For example, you’ll remember that Noah exemplified obedience and perseverance, and David exemplified trust and bravery.  So in today’s story about Daniel, did you notice that Daniel has ALL FOUR of these character traits???

1. Daniel was obedient to the One True God of the Bible.  (The Hebrew name for God was “Yahweh.”)  Since Daniel knew the Ten Commandments, and the first commandment says, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Genesis 20:3), he refused to bow down and worship King Darius.  He did the right thing!
2. He persevered in prayer 3 times every day to our One True God – even though it would have been easier to forget sometimes … or to rather be doing something else … or to simply get lazy and not pray.  He did the right thing!
3. Daniel trusted that God loved him, so he wanted his actions to honor Him, even though it made the king’s advisors mad.  He did the right thing!
4. He was brave to stand up to the king’s advisors.  It takes courage to say “No,” but God rewarded him for doing so.  He did the right thing!

So how do you get to have awesome traits like obedience, perseverance, trust, and bravery?  Well, you practice them!  Each boy or girl develops his or her character traits based on: 

• what you think,
  • what you say, and 
    • what you do.  

Hmmmm … What you THINK, SAY, and DO.  These are things only YOU have control over!  So YOU are in charge of developing a Godly character.  A goooood character.   A positive character.  What words do you want someone to use to describe YOU?  How about HONEST?  KIND?  PATIENT?  Yes!  We will see these and many other traits in other heroes’ stories ... and we’re happy to know that YOU are “practicing” good character by what you intentionally think, say, and do.  Keep it up!

We love you,

Pappy & GiGi

P.S.  Want to know what happened to the jealous guys who tricked King Darius into throwing Daniel in the lion’s den? 

• Look up Daniel 6: 24.  “At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.”  Yikes!

P.P.S.  Want to know how Daniel’s obedience made a difference in many other peoples’ lives?  Because King Darius was so amazed at God’s miraculous protection, he sent out this decree in Daniel 6:25-27.

• “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.

        ‘For he is the living God 
             and he endures forever;
         his kingdom will not be destroyed, 
             his dominion will never end.
         He rescues and he saves;
             he performs signs and wonders
             in the heavens and on the earth.
         He has rescued Daniel
             from the power of the lions.'”

How awesome is that?

But even while he was a slave in Egypt, Joseph always did the right thing.  (Note to self!)  Even harder still, when he was thrown into prison, he still did the right thing.  He refused to pity himself for how his brothers treated him, or how Potiphar’s wife accused him and landed him in prison.  He refused to blame, seek revenge, hold a grudge, think ugly thoughts, or become bitter.  Joseph chose to focus on God and what God would have him learn through these hard experiences.  

Because Joseph prayed rather than sought revenge, God rewarded him with great wisdom.  Eventually appointed as the Vizier of all Egypt – the second most powerful man besides the Pharaoh himself – Joseph was able to spare thousands of people from famine by wisely storing and distributing food throughout his 14-year plan.  Keeping Egypt and surrounding countries fed through such a long drought was truly a miracle!

Think about it, though.  The idea of a foreigner reaching the top of Egyptian power sounds highly unlikely, doesn’t it?  But God can do anything through a person who’s willing. 

Like Joseph, we may be in a powerful position someday ourselves … or maybe we won’t be … but the BEST part of Joseph’s story shows something we ALL can do, no matter what our age or position.  That is, we can show self-control and forgiveness to everyone we know, even those who may have done something wrong against us or our family.

As Joseph said to his brothers, “What you meant for evil, God meant for good.”  (Genesis 50:20)  What a great way for Joseph to look at his circumstances!!! Thank you, God, for Joseph’s story to remind us that You have a plan for our lives, and You want to help us show self-control and forgiveness to all people – just like Joseph!

We love you,

Pappy & GiGi

P.S.  Interestingly, scientific evidence shows “ice cores” found in Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania – the mountain which supplies water to the Nile River – that confirm that a drought took place around 3600 years ago.  Hmmm.  That’s the same time period of Joseph’s leadership in Egypt.  We're not surprised, are you?!?

Before we explore this David & Goliath story, here are a few cool facts you’ll like about David.  Each will become important the more you study this significant hero:

• David was from the tribe of Judah, which is important to remember because Jesus is eventually born from the tribe of Judah, too.  Matthew 1:1 even calls Jesus “the son of David …” (with many generations in between, that is!) 
• He was the youngest of 8 brothers!  Can you imagine???
• When he was a young shepherd, David wrote many of the Psalms.  One of his most famous is Psalm 23.  Take a minute to find Psalm 23 in the center of your Bible.  Can you tell David is out in the sheep fields as he’s writing this?  Some of his other Psalms were written as he grew older, when he was leading his “mighty men” in fierce battles.  In all, David wrote about half of all the Psalms in our Bible.
• The Bible says that David was “a man after God’s own heart.” (1 Samuel 13:14), which is why God eventually chose him to be King.  He is super important in Israel’s history.  (btw, Israel only had 3 kings back in the day … King Saul, then David, and then David’s son Solomon.)  

