Chapter 1
ABBY
Hi! I'm Abby. Abigail June Baker is my real
name. My mom calls me JuneBug and my daddy calls me Peanut, but I'm
fond of JB; it's short and sweet and that's me! I'm only three feet
tall and that makes me the shortest kid in my class. I'll answer to any
of those names, but when someone calls “Abigail-June”, I know I'm in
trouble.
School is so much fun! Reading is my
favorite subject. Math is okay but sometimes it's hard, and I
like
recess a lot too. If I could do anything I liked in school, I'd
pick
going to the library. Every week we can check out three books.
It's
hard picking only three, but then I remember I can get three more next
Monday.
I have two teachers. Miss Samantha is my
Sunday-School teacher and Mrs. Van Patten teaches me at school.
Sunday-School is lots of fun…we sing songs, make crafts
and have yummy
snacks. The Snack-Lady comes at ten o'clock and brings cookies
and
milk,
(the milk she brings is so cold it makes my teeth shiver!) Then
comes my favorite part…story time. Miss Samantha reads a
Bible story, (I like the ones about Jesus the best).
After that, we
use the flannel board characters and tell the story back to her. Last
Sunday was my turn to tell the story. It was about Jesus calming a
storm. I like going to Sunday-School and I like getting all dressed up
too!
I've decided that growing up is all
about
learning lessons. Some lessons are easy like wearing rain boots to keep
your shoes dry and looking both ways before crossing the street. Some
are a little harder like, when it's freezing outside,
never touch your tongue to cold piece of metal. (It gets stuck, it's very hard to get it loose, and hurts
a lot.) When I was in Kindergarten, I learned one of those hard
lessons. It happened at recess and I learned swinging is fun, but
stopping isn't. I was swinging really high that day. The bell
rang and
I put my feet down; I stopped but my tummy
didn't… Then an awful thing
happened! My mouth got watery and the kids all went,
“EEEUUU.” The
playground lady walked me to the office and I waited for mama to come
and take me home. When I got home, mama made me a bed on the couch. All
I could do for the rest of the day was sleep, read, watch my favorite
TV show, drink warm Jell-O, and eat little square crackers. Now,
I'm
careful how high and how long I swing!
Another lesson I learned happened this
year. We were sitting on the rug during Circle-Time.
Chapter 2
LAST
DAY OF SCHOOL
After
summer comes fall and school begins every fall. Since there's a
beginning, there has to be an end or we'd be stuck in the same
grade…forever!
Today is the last day of school and
last-days are usually boring,
‘cause there's nothing to do. So far, this one is boring too. You
should see
our classroom! The walls are covered with fingerprints and the bulletin
boards have millions of thumbtack holes poked all over. Our desks are
empty and our books are stacked so high we can't even see out the
window anymore. All that's left is for the bell to ring, but IT'S
TAKING WAY TOO LONG! (I wonder if I asked nicely Mrs. V.
would let us go early.) “Mrs. V., do you think we could go
early…so we don't get run over by the big
kids?”
Taking her glasses off she answered, “I'm
sorry Abby, but we
should wait for the bell.” (Hhhhh, did you hear that…it
will never be time
to go…) “But Mrs. V., we're stuck in here, and summer is waiting
for us out there.”
“Yes, Ma'am,” (I've learned it's good
to
use polite words, even if I don't feel like it). I guess the only
thing left to do is
to just sit here and watch the clock tic…tic…tic..by... Finally she
said,
“Class, you may start getting ready. Please check your desks; make sure
you take everything with you. It's almost time…let's count together,
6…5…4…3…2…1” BRRRRRIIIIINNG! (The bell blasted its
good-byes so loudly I could hear it in the middle of my head).
“Have a good summer everyone!” She waved.
“Hurrah! Summer is finally here! I LOVE
SUMMER!”
Chapter 3
FIREFLY
Dear Firefly,
Bobby's home! He
brought
my birthday surprise! It's a dollhouse with enough furniture
for the hole
whole house. There's even a little dog and a cat too!
