Story Time with Jesus
Bible Stories 
Chapters 1-12

1-God Creates the Earth
2-God Creates the Universe
3-Animals Are Made
4-The First Man on Earth
5-The First Woman on Earth
6-God Rests
7-God’s Garden, and His Gardener
8-Trees and Choices
9-Enoch and Methuselah
10-A Good Man for a Great Job
11-Rain and a Rainbow
12-The Tower of Babel

(Jesus speaking: )
God Creates the Earth
The first part of the story starts with My very first friends on Earth. Can you imagine a time when the Earth had only two people on it? Well, even before that, there weren’t any at all! Let Me tell you about it.
Before people were made and began living on Earth, it was a mass of nothing. Nothing but darkness and water, but that was going to change, and in only one week’s time it was a thriving, beautiful planet.
God made the world, the sky, and then, to fill them, He created everything else. With just the word of His mouth, everything was formed. He took six days to make the planet we are on, as well as the surrounding stars, planets and Sun which contribute to life on Earth.
What do you think was the first thing that God created? 
What makes things grow and brings beauty? Light! God said, “Let there be light!” and that was all it took. Right then and there, light was created.
So, on the first day of His creation project He made light, and all the amazing aspects of light. Light makes it possible for people to see colour, it gives energy and helps things grow, and there are many other things light can do.
God, of course, doesn’t need it in order to look around; the Bible says He can see in the light and in the dark (Psalm 139:12). It’s not as if He had to turn on a light in order to see what He was doing, but God loves light! He’s called “the Father of lights” (James 1:17). Wherever He is, in whatever He’s doing, He brings light.
 	On the second day of the world’s creation, another very important thing was made—air! Air to breathe, the atmosphere, the sky. God put a layer of air all around the world. He divided the water and put some down on the Earth, and a layer of water way up above the atmosphere or firmament, as it was called.
On the third day things really started to get fun, because that’s when Earth started to take shape—like the way you do with a big mud pie, or Play-Dough! God formed the land, the islands, the mountains; He chose where to put seas and oceans, and where to place the continents, and what shape the land should have. 
He didn’t just leave it all brown, though. God turned it into the most amazing art project! He added new beauty to the planet, covering it and decorating it with plants, trees, flowers, bushes, vines, grass, waterfalls, trickling streams, forests, meadows, beaches, grassy hills, orchards, and on and on.
Of course, the vegetation did more than just look pretty. God knows how to make anything look beautiful, since He loves beautiful things. He’s like an artist, and can make each thing that is useful and needed look wonderful, colourful, and perfect. Trees, grass, plants, and all sorts of greenery would provide food, shade, and shelter for the people and animals He was about to create.
What kinds of food did He make? Fresh, juicy fruits like oranges, mangos, pineapples, watermelons, and strawberries. Crunchy coconuts, cashew nuts, walnuts and other nuts. Grains like rice, corn, oats, wheat and many more. Beans of many types and colours. Vegetables of all sorts, like carrots, beets, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, zucchini, bell peppers and countless others. He made food that grew rich and full of the nutrients and vitamins that Earth’s new inhabitants would need.
There was still something to do before man and animals could live there, though. (We’ll learn about that in our next story!)
*** 
God Creates the Universe
On the fourth day, God took a look at the area surrounding planet Earth, as it glided so gracefully through space, supported, amazingly enough, by nothing. If God wants planets to float or move around without anything physically holding them, then that’s what happens!
This was the day to make the surrounding neighbourhood for Earth, and to hook up its power—as someone would for a town in need of electricity. God made the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, giving each one important jobs to do—things that would help to support life on Earth and make Earth what it needed to be. He created each one to have special functions.
God made the Sun to give light, as well as to bring growth to plants and heat to the planet. The Sun’s position in the sky can tell us what time it is. Did you know that the first clock invented was based on the shadow that the Sun’s rays made? A sundial!
Some other things God placed in space were the Moon, stars, and other planets. There were so many reasons for these. The Moon and stars give light. 
The Moon is also like a big calendar in the sky. Because of the way God made it to work together with the Sun, it can help people know what part of the month they are in, or how long a week is. Months and years can be measured and counted with the help of the Sun and Moon.