To go from being the youngest of 8 boys to the greatest King of all Israel – What a ride!  As you can imagine, the Bible records a ton of stories about David’s life.  What can we learn from today’s encounter with Goliath?  Well, let's ask YOU!

Do you think David got to the battlefield and “talked himself into” trusting God right before he picked up those stones?  Or did you notice he didn’t even hesitate?  David told King Saul confidently, “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” (1 Samuel 17:37)  David’s courage came from ALREADY trusting God, long before he arrived at the battle.  He knew without a doubt, that God was with him and would help him face the giant Goliath.

This was David’s first – but not his last – dangerous battle.  Throughout his life, David fought MANY daring battles.  At one point, even King Saul was chasing him and trying to kill him.  It was then that David wrote Psalm 56, including the key verse “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in Thee.”  (Psalm 56:3)  Yet again in his life, David determined ahead of time that he would trust God.  

The lesson here?  Don’t wait until you’re in the middle of a predicament to decide if you’re going to trust God or not.  Make up your mind to trust Him ahead of time.  A good time would be … NOW!  With God, you will get through whatever lies before you. Every time you trust Him to help you make the right decisions, your faith in Him will grow and become stronger.  So will your courage.  And having confidence to stand firm and courageous with God by your side is an awesome way to live! 

We love you,
Pappy & GiGi

P.S.  David knew Psalm 56:3 by heart, right?  It’s your turn to memorize it now!

• Today Pappy is telling stories he’s read in the Bible – but Adam was sharing first-hand stories from having personally walked with God in the Garden – Wow!
• Pappy gets to tell stories to his grandchildren — but Adam got to tell stories to 8 generations of grandchildren, because he lived 930 years!  Can you imagine living to see your great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great-grandson?  

Before he died, Adam was able to teach each generation about his incredible experience with God in the Garden, right up through Lamech.  But Adam wasn’t around when Lamech’s son Noah was born, so it became Lamech’s responsibility to remember what Adam had taught him … and to teach Noah.  He must have done a great job!  (Yay Lamech!) The Bible says that “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.” (Genesis 6:9)  As a matter of fact, the Bible says that Noah was the ONLY righteous man in the whole earth at that time.  We’re glad that his dad taught him to obey, aren’t you?

If Lamech hadn’t taught Noah to obey, do you think Noah would have had the courage to build an ark that took over 55 years to finish?  Or to withstand all the ridicule he got from other people?  Fortunately for all of us, “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” (Genesis 6:22)

But it wasn’t easy even after he finished the boat.  Think of all the food that had to be hauled onboard to keep the animals alive for over a year!  Not to mention, all the food for Noah and his family, too.  Once afloat, every day at sea was an enormous amount of work for Noah and his family.  And it must have been really STINKY, being cooped up in a floating zoo for over a year – yikes! 
 
Not only did Noah demonstrate obedience, but he also modeled perseverance.  These are great character traits for each of us to strive for.  To fully understand what both words mean, tell your parents some examples you've seen of each, and ask them to tell you some other examples, too.

The bottom line is … Through Noah’s obedience and perseverance, God gave mankind a chance to start over after the flood.  Now it’s OUR turn to pass on this story … and it’s OUR turn to obey God, whatever he asks each of us to do.  (Hint: It won’t have anything to do with a boat, because He'll never flood the earth again. You can remember this promise whenever you see His "battle bow" in the sky.)

We love you,

Pappy & GiGi

P.S.   Do you know who lived to be the oldest man ever recorded in Genesis?  Methuselah at 969 years (Genesis 5:27)

• Undoubtedly, Moses knew stories of earlier events (called "oral history"), that were told and handed down from father to son through the line of Adam - Seth - Noah - Shem - Abraham - Isaac - Jacob, etc.  
• But it's also likely he had written records to refer to, as well.  How can we know this?  Over 1800 complete clay tablets were discovered at Elba in the 1960s - proving that extensive written records were being kept at least 1000 years before Moses!  Written around 2500 BC in a cuneiform script, the language on these tablets was a pre-Canaanite dialect closely related to Hebrew.  They told great details of the flourishing city-state of Elba, some having as many as 3000 lines on a single tablet!  So it's possible that Moses had access to records written centuries before his time.
• Whatever combination of oral and written records were available to him, we can know for sure that Moses was guided by the Holy Spirit as to what all he wrote down, since we know that "All Scripture is inspired by God." (2 Timothy 3:16).    

