Life on Planet Earth on Going Back To School

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Blessing Students as They Return to School

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Welcoming One, we welcome you and we welcome another school year. Thank you for the blessings of learning and growing, thinking and creating, reasoning and discovering. Fulfill these blessings in ever...

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Back to School

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

This prayer may be offered with or without the congregational response. It may be voiced by one or more people. Holy God, Wisdom of the Ages, thank you for the great gift of education. Thank you fo...

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Blessing Educators and Support Staff at the Start of the School Year

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Eternal God, Maker of all that is seen and unseen, thank you for the great gifts of learning, growing, and discovering. Thank you for all who are standing here today, and for the millions more who’ve ...

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Blessing of Students

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Loving God, Bless our students. Help them learn and grow this year. Grant them curiosity for the wonders of your world. Fill them with confidence and encouragement. Remind them they are deeply loved...

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Blessing of Educators

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Loving God, Bless the educators among us. Fill them with inspiration, wisdom, and encouragement for this school year. Strengthen them in body, mind and spirit. Keep them safe. Provide needed funding...

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Author

Martin Luther

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When schools flourish, all flourishes.

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Prayer for Schools and Colleges

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O Eternal God, bless all schools, colleges, and universities [and especially ___________], that they may be lively centers for sound learning, new discovery, and the pursuit of wisdom; and grant that ...

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Author

Dan Rather

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Scripture

2 Timothy 3:16-17, Proverbs 1:5, Proverbs 22:6

The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called ‘truth.’

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Prayer for those who Influence Public Opinion

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Almighty God, you proclaim your truth in every age by many voices: Direct, in our time, we pray, those who speak where many listen and write what many read; that they may do their part in making the h...

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Rolling the Stone Away

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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Scripture

Matthew 16:25, Luke 9:62, Philippians 3:7-8, Acts 20:13-36, Matthew 10:16-42, James 1:2-4, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

The renowned scholar and musician Albert Schweitzer’s life was turned upside down one summer morning in 1896 while reading his Bible. He came upon Matthew 16:25: “For whosoever will save his life shal...

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When Words Fail

Author

Ronald Rohlheiser

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Ronald Rohlheiser tells a true story of a Jewish boy named Mordechai who could not be coaxed into going to school. When he turned six years old, his mother forced him to go, but the process was misera...

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Doubting Saved My Faith

Author

Travis Dickinson

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Scripture

Psalm 34:4, Hebrews 11:1, John 20:27, Matthew 14:31, James 1:5-6, Mark 9:24

Many Christians are terrified of doubting their faith. We avoid questions and challenges in favor of keeping things comfortable and familiar. We worry that if we open ourselves up to the possibility o...

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The Alarm System

Author

Timothy Jennings

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What happens in the brain when we are afraid? Remember the little red metal square on the school-room wall with a piece of glass that reads, “Break in case of fire”? Just as the school has a fire alar...

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Flying into a Headwind

Author

Cody Sandahl

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Scripture

Psalm 46:1-2, 2 Timothy 4:7, Galatians 6:9, James 1:12, Proverbs 3:5-6, Philippians 3:13-14

I started flying small Cessna planes when I was in high school, and I vividly remember one flight between McGregor, TX and Austin. We had an incredibly strong tail wind down to Austin, so we got there...

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Bad News as Opposed to Good News

Author

Hugh Halter

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Scripture

Exodus 14:, Exodus 15:, Jonah 3:4-10, John 11:38-44, Acts 9:1-31, 1 Corinthians 1:18

(What’s the worst good news you’ve ever received? Here are a few that come to mind for me. “Mr. Halter, this is Bill from the Ford service department. I’ve got some good news for you. All the smoke y...

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Driven by Demons

Author

Samuel Chand

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Scripture

Ecclesiastes 9:10, 2 Corinthians 8:7, 1 Timothy 6:9-10, Ephesians 5:18, Galatians 1:10, Psalm 27:10

Brett Favre was a driven man. He explained to USA Today that his father’s message that he was never good enough drove him to become one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history…His dad had also been hi...

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The Power of the Worldwide Church

Author

Gerald L. Sittser

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Scripture

1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 1 Corinthians 12:27, Isaiah 43:2, 1 John 4:7, Romans 12:5, James 5:14-15

It is a phone call no parent wants to receive. “Jerry,” Bethany said, “Catherine’s had a little accident.” “Accident! How bad?” “She’s going to be okay. You want to talk to her? We’re in a kind of am...

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What Jesus Intended: The Healing of Bad Religion

Author

Todd Hunter

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Scripture

Matthew 23:4, Matthew 13:54, Matthew 7:28, Revelation 2:4

Painful Truths Sandy, bravely revealing his pain, schooled me. He attended a focus group I hosted that sought to create a safe environment wherein a person could express their truest feelings about ...

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Mountains: 2, John 4:7-26

Author

Allen Thompson

Keywords

Scripture

John 4:7-26, 1 Corinthians 2:12, 1 Peter 12:12-23, John 6:1-15, Galatians 4:21-31, Psalm 42:7, Psalm 121:null

New Testament Mountains Like the Old Testament, the New Testament has plenty of references to mountains. There’s the Sermon on the Mount, obviously. Jesus often went onto hills or mountains to pray...

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Living in Transition

Author

William Bridges

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I became interested in the subject of transition outer changes around 1970 when I was going through some difficult inner and outer changes. Although I gave up my teaching career because of those chang...

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Schoolwork through Different Experiences

Author

Shawn Achor

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In the fall of 2009, I was invited to go on a month-long speaking tour throughout Africa. During the trip, a CEO from South Africa named Salim took me to Soweto, a township just outside of Johannesbur...

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Author

Latin Adage

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Repetitio mater studiorum est. (Repetition is the mother of learning.)

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Author

Terry Pratchett

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Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you start...

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Author

Margaret Walker

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For the cramped bewildered years we went to school to learn to know the reasons why and the answers to and the people who and the places where and the days when, in memory of the bitter hours when we ...

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Author

Kermit the Frog

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And so I say to you, the 1996 graduates of Southampton College, you are no longer tadpoles. The time has come for you to drop your tails and leave this swamp. But I am sure that wherever I go as I tra...

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Author

Dennis Miller

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You know there is a problem with the education system when you realize that out of the 3 R’s only one begins with an R.

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Keeping Things in Perspective

Author

Andy Cook

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Listen to this letter a college student once wrote to her parents: Dear Mom and Dad, I’m so sorry to be so long in writing you. Unfortunately, all my stationary was destroyed the night our dormito...

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Author

Norm Crosby

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My school was so rough the school newspaper had an obituary section.

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The Messy Middle

Author

William Bridges

Keywords

Crises

Scripture

2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Hebrews 10:23, Romans 12:2, Psalm 37:23-24, Philippians 1:6, Isaiah 43:19, Ecclesiastes 3:1

The Messy Middle In his classic work Transitions, author and professor William Bridges shares an excellent anecdote about life in crisis: it can happen at any time and in a myriad of ways. It also de...

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Hope Chicago Given a Big Boost of Its Namesake

Author

Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.

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The celebrated CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes presented a segment on August 14, 2022, titled “Hope Chicago.” The segment tells a remarkable story about what happened to students at a high school on...

life on planet earth on Going Back To School

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