The Moon has many other uses and jobs. Of course the most obvious reason for the Moon and the stars is that they are also like beautiful night lights in the sky, giving a silvery light.
Maybe the stars don’t seem so bright where you are, but if you were to go out to a place in the countryside where there are no city lights, you might be surprised at the light they can give. You might also be amazed at how many stars you can see—so many more than you can see at night in a place where there are electric lights.
Did you know that when God created the Earth, the Sun, and all the other stars and planets, He gave them something called gravity? Without gravity, people and animals would have a hard time doing much of anything. Even the Earth is held in place by the gravity of the Sun. Without it, Earth would go wandering off and become cold and dark somewhere far away from the Sun.
Imagine trying to walk down a pathway, and instead of going forward you start to float, and turn upside down, and twirl around in the air. Now, that probably sounds rather fun, and it is fun! But if you want to do anything, it’s not easy if everything you need to do a project with also starts flying around and moving out of your grasp. 
“Now where did I put that hoe? I need to plant something ... Oh, there it is! It’s somewhere up in the top of that tree! It must have floated there.” That wouldn’t help you, would it?
Animals, too, needed to stay in certain places, so they could have what they need. Some often need to be in the air or up high, while others need to stay near the grass, or even in the dirt. Some need to be on rocky mountains, others in trees, and yet others near or in rivers or lakes or the ocean.
To make everything work well in this creation, there needed to be order, organisation, and a way for everything to have what it needs. Gravity helps to provide this.
Though God made other planets, Earth is the one that’s fit for life! He made it to have all the things needed to sustain the life forms He was going to create. Learning more about the planets would be an interesting study, and many of their uses and qualities are not yet known to man, but it’s fun learning and finding out more about them.
Sometimes you can even see a planet in the sky, shining like a big star. There is so much to be discovered, and it will take a long time until man on Earth learns about even a small part of the wonders of the universe. There is a lot to be learnt and discovered—probably more than you or others will ever come to know. Isn’t that fascinating?
Life on Earth and the surrounding universe hold so many things of interest that you and others will never discover all that there is to know! But isn’t it fun learning things? I like watching when people finally figure something out, or when they make a discovery. 
Sometimes the first time someone says they have “discovered” something, it’s not exactly the way they think it is, and they’ve barely started to understand it. It takes some time before they know it fully, and after a while, more and more is understood.
The whole universe is one big, enormous school! It’s full of fascinating wonders to learn about, things to see and do, and a multitude of all sorts of learning experiences, both in nature and among people. 
***
Animals Are Made
On the fifth day the living environment was ready for God to begin placing creatures in it. Everything they needed to enjoy and survive was there. On this day He started with the fish and sea creatures, then created birds of all types. These were the first animals created. 
God told these first birds and fish and all the creatures that lived in water to “multiply”—that means to make more! God wanted more and more of them to fill the sea, the air and the trees.
He liked to see the happy creatures having fun in His new world. He enjoyed hearing the songs of the birds, and the sounds of many sea creatures too—sounds you seldom know about or rarely hear. 
He liked seeing the fish exploring the pathways of the seas and rivers, discovering all that they do down there. It was marvellous to Him. God liked them all, and was ready to do the same with the land—fill it with life!
On the sixth day God added lots more! He created many types of animals on the Earth: animals that would walk, crawl, hop, leap, climb, hang, jump, glide, wiggle, creep, stand, trot, and so forth. 
What a lively world it was becoming! Some animals were in forests, others on the mountains, some in trees, some under the ground, others on the wide-open plains, some on plants, others in jungles. And so the world was filled.
God saw it and thought, “This is good!” He liked each one. They each added something unique and special to the world. Each one was different. Each one was special. God told them what to eat: grass, plants, and herbs. Those were to be the food for all the animals to eat. 
What a peaceful world it was, with curious and gentle creatures living on it. Now the world was finally ready for His best and most wonderful creation of them all. He could now place mankind on Earth.
***
The First Man on Earth
Now the world was ready with everything that was needed for the next and best part of creation—people! It was a wonderful and fun place for a human to live in, and there was plenty that would keep him interested and active.
