrust into the frigid world of the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon Territory, Canada, in the late 1890s. You can read about him in Jack London’s The Call of the Wild.
Here’s Buck and his first encounter with . . . well, I’ll let you figure it out:
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When I think of a new year and new beginnings, I think of Samson, the Bible’s strongman.
You know, Samson with the long hair. Samson who wanted to marry a woman from an enemy country, a woman his parents did not approve of. Samson who tore a lion apart with his bare hands and then pestered people about it. Samson who killed thirty men at his wedding. Samson who hung around with Delilah.
That Samson.
Samson’s life was miraculous from the beginning. His mother could not have children, but an angel of the Lord announced to her that she would have a child and that he would help free the Israelites from the iron fist of the Philistines.
For most of his life, however, he pretty much did whatever he wanted to do.
But here’s the amazing part, the part about new beginnings:
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You remember Samson of Bible fame? You can read about him in Judges 13-16. God kept giving him chances to get it right, and Samson pretty much blew it every time by focusing on himself instead of on what God wanted.
But you don’t have to be Samson to feel the regret of missed chances or the frustration of personal failure. To be human is to know the gut-punch of remorse.
Maybe you feel as if you failed in something last year. Maybe you wish you could do something all over again, only this time you’d win. You’d do the right thing. You’d have the courage. You’d succeed.
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Do you have Christmas season memories you hold dear? Here are a few of mine:
The year my mother saved her hard-earned cake-decorating money to buy a sewing machine for me when I was a college freshman. Little did I know that I would use that machine to sew little outfits for my firstborn son and to teach my daughter how to sew on it. In fact, she has it now, and she is teaching her daughters how to sew.
The year we skipped Christmas.
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Henry was a poet and a literature professor. He had a wife. He had children. He had a solid reputation, and his poetry was popular.
And then his world caved in.
One spring, his country became embroiled in a civil war. Families were split apart. Bands of thieves roamed the country, ostensibly to fight but really to steal from civilians and kill them. Emotions ran high; it was painful for everyone.
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Think back to that first Christmas. Sometime after Mary was visited by an angel, she traveled to her cousin Elizabeth’s house. Elizabeth, an old woman, was finally expecting her first child, and when she heard Mary’s greeting, she reported that her unborn baby “leaped in her womb” (Luke 21: 41 NIV).
Elizabeth called out, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!”
At this, Mary broke out into song! Her song is recorded in Luke 1: 46-55 and is sometimes called the Magnificat, which means “my soul magnifies.”
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I just finished watching my two young granddaughters for five hours, and right now, my brain is a little scrambled. But I want to tell you something.
We played Go Fish. We brushed our teeth. A few of us cried upon occasion. We pretended that we were
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Are you not sure what to do when your teacher gives you a writing assignment?
Check out this prompt. Let’s make your first steps in the writing process easier with these worksheets on brainstorming and organizing.
Is it tough to come up with ideas when your teacher gives you a writing assignment?
And if you have ideas, is it hard to plan and put them into an effective order with main and supporting points? This prompt will help with these problems.
Many students feel that brainstorming is a waste of time, but you’ll see otherwise in this prompt as you brainstorm the benefits of bike riding. Also, you’ll practice organizing your ideas so they make sense. These worksheets will make your tasks much, much easier.
Veterans Day is a special day in the United States when we honor all the men and women who have served in the Armed Forces.
Do you know someone who has served in the military? I know quite a few men and women who have, and I think you may as well.
Let’s show our appreciation of veterans this year by writing an acrostic poem. An acrostic poem is one in which the first letter of each line spells a word. In today’s prompt, you’ll be
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