"I don't really want to go to sleep yet, do you?" Adam asked his younger brother Noah.
"No really," replied Noah. "I am not tired yet, but mom and dad are beat from that garage sale at the school today. That is why they sent us to bed so early, but it is all right. I understand."
"Want to just talk for a while? We have to figure out something to do for our class project, too. That is due tomorrow, you know," said Adam. "Got any good ideas?"
"I got named after Noah," said Noah, after a moment of silence. "From the Bible."
"And I got named after Adam," said Adam. "So?"
"Suppose that story about Noah's ark is true?" asked Noah. "I mean really true."
"Mom and dad say it is," said Adam. "The Bible is very old."
"I have been thinking about the Noah's ark story," said Noah. "And the flood."
"You mean the two-by-two stuff where the animals all came into the ark? And the rainbow with God's promise never to flood the earth again?" asked Adam. "I wonder where my little brother is going with all of this?" he asked himself, silently. "What about it?"
"Yes, that too," said Noah. "What if that story is really true?"
"So what if it is? That is no big deal," said Adam.
"Then, there really was a flood that covered the whole earth, right?" asked Noah. He saw the look on Adam's face and did not know whether to continue, or not.
"I guess." Adam had already decided just to let his little brother talk. He waited.
"Think there were oceans, lakes and rivers before that flood?" asked Noah. "Creeks and ponds with beaver dams?"
"I don't know," said Adam, honestly. Noah looked serious about all of this. "Go on."
"What if there weren't any and God just decided that the world needed some water?" asked Noah.
"That really sounds kind of dumb to me because there were people before the flood and there had to be water in order for them to live," replied Adam. "People cannot live without any water. They still can't."
"I guess you are right," said Noah, stopping to ponder for a moment, but he was not about to give up. "Let's say there was some water, but maybe not enough water for everyone?"
"All right, then what?" asked Adam. He could see that Noah was going somewhere with all of this, but he just did not know where.
"God flooded the entire world with water. Everyone had been bad except Noah and his family. Only Noah listened to God, right?" Noah continued. "Right or not?"
"Right," replied Adam. "And he built an ark because God told him to do that."
"They all got in the ark all right, but no one else did and so everyone else drowned in the flood, right?" asked Noah.
"Right. That is how the story goes except for the needing water part. No one ever said anything about that before," explained Adam patiently. "Not that I know of anyhow."
"Well, the way I see it, God would not have sent all of the water, if it was not needed on the earth. He is not that dumb!" said Noah.
"I have never really thought about that before, but probably not. All right, so the earth needed more water," replied Adam patiently. "I wonder if my brother will ever get to the point," he thought to himself.
"Right," said Noah. "Now what if the earth still has not dried up since the flood?" asked Noah.
"You mean that the flood came, but only one part of the earth dried up after the flood? The rest of the earth is still covered with the water from the flood?" asked Adam. "So that is where he is going with all of these questions!" he suddenly realized.
"How would we ever know?" asked Noah. "We would not know, would we?"
"Maybe not. I have an idea though. Your class and mine are both working on the same project, so why don't we present this as a question to everyone and see what they think?" suggested Adam. "It is different."
"We might get laughed at," said Noah. "Or get thrown out of class?"
"That is all right. Let them come up with a better question. This has to do with environment and water. That is what we are supposed to be working on. Hey little brother, we might get an A plus for this one!" said Adam. He was glad now that he had listened to his little brother.
"Think the waters will ever go back down?" asked Noah. He was not quite finished.
"You mean completely?" asked Adam. "Interesting question."
"Can we talk about the Garden of Eden too?" asked Noah.
"Not tonight," said Adam. "Let's go to sleep."
"Think the Bible is the only book that got saved in the flood?" asked Noah, a moment or two later.
"Most of it was not even written then," said Adam. "That came later."
"Maybe the Garden of Eden story was what Noah saved?" said Noah very seriously. "How come he did not save the dinosaurs too?"
"Maybe they were too big to fit in the ark?" replied Adam. "Are you going to let me go to sleep or not?"
No comments:
Post a Comment