I knelt down, running My fingers through the mud; I cried a tear, which blended with the moist soil. It was as if I could feel what people’s hearts would feel, the hard times, and the difficulties that would be known and felt by mankind when they were created. 
Yet My face brightened. The laughter and joy that would also be known would more than make up for the difficulties.
We would be friends, and no matter how hard things would get on Earth, I would be around to help, to protect, to secure, and to enjoy each person’s journey on Earth, alongside them, although from a divine dimension. 
There would be tears, pain and hurt, for such is life, but many joys would fill the lives of those who made Me a part of their existence. There would be hard times too, yes. It wouldn’t be easy. But the love that would be felt would more than make up for it. Yes, God would make a man. 
This man would learn as he lived and experienced things on Earth. He would take care of the world, —or so God would ask him to, but he’d have to make the choice to do so on his own. 
It wasn’t something that God would force on people. They would have to decide to do what was right, to obey, to make choices to love, to benefit others, or to live life as they wished. Choice! That would be a key element of their life on Earth.
God could have made all mankind to be as the animals, or as the little creatures who just do what they are programmed to do: build a nest, search for food, sleep, raise young, and so forth—always the same thing in the same way, and doing only the things that they were meant to do.
God made something different though, something unique. He made people to resemble Him, to be made in “His likeness”. God created people to have personality, to have the freedom to choose, to have feelings, to know love, to communicate in many different ways, to create, to design, and to live a long time.
Yes, He made them to live a long time. Things are very different now, of course, because of the choices made by mankind, and changes that happened as a result. People don’t live as long anymore, and some of the experiments and creations of man haven’t helped to make the planet better.
God still loves each one anyway, and hopes that each one will communicate with Him and recognise that He’s the One that made them, and most of all to know how very much God loves them—no matter who they are or where they are.
In time, God will help to bring all things back to the beauty of creation, back to the way things were when Earth’s time began. It will take a while, but things will eventually be made new again. 
At that time people will come to know more about God’s love, just as He’s always hoped for—and live lovingly too. People will learn to be more like Him, the God of love, the One they were fashioned after when they were first created.
People were made for love, and by love, and in love, and when they reflect His love in their personalities and ways of operating, they can make Earth a marvellous and special place to have the privilege of living on.
So God, using the dirt, the soil of the Earth, formed His best and most special creation of all—for whom everything else was created. God made a man! He then put breath and life into him. He was now an alive, breathing, thinking, amazing man! 
Ah! God smiled to see Adam, the first man ever made. God laughed, and enjoyed watching him wake and discover where he was. Adam had lots to learn, and God would be the One to teach him, like a loving father with his son.
God gave him a job to do. God had created the world and all the creatures that filled it. But he’d saved a fun job for Adam, something that he could do. 
Adam couldn’t make things from nothing and make them live, but God gave Adam a smart and thinking mind. He could use that and come up with names for each of the animals that had been created.
Imagine what a brilliant mind Adam had! He named each creature, remembered what he called them, and was able to teach his children. He got to be a part of the creation of the world in this way. It was fun for him.
As amazing as each creature was, there was nothing on Earth that was made just like Adam. He was the only person around.
Can you imagine being the only person on Earth? Maybe it would be nice for a while. No one to take your things, no one to give you a hard time, no one to disturb you, no one to mess things up. But also no one to talk to who really understands what it’s like being on Earth. No one to help you. No one to love or to be loved by. No families, no children—just you. So Adam was feeling these things as he did his special new job of naming all the animals. He felt lonely. 
*** 

The First Woman on Earth
Isn’t it amazing how important love is? You could be in the most beautiful paradise, like Adam was. You could have everything that you want, as much of it as you want, and have everything to yourself, and still feel sad. People want to know they have friends.
God was Adam’s friend, but it was different. He was more like a heavenly Father to Adam. God would talk with him, teach him, and help him, but Adam felt he needed more. He wanted to have a friend in human form. Someone to talk with, to enjoy exploring the world with, who would laugh with him at the things they found funny, someone to wonder and be amazed with the discoveries made, together. He wanted someone to be close to, someone he could care for and who would help care for him, and to have a family.
God wasn’t done creating. There was more to be made. And because Adam had to wait a while to have a close friend on Earth, he now would appreciate having one more than if he’d had someone there with him all the time.
