Until now, nothing exists. No universe. No life. No light. No dark.
No breath. No hopes. No fears. No dreams. No shame.
No sin.
Nothing.
There is only God. And God is Love.
Then, in an instant, God becomes the Creator.
"Let there be light!" His voice booms out over the great void.
A bolt of infinite brightness vanquishes the nothingness, creating the heavens. And with that light comes wind, a raw blast sweeping across the brand-new universe. Then water, unformed and seemingly endless, soaks everything.
God parts the waters, creating the seas and sky and the land.
He decrees that plants and seeds and trees cover the land and that there should be seasons. And stars in the sky. And creatures throughout the land and waters.
Then God creates man in His own image. Then woman, because man
should not be alone. Their names are Adam and Eve, and they inhabit a paradise known as Eden.
All this takes six days in God's time.
On the seventh day, God rests.
But God's perfect creation becomes flawed, despoiled by men and women who turn their backs on their Creator. First Eve, then Adam,
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then Cain, and on and on. Generations pass, and devotion to God has all but disappeared. Evil rules in the hearts of men and women. This does not please the Creator, who loves the earth and its people and wants only what's best for them.
So God is starting over. He is destroying mankind in order to save it.
Which is how it came to pass that a large wooden ship now bobs on a storm-tossed sea. It is night. A howling wind and pelting rain threaten to sink the homemade vessel. The scene inside the ship is one of complete chaos. An oil lamp swings from the ceiling and illuminates a birdcage filled with two brightly colored parrots. An old man named Noah struggles to maintain his seat on a bench that is affixed to one wall. His wife sits next to him. On the other side of the cabin, Noah's three terrified sons hold tight to their wives as the great ship heaves in the night. These bouts of terror are a daily fact of life for this extended family, but no one ever gets used to it.
Noah is suddenly hurled to the floor. He is not a sailor and has only reluctantly taken this journey. He hears, from belowdecks, the bellows of oxen, the whinnies of horses, the bleatings of sheep, and countless other animal cries of distress. There are precisely two of each type of beast and bird. Try as Noah might to muck out the stalls daily, the hold of the ark is a foul place, with little ventilation. Only a small row of windows on the upper deck of the vessel releases the stench of rotting grain and animal waste. It mixes with the dank humidity to form a cauldron of foul aromas. Those smells waft up through the decks to every clammy, claustrophobic room on the ark. The smells have not only seeped into the air that Noah and his family breathe, but into the fabric of their robes, the pores of their skin, and the simple meals they eat. If the storm would end, Noah could open a hatch and let in a fresh breeze. But this storm seems like it will never end.
A geyser of water spurts through a new leak in the hull. The women scream.
Noah battles to stand and plug the hole. Outside the ship, a blue whale breaches. It is an enormous animal, and yet it is still dwarfed by Noah's ark.
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Noah is a strong leader, a loving husband, and a good father. He keeps his terrified family calm by telling them the story of creation. A story he knows well.
"On the third day," Noah says calmly, "God created the land, with trees and plants--"
"Will we ever see land again?" asks the wife of Noah's son Shem.
Noah ignores her. "... with trees and plants and fruit. And--"
"Will we?" the woman insists. She is beautiful, and the fear on her face is made all the more distressing because of her innocent look. "Will we see land again?"
Noah's faith is at its very limit. Yet he puts on a brave face. "Of course." He continues his narrative, if only because it gives them comfort. "And on the fifth day... all the creatures of the sea..." He chuckles to himself as he hears the cries of the two monkeys belowdecks. Their cage is next to that of the peacocks. Hardly creatures of the sea! "And of