Miss Samantha is
teaching us
how to pray. Everybody in my Sunday-School class made a pledge to say a
prayer every night this week. She told us a story about Jesus praying
to
his Father in a garden. I've been praying every night, just
like I
promised. At first it was hard talking to someone I couldn't
see. She
told us that Jesus is near us all the time even if we can't see
him.
That's like my fireflies in the winter. I know they're
out there even
though I can't see them. I try and thank Him for more things
than I ask Him for. I think that's important. I am
getting to like doing this better every day. I think I'll do it longer
than a
week.
Your friend, JB
Dear
Jesus,
Thank
you for bringing Bobby home safe and thank you for the fireflies. Thank
you for the
THE JOURNEY BEGINS
You've
pushed F9
Type
the place and the time
J
“OH
NO…MOLLY…HELP…I think I
broke it!”
Molly
read the message. “Well, do what it says, Max. You
didn't break it,”
she said patting me on the back. “Computers are very smart;
they know
how to fix themselves…most of the time, anyway.”
“Is
this
part of TimeTraveler?”
“Do
what
it says, Max, think of a place, type it, then pick a date and time and
type that too.”
“NOOOO WAYYYY…YOU
DO IT!”
“Okay...How
about this?”
“T H
E
S E
A
O F
G A
L I
L
E
E
enter,”
she spelled aloud, as she typed.
“Why'd
you type that?” Max asked.
“Remember
our Sunday-School story last week? That's where it took place,
by the
Sea of Galilee.” Molly said. “I think I'll pick
A.D. 28 and we'll see
what happens.”
Okay
Molly, touch the mouse pad
Max,
pick up Jelly and…HANG ON…
“Okay…OHHHHHH
NOOOOO…”
Chapter 16
“Over
here children…Please, come this way.”
“Welcome young friends. I see your small dog is quick to come toward a
friendly
face or maybe it's the smell of good food,” the man laughed.
“We
had a good catch yesterday, even if it took all night to bring it
ashore. Please come and share our good fortune,” the fisherman said.
“There's plenty for everyone…help yourself.”
“Well,
I'm hungry,” Max said. “I'd like some…if you don't mind…Sir.”
“You
look hot young man. Help yourself to the food and sit here in the shade
of our boat.
“Forgive
me, I have forgotten my manners. My name is
Abraham
ben Isaac and
these are my brothers. The tall one is Amos, the
hefty one is Levi and this is
Sha'ul, he's the youngest.
“It's
beautiful out there, isn't it? The water may look calm now; it's hard
to imagine that last night it was an angry beast. It's no
wonder many call this lake The Abyss. In
a few simple words, it was hateful last night.
We are lucky we came back with our boat, our catch and our lives! We
were blessed.”
“Why
do they call it The Abyss?” Max asked.
“This
may seem like a lake to you, but some think of this as the underworld,
a place where chaos and evil lives. It's very large and deep
and no one knows its mysteries. Many are
afraid to venture past the shallow rim
for fear its evil will overtake them. The local idol
worshipers believe their god, Baal,
is the god of this underworld. At certain times of the year, they
believe he goes down to the underworld with his goddess. When this
happens, it is believed this will guarantee a plentiful harvest.
“
Would you like to hear of our night on the Abyss and what we saw while
we were out there? Let me begin.
“Our
day began like any other day. After the boat was loaded, we set out
with high hopes of a good catch. When we pushed off, the sun was just
peeking over the east hills; I noticed some clouds swirling above the
east shore but hoped we would be back before a storm settled in.
“Fishing,
at first, was slow and our nets came up half full. By early afternoon,
a gentle breeze blew across the water and our nets began filling faster
than we could pull them in. Levi cast the net one last time but before
we could pull it in, the wind began howling, the clouds became dark and
the waves grew. Pulling the net in was a great struggle but now we knew
it would be impossible to row ashore.
“There
was no question, The Abyss was in
control. It demanded every ounce of energy and skill
we possessed to stay afloat. If we stopped rowing even for an instant
the boat would tip and we would be lost.
“We
fought the waves until after dark. The night was black and the clouds
blocked any light the moon was trying