God put Adam into a deep sleep and did the most amazing thing. What God did next showed why He didn’t make a man and a woman at the same time. Since He wanted to make the woman extra special and dear to Adam, God wanted to make her out of a part of Adam.
So when Adam was in a special deep sleep, God took a rib bone from Adam and with it created a wonderful present for him. Imagine Adam’s surprise, after waking from a nice refreshing nap, that the thing that he’d most wanted—a friend, a companion, a woman—was there for him. 
It felt better than waking on Christmas morning and seeing presents there. He was so, so happy. Adam realized that God knew his heart’s wishes, the thoughts he had, the feelings he felt, and his needs. God truly knew it all. 
Even though God wasn’t in human form, and wasn’t there in the same way that others on Earth are, He knows everything, down to the tiniest feelings and thoughts of each person on Earth.
When Adam saw this new human being, this person that God had made to be his companion, someone made much like him, he loved her! She was perfect for him. God even let him name her. “She will be called, ‘woman’”, he said, and her specific name was “Eve”, which meant the “mother of all living”.
The two friends—Adam and Eve—were so happy to not only have a wonderful place to live and to know that God loved them and would give them all they needed, but to now have each other to live and learn with. 
The adventure of life had begun for them, but God still wanted to create more. He has more ideas of new things to make all the time, more ideas than your mind can ever even imagine!
He wanted to make more people; he wanted to make children. He liked Adam and Eve so much, and thought they were just the greatest creations He’d ever made! They could talk to Him, and He would listen. God would be as much a part of their lives as they let Him—as much as they included Him.
God would love to let them also feel a bit of that joy—the joy of seeing new creations and new people learning and growing and loving each other. He wanted Adam and Eve to have the joy of having children. God knew how fun this would be. God would form a new little life, a new person, inside of Mother Eve when the time was right. He’d choose how the baby would look, what he would be like, and what job he would do on Earth.
Each person on Earth is there for a reason, you know. Each one that is made comes with a job. Just as God gave Adam a job to do when He was created, so do you and others on Earth have a reason to be here and a job to do.
Do you think God stopped creating after just those six days? Are you kidding? Look at all the types of people on Earth! So many different kinds. More animals, fish, bugs and creatures are being discovered all the time. And each kind of animal has several types, with varied appearances, sizes and colours.
God loves the world and is continuing to be involved and trying to make things the best He can. Even as the world changes, or some places get ruined, or the deserts grow, or the rain forests get smaller through being cut down, or some animals go extinct, or the environment isn’t what it used to be, there are still many more animals and creatures on the planet than there were when the Earth was first made. After all, that was part of His plan and His job and commission to those first creatures. God told the creatures of all kinds, from fish to birds, from large animals to tiny bugs, and to Adam and Eve: “Fill the Earth”.
God wanted them to make more, to have children that would grow and have families too, and on and on the creation would grow. God has helped animals adapt and learn to live in all kinds of places and climates. Climates change, mankind builds and invents, and the world keeps changing in different ways that affect the creatures.
***
God Rests
On day seven, after all was said and done, God took time to enjoy life—the life that He created, the thriving and beautiful planet filled with wonderful and amazing things. God rested from His work, and He asked the people that He made to do the same—to take time to rest, to enjoy what they’ve worked hard for.
Having time for work and play and rest helps to keep your life balanced as well. It’s not enough, however, to just be sitting down for long hours and think that you’re resting, if what you are doing isn’t reviving you, refreshing you, giving you strength of body, heart, and mind to tackle the next challenges that come your way.
To truly live this principle laid out by the Creator of the world, your life needs to contain balance and time to restore itself, restock and be strengthened. Your body needs sufficient sleep. You need time to rest in order to be healed. You should not strain your eyes by looking at a computer or TV screen for too long.
You need time to step away from things that are difficult to get a fresh new perspective, to get a break from whatever you normally deal with each day. You need time to laugh, to enjoy life, to enjoy friends and family. You need time to play. You need time in nature to refresh you in body and mind. You need time with God, the Creator, to listen to His Word, to listen to His voice, and to talk to Him. 
