Login / Signup

Free Access

Donovan's New Life

Children's Story

One of the interesting features about this story of the calling of the first disciples, is that they all immediately left everything to follow Jesus. It was as though they instinctively knew where they would find life with a capital L.

Donovan Duckling is instinctively tied to his mother's apron strings. When the time is right, will he have a strong enough desire to cut those ties?...

Donovan Duckling was swimming right at the end of the line, behind all his brothers and sisters. He was the last duckling to be born, and as the youngest always found himself right at the back.

When Donovan had emerged from his shell, the first face he had seen was his mother's, and he found himself following her everywhere. He couldn't help it. He was born with the instinct to follow the first moving thing he saw, which luckily happened to be his mother. It felt to Donovan as though he had been following his mother for days and days and days. At first, that had been really good, because the world had seemed like such a big and frightening place, but now he'd grown bigger and his yellow fluff was beginning to disappear in favour of proper duck down, and he was beginning to know his way around, Donovan was getting fed up.

The line of ducklings had already grown smaller, because some of his older brothers and sisters had simply swum away. At least, that's what Donovan hoped had happened. Occasionally he'd spotted really big fish, and once or twice a huge water rat, immediately before some of his brothers and sisters had disappeared, but he tried not to think about that.

As he swam around behind his mother, always following her and swimming with his remaining brothers and sisters, Donovan began to notice other little broods of ducklings. Some of them looked as though they were exactly the same age as he was, and Donovan started to quack in greeting as he passed them. Actually, he was still a bit too young to quack properly, so it came out as something of a chirrup, but the other ducklings always heard and responded, so Donovan began to make new friends.

Sometimes he tried to swim over to his new friends so that they could play together, but his mother, who seemed to have eyes in the back of her head as well as the front, always spotted him and quacked loudly. As soon as he heard his mother's quack, Donovan found himself swimming after her. Sometimes when he heard his mother quack, Donovan noticed the large fish and the huge water rats suddenly turn tail and swim in the opposite direction away from the line of ducklings, and he was vaguely aware that his mother was protecting him from danger. But the older he grew, the more irritating that became, for he felt that as a nearly-grown-up duckling it was time he was allowed to look after himself.

One day, when Donovan was swimming along in the line as usual, he noticed a group of his friends all together over the far side of the pond near the bank. But he gasped in amazement, for they looked so very different. They had all suddenly grown up, or so it seemed, for they were now proper ducks and drakes with beautifully coloured feathers, and they all looked as handsome as could be.

How Donovan longed to join them! But he knew he couldn't, for the instinct to follow his mother was so strong. Then one of his friends open his beak and quacked loudly. Donovan was astounded, for the sound that emerged was a real loud quack and no longer a little chirrup. Donovan felt the sound calling to him somewhere in the depths of his being. He didn't hesitate. He turned immediately and swam towards his friends - and to his delight he discovered it was easy!

When he got there, it felt as though this was the place that was right for him, the place he had to be. And when he looked at himself in the water, he discovered that he too had grown up and was now a handsome drake.

'When the time is right and you want it enough,' Donovan thought to himself, 'you can leave everything behind to go to the right place and to be with the right people. And that's the way it should be.'

And he swam happily away to begin the next phase of his life.
UPCOMING WEEKS
In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Proper 16 | OT 21 | Pentecost 11
30 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
30 – Children's Sermons / Resources
29 – Worship Resources
34 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 17 | OT 22 | Pentecost 12
29 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
27 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20 – Worship Resources
29 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 18 | OT 23 | Pentecost 13
34 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
32 – Children's Sermons / Resources
26 – Worship Resources
31 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Plus thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...

New & Featured This Week

The Immediate Word

Thomas Willadsen
Nazish Naseem
Christopher Keating
Dean Feldmeyer
Mary Austin
Katy Stenta
George Reed
For August 31, 2025:

Emphasis Preaching Journal

David Kalas
When one of our children was young, she pretended to throw something at me from close range, and then she cheerfully declared, “Ha! Made you flinch!” I remember from my own elementary years that that was always regarded as something of an achievement — to make someone blink or to make someone flinch. In reality, of course, it is little more than a test of one’s reflexes. It’s my reflex to blink or to brace when I think something is coming at me, and the reflex is a good one.
Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Jeremiah 2:4-13
Regarding verses 6-7 of the lesson John Calvin observes:

… there is nothing more common than for the ungodly when they are proved guilty, to have recourse to this subterfuge, that they acted with good intention, when they gave themselves up to their own superstitions. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.IX/1, p.78)

StoryShare

John E. Sumwalt
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. (v. 2)

CSSPlus

John Jamison
Object: This is a role play activity for the children. You will want a container of some kind of treat to give to all of the children.

Note: This is a fairly brief message as presented, but that may help keep an emphasis on the simplicity of the message if you stress it.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Great! Let’s get started.

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Call to Worship:
Jesus knew the importance of humility and used a banquet to teach people about it. As we feast on him today, let us make sure we come to him with unassuming spirits.

Invitation to Confession:
Jesus, sometimes we are unaware of our own arrogance.
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus, sometimes we spot other people's haughtiness but fail to recognise it in ourselves.
Christ, have mercy.
Jesus, sometimes we are so humble that we become victims of inverted pride.
Lord, have mercy.

SermonStudio

Stephen P. McCutchan
Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.
-- Hebrews 13:1-2

James Evans
The writer of Psalm 81 employs a most interesting mixed metaphor. It is not mixed, however, because the psalmist was careless and neglected his subject matter. On the contrary, it is because of an important insight into human nature that the psalmist has us "eating with our ears."

Verse 10 rehearses what was, and is, the most basic confession of faith for followers of the Lord. God speaks and says, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth and I will fill it."

Ron Lavin
There are three words I hope you will take home from church today. The words are "Only The Lonely." As you think about these words, the assurances of God's Word will comfort and strengthen you. But I'm getting ahead of my story. Before we get to these three words, we need to look at the full text of Luke 14:1, 7-14. That involves looking at three other words: humility, hospitality, and hope.

Humility
Chrysanne Timm
It is never a pleasant prospect to deal with someone who has a complaint with you. As a new pastor, and a very young one at that, one of the things I struggled with most was the experience of conflict with members. I remember as if it were yesterday a significant misunderstanding that developed between the congregation's "matriarch" and me very early in my time there. I prayed about the difficulty we were having, and I knew that I needed to go to her home and ask for the opportunity to talk things out.
H. Burnham Kirkland
Words Of Assurance
In this be confident: that the grace of God is active enough to forgive, and the love of God is powerful enough to transform.

Pastoral Prayer

Special Occasion

Wildcard SSL