Genesis 1 tells us that God spoke everything into existence supernaturally.  His creative acts were one-time-only, unique, supernatural processes -- that can't be fully understood by what scientists can observe today.  Although not all scientists believe in "divine creation," there are many who do believe.

As did Jesus Himself!  Who relied on Scripture -- word for word, cover to cover.  Including its first 5 words, “In the beginning, God created ...”

Fast-forward to 1990 => The Hubble Telescope was launched about 3400 years after Moses wrote Genesis, and we can now SEE into portions of the known universe.  And the more we see, the more we are amazed!  Backed by pictures and data, scientists have written to the best of their abilities a variety of theories about how it all began ... but even the most brilliant man's mind is limited because we are human.  By contrast, God is not limited by a finite human mind!  He created us and operates outside of time and space as we know it, so we can never fully know or explain how an All-Knowing, All-Powerful God set the universe in motion!

What we DO know for sure is that "All Scripture is inspired by God," right?  Therefore everything in the Bible is true -- whether we can wrap our minds around it or not.  (Who are we to say, that we don't believe what God said is true??? Yikes!!!)  So we honor the Biblical creation story in faith. Let's open our Bibles and read these verses along with Pappy ...  

We love you,
Pappy & GiGi

P.S.  How amazing it is that our beautiful earth is just a tiny part of God’s creation!  But it’s not that tiny, is it?

In this episode, you'll hear Pappy mention that Alpha Centauri is the nearest star to our planet.  (Just so you know, it’s 4.367 light years away.  That’s roughly 25 trillion miles away, give or take a foot or two.)  Alpha Centauri is only one of over 100 billion stars in our Milky Way, yet the Psalmist says God calls each of them by name. (Psalm 147:4)

We. Stand. In. Awe.

… by 40 different authors

      … from three continents

            … who wrote in three different languages. 

Wow - These facts alone make the Bible one of a kind! How could 40 different authors who lived in various centuries write stories that all perfectly fit together in God's master design?  Because each of these 40 writers was inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. Some of the authors we’re going to talk about soon are: 

• Moses – Who wrote the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy  (These 5 books are called the Pentateuch.  Can you figure out why?) 
• King David – Who wrote half of all the Psalms
• King Solomon – Who wrote Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes

Since these 3 authors are all descendants of Abraham, they are all part of God’s “Chosen People.”  But in the Bible, this group of people goes by several different names, so let’s clear that up so there won’t be any confusion as we continue reading:  

=> When God first called Abraham to be the Father of His “Chosen People,” they were called the Hebrews, because Hebrew is the language they spoke.  

= > Abraham was the father of Issac, who was the father of Jacob.  When Jacob became a man, God changed Jacob’s name to “Israel,” so now these same people were called the Israelite people.  You may remember that Israel (formerly Jacob) had twelve sons who became the “12 Tribes of Israel,” from which all future Israelites descended.

=> Even later still, these people became known as Jewish people, or the “Jews” – this word originating from the ancient Israelite kingdom of Judah.

So writers from this "Hebrew/ Israelite/ Jewish" group of people are responsible for everything in the Old Testament –  just like Christian writers are responsible for everything in the New Testament.  

But the ONE central message consistently carried by all 40 writers of the Bible is this: God, who created us all, desires a relationship with us. He calls us to know Him and trust Him.

The Bible not only inspires us, it explains life and God to us. It does not answer all the questions we might have, but it does show us how to live with purpose and compassion.  It encourages us to rely on God for strength and direction, and to enjoy His love for us.  So it's our desire to understand as much of the Bible as we can to honor Him, and to have a happy life.  When we memorize Scripture, we are fulfilling Psalm 119:11, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."

We hope you enjoy Tyler's "tricks" on how to find verses ... and later to memorize some of them!  If you want to practice the songs with him, replay the audio at 3:53 to hear him say the books of the O.T., and go to 9:50 to hear the books of the N.T.

We love you,

Pappy & GiGi

P.S.  One other thing about the Bible:  It also tells us how we can have eternal life.  That’s Good News!

Immortal, invisible, God only wise, 

     C     D     C     D     G

In light inaccessible hid from our eyes, 

      G     Em     G     D

Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, 

      C     D     Am     D     G

Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.