Why do you need to have balance, and time to rest in these and other ways? Because although your body was made in the image of God and is the most amazing machine that was ever made, it can still wear out, just as machines do. Humans can’t go on and on without consequences for lack of sufficient rest, care and fun. 
Besides, God didn’t just make people to be work machines. He made men and women to enjoy the world He created. So it’s more fun for Him, and you, when you do just that: Enjoy a happy life, and at the same time enjoy Him as your friend.
***
God’s Garden, and His Gardener
The whole world was beautiful, but God chose to make a special place, His own special garden, His special creation, made with all the wonders and beauty that He had planned. Adam and Eve were put there, to live in it and enjoy it, and also to take care of the place. They had a job to do, but it was fun and easy, and very inspiring and enjoyable.
It wasn’t just work, work, work. These caretakers of God’s garden had time to play, to watch the animals, to see the sunset, to run and to enjoy all that was there. They didn’t have to worry about stepping on thorns, or about mosquitoes or any bugs biting them, nor about poisonous plants, or anything that troubles people nowadays. It was perfectly beautiful then.
They didn’t have to worry about what to make for dinner, or fret if the crops didn’t produce enough food that season. Food was plentiful and easy to find. God grew the food for them on the trees and plants that He had created.
It was as fun as picking whatever fruit you wanted and enjoying it. There were no restaurants in those days, just fast foods—the right kinds, filled with only the best kinds of ingredients: fruit from trees, berries from bushes, and foods from plants.
This garden, which God had formed specially for Adam and Eve, was better than any place you’ve ever seen. More splendid, more imaginative, more varied than any nature reserve, jungle or botanical garden. There were so many species of plants and flowers, trees and vines, and breath-taking views all in this one place. It truly was a spectacular place of splendour and wonder, beautiful in every way. 
When God does something, He does it better than anyone else could—and far surpasses anything that you could ever dream up. Can you imagine waking up, after sleeping on a bed of soft grass, or perhaps in a nook of a large tree, and breathing in heavenly beauty from morning till night? You could just eat along the way as you explored and helped to care for this magnificent garden.
Everything that you thought looked fun to eat, you could eat. There would be no poisonous berries, only tasty treats growing here and there on trees, bushes, vines, or along the ground, and even under the ground.
What if you never had house chores or clean-up to do, and there were no dishes to wash? What if laundry and dirty clothes were never a part of life? And what if you never got too cold or too hot but felt perfectly comfortable and healthy all the time?
Can you imagine a place where all the worrisome things, the things that cause troubles, the things that get you down, the things that harm health and add to unhappiness were completely eliminated? Wouldn’t that be the best place in the world to be?
And what if all the people who lived there only had good ideas, kind thoughts, and were friendly and gentle—people who took care of the surroundings, never hurt you or others, and lived just to make sure things stayed pleasant and well taken care of?
Well, that gives an idea of what it would be like to be living in the Garden of Eden—God’s special garden—at the beginning of Earth’s history. 

***
Trees and Choices
In His beautiful garden God placed some special trees. These were unlike any placed in any other part of the world. Besides making a beautiful garden and setting, these were trees that contained fruit of a special kind.
These were God’s special trees, with unusual fruit. You won’t find these anywhere in the world today. One tree gave knowledge of all kinds—good and bad—and the other gave life and healing.
The only rule given to the gardeners—Adam and Eve—was to stay away from the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” As long as they obeyed this, they knew total beauty and led a happy life in that amazing place. The day they chose to disobey, however, and listened to the Evil One rather than God, that’s when things started to change. 
One day, sadly, they tasted that fruit, and had to bear the consequences of difficult changes in the world, as well as their departure from that special garden. The tree of life was guarded by angels, and mankind would no longer have access to it. It was time to move on and learn new things in a new place.
God loved them so much, and never left their side. God continued to take care of them and help them as they gained experience and knowledge, invented and built things, explored and discovered new territory, while all the time having to bear with the new troubles that their disobedience had caused.
Thorns, poisonous plants, sickness, sorrow, pain, ugliness, loss, and even death had entered the world. Food was now harder to come by, and required a lot of hard work to grow in gardens and farms. People began to wear clothing, which, of course, had to be made and washed. And in many other new ways, people were kept busy. 
