Seriously! Why?

March 30, 2026

Have your parents ever asked you that question?

Have you ever done something, just because you felt like it, and then wished that you had not done so? At the time you realized, way down inside, that you shouldn't act that way, but you did it anyway. Then you didn't want to admit that you were wrong. Imagine how frustrating that has to be for your parents. They do know what is best for you. The Most High is much greater than any of us, so we can't really understand exactly how He feels when humans refuse to obey Him, but it is apparent that it hurts His heart. Below is the scripture passage that tells about just such a time.

As you have just read above, the constant evil of men was more that God could put up with, so He decided to totally wipe out the humans that He had made. But Noah found favor with the Lord. This was because he obeyed the rules that God had established. God told Noah to build an ark, which is a big boat. He told him exactly how to build it; what size it should be, which type of wood to use, how to seal it so the water wouldn't leak in, how to make a way to have light inside... God told Noah to store all kinds of food for his family and all the animals that he would take along. Noah did exactly what God commanded him. He had never seen such a thing before, but he trusted that God knew exactly what he should do.

Cain and Abel

March 23, 2026

Right from the very beginning, God established rules that humans are supposed to obey. As we can see, in this fourth chapter of Genesis, Cain and Abel were required to do right. This passage does not tell us the details, but for some reason God did not 'pay heed' to Cain's offering. He told Cain very plainly that he was required to do right to be accepted by God. (In June last year, I wrote a story called Uplift. You can go to the 'Lessons' page and read it again. In that story, Sally and Coco were learning this lesson.) Instead of willingly obeying God, Cain apparently chose to be rebellious. He seemed to think that God wasn't fair. He hated Abel for doing right and therefore being blessed by God. Cain called Abel out into the field 'to talk' and then he killed him. He should have known that he couldn't hide anything from God, but I guess he was just too mad to think clearly. It seems that Cain's favorite thing to do was to till the soil and grow food. Now that special thing was taken away from him because he had taken away his brother's life. Oh my precious children, please, please purpose it firmly in your own hearts to always obey! While you are children you must obey your parents. As you grow and become adults it will be your responsibility to listen to the commands of the Most High and always, always obey Him! It is the most loving thing that anyone can do for you to constantly point you to this important truth.

Did God Really Say...

March 17, 2026

The passage above is rather long, but it is important for you to read and understand it. It really is very important for each and every one of us to pay attention to what God tells us to do. Your very life depends on obedience to His commands. We must never fall into the trap of thinking that God isn't fair, or that we really know better than He does. Just think, seriously, about how ridiculous it is to ever think that we could possibly know better than the One who created us! When Adam and Eve disobeyed God it caused them to be afraid of Him for the first in their lives. Think about how you feel when you disobey your parents. It makes you afraid that they will find out what you have done. How much better it is to simply obey! Then you will have no reason to be afraid. God punished every individual who was involved in this first sin. It appears that the serpent (or snake) may have had legs, kind of like a lizard. Because the snake tricked Eve into wanting the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and bad, God condemned it to crawl on its belly. Every bite of food that it eats will have dust in it because its mouth is right against the ground. One of Eve's roles in life was to have children, but now that process would be quite painful for her. Because she had offered sin to Adam instead of obeying what he had told her, he would now be her ruler. He could tell her what to do, and if he told her "no" about something she was required to obey. Adam also received a punishment for listening to his wife instead of God. Now the ground would bring forth thorns and thistles and he would have to work very hard to get it to grow food. Both Adam and Eve were condemned to death. Yes, they lived for quite a while and had children to start populating the earth, but eventually they both died. That's the way it is for every one of us. And don't make the mistake of pointing at them and saying that it's all their fault. Be honest with yourself! Every one of us has disobeyed God, probably on multiple occasions. After pronouncing their punishments, God drove them out of the beautiful garden where they had been living. How very sad that seems. But, in a way, that really is the mercy of God. If we were able to eat from the tree of life, and live forever after we have sinned, then we could never really be near to God. The day is coming when God will resurrect and heal those who have truly done their best to turn away from sin and obey Him. Those people will have a place in the cleansed and renewed earth that the prophets have foretold. What a wonderful time that will be!

From the Dust of the Earth

March 8, 2026

24 Hence a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh.

God had created the earth. He filled it with plants and animals. Then He did something really special! He picked up dust from the ground and formed it into the very first man. He named him Adam. It sounds to me like everything else that God had made just appeared as He spoke, but humankind was directly formed by His hands. God showed Adam every animal that He had made. Adam got to give a name to each one of them! Among all the animals that God had made, not one of them was a fitting helper for Adam. So God put Adam to sleep and removed one of his ribs. From that rib, God formed a woman and brought her to Adam. (In the next chapter that we will study, you will see that Adam named his wife, Eve.) These first humans were commanded by God to have babies and fill the earth. Every one of us is here because of that special command. Below you will see a picture of me when I was a baby.

Like every other human on earth, I grew until I was a small child. Here is a picture of me when I turned 4 years old. This was the day that Sally became my dolly! I have had her ever since. Back then, she was "my baby". Now she portrays my grandchild in many of the stories that you have been reading.

