Read: Luke 11:9-13 “Matthew, when you’ve finished raking the leaves, come to the shed.” Matthew’s father pushed a wheelbarrow around the back of the house. Uh-oh, what did Dad want now? The last time he called Matthew to the shed, he asked him to pick up sticks that had fallen from the windstorm. Maybe he…
Read: Luke 6:43-45 Willow slammed the door and threw herself onto her bed sobbing. It wasn’t fair! She had practiced just as hard as Lailani did for the play tryouts at school. While her best friend was chosen for the lead part as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Willow was just one of the…
Read: Isaiah 41:10; Matthew 28:20 Hattie stopped in front of the toy shop at the mall. The white tiger in the display had a pink ballerina tutu and little pink toe shoes that laced around its ankles with sparkly pink ribbon. “Mom, look!” called Hattie. But when Hattie looked around, Mom was nowhere in sight….
Read: Psalm 51:1-10; Matthew 23:25-28 “Wow, Mom! Look at that huge caramel apple!” Zayne exclaimed when he and his mom walked into the grocery store. “Can I get it to take to school tomorrow?” “Well, a regular apple would be better for you, but that one is a beauty,” Mom said. “Okay. You can have…
Read: 1 Corinthians 13:9-13; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 “We had so much fun!” Summer said when she got home after spending the afternoon at the beach with a friend. She plopped down in a chair and looked around the room. “Why is it so dark in here?” she wanted to know. Her brother laughed. “Because you’re…
Read: Genesis 1:2-5; 2:7; Psalm 33:6-9; Ephesians 2:4-10 “Look, Levi, I’m making a snowman!” cried Claire, rolling a white blob of playdough into a ball. But her brother didn’t seem to be listening. Levi was concentrating. He had spent the last ten minutes sculpting the face of a lion out of some yellow playdough. Claire…
Read: 2 Timothy 4:16-18 “Nick, can you come up here and hold this for me?” Mr. Manning asked. Nick’s heart beat faster as he walked to the front of the classroom. He got nervous any time he had to be in front of others. With shaking hands, Nick took the poster his teacher asked him…
Read: Psalm 139:1-5, 13-18; Matthew 10:29-31 “Aunt Vivian, will you help me carry these shells? There are so many I want to take home!” The beauty of the seashells scattered on the beach captivated Gatlin. He had already filled his hands with shells of many colors. Aunt Vivian laughed. “Gatlin, why don’t you pick your…
Read: Psalm 139:7-12; Jeremiah 23:23-24; Matthew 1:23 “Can I have one of your French fries?” Gavin asked his sister as he snatched onefrom her plate. “Hey, no! You have your own!” Hailey protested. She put her arm around her plate to defend her food. “But you got the crispier ones!” Gavin held up one of…
Read: Psalm 66:1-5; Romans 8:28-29 The Reed family was seated around their picnic table playing a board game when Eliana looked up. “Oh no!” she wailed. “Not again!” Parker groaned. Arthur, their collie, was almost totally covered with cockleburs. “I’m guessing you just had to go chase after a squirrel,” said Parker. “Or was it…