Furthermore, instead of thinking thoughts of goodness and beauty, now thoughts of badness and ugliness began to invade people’s minds. These had to be pushed aside if people did not want their lives to get worse than they already were.
Even though Adam and Eve made that mistake and ate the fruit that they weren’t supposed to, they have not been the only ones to disobey God. People still have to decide every day what they are going to choose—the good or the bad, the beautiful or the ugly, the helpful or the harmful, the humble or the proud, belief in God’s Word or belief in what others say that is contrary. On and on the choices go, every day, for each person in the world.
Choice is what was granted to men and women, and not only do people’s choices affect their lives, but also the lives of many others in the world—and sometimes the whole world. Adam and Eve’s choices in the garden resulted in a change in the world, in difficulties becoming a part of the world—things that affect people today. 
Choices are still made today that affect many others. Did you know that you can affect others around you, and even the whole world, for good or for bad by your choices? Because of bad choices then and today, the world is not the way it used to be. Today there is pollution, animals are losing their habitats, and bugs and pests and germs are giving people a hard time. Many people aren’t living happy lives. There is poverty, sickness, and plenty of sorrow the world over, but it won’t be like this forever.
There is a plan, and it's a wonderful plan. Perhaps you will even help to bring this plan about! There will be a time when things will change back to their former state of beauty, without the pests and troubles, poisons and ugliness that have spread through the world today.
Remember that in spite of the thorns on the rose bushes, and other imperfections and even harmful things around, there is a lot more beauty than bad and ugly things.
Every night, all around the world, a new and beautiful sunset is painted, with unique designs. Even frost can shine in scintillating, sparkling ways, making a view in winter look better than peering through the finest jewellery shop window. 
Tall majestic trees, balanced perfectly, each leaf beautiful in form, are amazing to gaze up at. The vibrant colours and hues that flowers display are so cheery and can look more beautiful than a set of fancy clothes, and their scents give you a pleasant feeling.
Glassy lakes reflecting the autumn trees can keep you gazing for a long time, appreciating such artistic quality. Looking at a sparkling stream gurgling its way around the rocks has a relaxing and refreshing effect. Fields of grass and wildflowers in the sunshine can brighten anyone’s day if they stop for a minute to look and take in the beauty. Running through them can be a wonderful experience.
As beautiful as things are, I’m sure the imperfections and problems can get you down at times. However, one day it will be made wonderfully perfect again. Won’t that be great? 
Until that time, though not everything is perfect, you can still decide to do your best to do the things God wants you to, and to take care of the world the best you can, and to live in peace with others. You can also look forward to the time when all will be beautiful again, without the things that mar the loveliness of nature. 
***
Enoch and Methuselah
The world was made around six thousand years ago. And can you believe it? The people who were first on Earth, the great-grandchildren of Adam and Eve, and those who followed after that, sometimes lived to be nearly a thousand years old! Bodies were made strong, the world was a fresh and health-building environment to live in, and aging was much slower.
There was one man, however, who was only on Earth for a bit more than 300 years. His name was Enoch. He loved God so much and wanted to please Him, even though most people in the world were getting pretty ungodly by then. 
All people on Earth had the choice to do right or wrong, and God saw that the thoughts people had and their actions had reached the point where they were nearly always making the wrong choice.
God was so sad. It hurt Him so much to see the wrong way people were going. It was no longer fun to watch what people were doing and to gaze at His creation. They’d turned away from Him for the most part, and the world was such an unhappy, unkind place. 
There were a few people who loved and chose God’s way. One of those people was Enoch. He’d talk to God, hear from Him, and try to tell people what God had to say. He spent lots of time alone with God. Then one day when the time was right, God just took him out of the world to be with Him. Enoch didn’t die, but simply was taken to be with God.
Unlike everyone around him who lived to about 900 years of age, Enoch, at around 300 years, was taken to be with the One he loved more than anyone or anything—God, His creator. He was taken away from all the evil of the world in those days.
Enoch had a son called Methuselah, who, amazingly enough, lived longer than anyone else on Earth—969 years! He was the grandfather of a very important man. Methuselah’s grandson was named Noah.