Creation

January 25, 2026

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

Several years ago (when your parents were still children) Grandpa gave me a very pretty quilt. It had been made by a group of elderly ladies who lived at the retirement home where I worked at that time. I would see them working on this quilt in the common sewing room, but I didn't know it was for me! It took them quite a while to cut all the little pieces and sew them together to make the finished product.

This quilt is a good illustration of a very important point. Just by looking at the quilt, you can tell that it didn't just happen by itself.

There is a theory, called evolution, that is taught in public schools. It teaches that everything in the world just happened by accident. The Torah (which is the Word of the Most High God) teaches us that the Most High is the One who made the world and everything in it. We are going to study about God's creation as told in the first couple chapters of Genesis.

First Day

February 1, 2026

Way back in the beginning, the earth where we live had no real form. It was kind of like a slimy mud puddle. The wind was blowing, but you would not have been able to see anything because it was dark. Then God said, "Let there be light" and, just like that, there WAS light! Light was created by God and He saw that it was a good thing. Next, He separated the light from the darkness and called the light Day, and the darkness Night. We take Day and Night for granted because it seems to us that it has always been that way. We certainly aren't able to separate light and darkness from each other when we have nothing to put between them! That is the power of God.

Another interesting thing to see here is that the darkness (night) came before the light (day). We will see that this fact is very important in understanding God's timing.

Second Day

On the second day of creation, God put an expanse between the water on the earth and the water above. He called this expanse Sky. While we really can't know for sure now, it almost sounds like there was another layer of water above the sky at that time. Now we see the 'water above' in the form of clouds that float across the sky. It certainly doesn't seem to make sense to think that water could just sit way up there without falling, but every one of us has seen how long it can rain and how deep the puddles can get. All of that water comes from the sky and we can't really explain how it does it. Once again, that is the power of God!

Third Day

February 4, 2026

On the third day, God spoke again. With just His voice, He separated the waters and the dry land. He called the dry land Earth, and the waters He called Seas. As we saw before, God is able to do what we have no power to do. Then, with just His voice, He created all the plants... grass, trees, flowers, all the plants that we can eat and also many that we can't. He even made them with seeds so they could continue to grow new plants. Isn't God amazing!

(Genesis 1:14a JPS) God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse

Fourth Day

February 8, 2026

God had already created light on the very first day of creation. Now He put that light into the objects that we can see in the sky. He made the sun to dominate the sky in the daytime, and the moon to dominate the night. (Dominate means to command or control.) He also made the stars. The sun and the moon are the markers we use to determine the length of days, months, and years. They mark the times of the special appointed days on God's calendar. God saw that this was good. Have you noticed? At the end of each day, God inspected His own work and made sure that it was good!

SUNRISE

SUNSET

MOON

Fifth Day

February 11, 2026

On the fifth day of creation, it sounds like God was really busy! He created all the sea creatures and all the creatures that fly through the air! Just think about it! There are so many kinds of fish... big ones like the sharks all the way down to tiny little minnows. Then there are other sea creatures: whales, shrimp, jellyfish, etc. The list would get really long if we tried to list them all! He also made everything that flies through the air. There are many, many kinds of birds, but also large swarms of insects. It's nearly impossible for me to think of all the creatures that came into being on this day! God saw that all this was good! He blessed the creatures and told them to have babies and fill the earth. Here is a challenge for you. Look through your own picture sources, photo alums, magazines, etc. and see how many creatures you can find to fit in the "created on the fifth day" category. You can also look through the lessons and pictures on this website. You will spot many pictures that will show things that God created that would fit in more than one category. For instance, a picture of cows in the pasture would fit in both third day and sixth day. (We will study the sixth day next.) Have fun!

Sixth Day

February 19, 2026

When you read the passage above it is obvious that God must have been quite busy on the sixth day also. Just think of all the different animals that came to be that day! They also were supposed to have babies and fill the earth. Once all the animals had been created, God created humans. (One of these days, we will have a separate lesson about the creation of man and woman.) Notice that when God finished creating on the sixth day, He again inspected His own work and found it VERY GOOD!

Now, look below to see pictures of a couple animals that are very special to Grandpa and me. Do you remember the lesson, almost a year ago, when Delight introduced the rest of the herd to you? She mentioned my special pet, Tootsie. I couldn't find a picture of Tootsie at that time, but here it is! This is a picture that was taken when Fina was born. The other picture is of Buddy, Grandpa's special friend. It was taken when Buddy was a puppy. Buddy is no longer living, but we have many good memories. If you also have a pet, you will understand how special these pictures are to us.

Sabbath

February 25, 2026

On the seventh day, God finished His work of creation. This day is so special that God gave it a special name, Sabbath. All the other days are just referred to as first day, second day, etc. God did not work on the seventh day. He blessed it and declared it holy. You can see in the scripture below, (from Exodus chapter 20) that God commanded that no one was to do any work on that day. We are even commanded to allow our animals to rest. For instance, you shouldn't ride a horse or make a husky pull a sled on the Sabbath Day.