***
A Good Man for a Great Job
Noah was one of the few people on Earth who had chosen to follow God’s way, and he made God glad. So he was chosen out of everyone on the Earth to do a very important job.
Have you ever cried a lot, I mean a whole lot? So much that you felt you could hardly stop, and your face was all wet with tears, your nose was running, and you were sobbing, thinking there was nothing that could cheer you up? 
Perhaps you lost something or someone that was really special to you? Or something that you’d worked so hard on got totally ruined? Or something that you’d been looking forward to and planning for a long while didn’t work out, and your hopes and dreams were smashed?
Well, that was a bit how God felt when things on Earth started to go so wrong. The people He had lovingly created now made Him feel so sad with their poor choices and bad behaviour. The world that He made wasn’t the happy, thriving, beautiful, loving place that He had made it to be. 
After all He’d put into it, it was now ruined and soiled with the wrongs that people were doing. He cried and cried, and the whole world was going to be washed and cleansed with the water that He’d send. 
Maybe that’s how many tears He felt He had. The old things were washed away, and He could start again. He chose Noah to help Him during this time, to salvage what good was still left in the Earth.
Noah had learned to hear and obey God’s voice. And he had learned to hate the terrible things that were going on in the world. He didn’t want anything to do with evil. He just wanted to live God’s way. God was able to speak clearly with him. Noah was eager to do things God’s way, even if they had never been done before.
If God told him, “Cut down trees and build a floating vehicle, fill it with animals and food, and go in it with your family,” then Noah would do it—and he did, because that is what God said.
There was a lot of work to be done, and it took over a hundred years to do it! It all had to be done right, so that the ship would be safe and sturdy, and would last—staying strong and stable until the washed new world was dry again. 
It needed to be built well so it would shelter, house, keep, and save Noah’s family and the land animals. After this “ark” was built, it was time to fill it with the creatures that were to be on it. Every type of animal was put in the ark—a male and female of each kind. 
There were only two of most animals on the ark, but 14 of those animals that mankind would need plenty of in the new clean world. For example, there needed to be lots of sheep for wool for clothing, and cows to give milk and pull ploughs, and so forth.
The task was enormous, and there weren’t many people to do it. It’s one thing to want to do a job, to be willing to do what God calls you to do.—But then to stick with it until it’s done, and to do the hard work, day after day until it’s completed, that takes determination and vision. Those are two things that Noah and his family had to have.
They also needed to have unity and teamwork, and to be willing to help each other, and to work very hard. They needed each other. They had to talk together, listen to each other, work things out together, encourage each other, pray and get the right ideas from God in order to make it all just right, to do things in the best way.
It took years and years of working towards a goal and not giving up, and not giving in to those who were trying to stop them and make things difficult. Their minds had to be on the job and their hearts set on God’s ways. 
Finally they did it! They won! The ark was built, the animals were safely inside, and all the things they’d need for their long voyage were packed and ready! Their destination was a new clean world.
Imagine the excitement, the anticipation they must have felt, with the job all done and everyone and everything that was meant to be in the ark safely there. God shut the door tight, and then they just had to wait.
***
Rain and a Rainbow
It was time for the world to be washed, and the ark was finished and ready to float. It wasn’t a frantic time, however, with rain pouring down and Noah’s family trying to shove animals in and get into the ark themselves. No. 
They brought the animals into the ark when God told them to, and then they waited, safe and dry within the ark for a whole week before any rain started. Can you imagine what they must have felt? “Father, when did you say the rain would come?” his sons may have asked Noah.
“God said the rain would come. We must be patient, and tend carefully to the animals. They need very good care,” Noah may have said to his family. Sure enough, it not only rained, but poured down huge amounts from the sky, and water gushed from fountains deep under the ground. The world had never been so wet.
When the ark started to float, it must have been an unforgettable experience. They had never felt anything like that before. They were rocking, floating, bobbing, swaying and bumping. They had to have a lot of faith, as well as try to keep their animals calm and well cared for. With so much to do, that family must have been extremely busy. They certainly weren’t on a fancy cruise ship, sitting around with lots of time on their hands, expecting to be waited on. 
Noah and his family were grateful and in awe at the miracle of God’s love, and how He loved them so much. And God was also thankful for their love for Him, so He gave them the privilege of being the only ones from the old world to cross over into the new.
God could have just started it all over again and remade everything from scratch, but in His love and mercy He gave mankind one more chance, and let good Noah and his family enter the new unspoiled world.
The journey was tiring and long, and not easy in the least. It probably didn’t smell very nice most of the time, with so many animals all in one place. Imagine being on a stinky boat for a very long time, without being able to run and play outside—because there was no grass to go on. They worked very hard together as a team to keep the animals fed and well, and to care for themselves. At last they made it through that time, and with great joy they entered a fresh, new, clean world.
The ark first landed on a rocky mountain. A while later, Noah sent a raven and a dove to fly around and see how things were going in the watery world outside. When the dove returned with an olive leaf in her mouth, this was a clue for them that the waters had gone down a great deal. It gave them hope and patience to wait until the land would be dry enough and safe to walk on. When the time was right, God released the door He’d shut tight, and the family could make their great exit.
Ahh!—Air, light, land, and nature! It was cause for a celebration and time of worship. Noah called his family together to praise and thank God for bringing them safely through.
A beautiful rainbow painted the sky, as God’s promise that this difficult event, so sad, so hard to live through, would never happen again. They didn’t have to worry the next time it rained that they would have to dash back to the ark. Rain was just a part of watering the world, and God wouldn’t create a worldwide flood again.
People’s life spans also changed. Instead of living for several hundred years, God changed things on Earth and the average age became much shorter. Because of people’s choices, often to go the wrong and unkind way, God made things be such a way that they were not permitted to live as long as before.
The choices are the same for everyone around the world: What will you do today? Will you use your time and strength to make the world and your surroundings a happy and loving place to be, or will you choose what’s wrong? 
The choice is as much yours today as it was for those people of old. What will you do with your life while you are on Earth, for however long or short your life might be? What you do may affect more people than you realise. God knows if you love, obey and respect Him. He knows not only what you do, but your heart and thoughts as well. And He will bless, protect, and give privileges to those who want to do the things that make Him glad, just as He did for Noah. 
***
The Tower of Babel
Sometime after Noah and his team had made it safely through the flood, the world was getting more populated again—just as God had asked of them. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They and their wives began to have families, and their children grew up and had families too; and on it went, until there were many people living on Earth again.
Since everyone spoke the same language they could all understand what everyone was saying, but what they began to do now was not pleasing to God. Because of their proud thoughts, they were attempting a new project—to build a tall tower that would reach the sky. They thought this would make them equal with God.
People weren’t exploring too many new places in the world. They weren’t trying out new good ideas and learning new things. Everyone was influenced easily as one nation, all speaking the same thing, and motivated to all go the same way. If people had been doing good and wonderful things, following God’s ways, this would have been fine. However, since they weren’t, they were all speedily going in the wrong direction. 
So what was the best way to get people to explore more of the world and discover new things—and not be influenced to follow the wrong ideas of others? God gave new languages to people. Each family suddenly spoke a different language! The work on the Tower of Babel came to a halt. 
Everyone being able to talk and understand each other is what made that big project possible, but now it had to stop since people couldn’t understand each other and communicate effectively. Instead of progress, they now had confusion. Each family moved, travelled, and explored where they wanted to. That confusion was such a big event. Such a change! 
There are so many languages in the world today. The people who have tried to count them say there are between 6,000 and 9,000 languages. So there are plenty of languages people can speak nowadays in countries all around the world.
Learning to speak other languages can be a challenging and fun experience—sometimes hard, but also rewarding when you can finally communicate with people you have not been able to talk with before. It provides new opportunities and friendships.
It’s easy to notice if others who are trying to speak your language say things somewhat differently than you do. The efforts of others to speak a new language should be admired. They have learned not only their own language—one that you might not know—but yours too. 
Instead of noticing the imperfections, according to the way you think words and sounds should be said, you can appreciate the fact that they have learned so much. Think how much more difficult it would be if they hadn’t learned to speak any of your language, and you had to guess what they were trying to say, and they didn’t understand what you were trying to ask. It would be difficult. Be glad for their effort, and make your own effort to learn to speak other languages.