Jamin Rathbun & Superdink.com

Who is this Jamin guy anyway?
I am the husband of one and the father of nine. I was created to sing, to worship, to encourage, and to be steady. I am the Owner & Executive Director of Trinity Arts Center, a multi-disciplinary Arts Center in Eastern Tennessee, and the President of Trinity Arts Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization focused on funding arts education and performance. I've been involved with four music projects in my life -- Hot Pink Turtle, Spin Radio, Stand Like Stone, and of course, Jamin Rathbun.

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stuff

Up for a little debate? -- theologyonline.com provides a place to debate (or read past debates) on just about any theological topic you could want.

It's an open forum so you have the opportunity to read (in most cases) pretty strong arguments from both sides. You're even welcome to throw your hat into the Battle Royale ring for a little head-to-head theological combat. Woo-hoo!

bible

Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Before I get into today's passage, I wanted to share something that I was reminded of as I typed it. In the Chronicles Of Narnia (the book series), there is a scene where Aslan "sings" the world into existence. One of the children (I forget who) watches as a series of melodies carry, from Aslan, out into the emptiness. This empty world responds to Aslan's song as it springs into existence. It's just a cool picture of creation that I always loved. If you haven't read the series, please do. It's very good. (as is anything written by C.S. Lewis)

Anyway... back on to the topic at hand -- creation.

Several years ago (maybe 1997) I undertook an exercise with my kids (I only had 2 at the time) to draw pictures representing creation. With that goal, we set out to read the Genesis account of creation and create small illustrations that related each day's activities. I'll outline them briefly:

Day 1: God said, "Let there be light."

Then -- He separated the light from the darkness and called them "day" and "night." There was evening and morning... the first day.

If I remember correctly, we drew a sheet with a dark half and a light half to represent this passage.

Day 2: God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water."

This stumped us for a minute because we couldn't figure out what the two waters were (until we read on in verse 7). He separated the water under the expanse and the water above the expanse. Then He called the expanse "sky."

The statement this passage makes didn't hit me until I tried to draw a representation of it. Water below. Water above. Sky in the middle. There was essentially a bubble around the earth, separating it from a body of water above. This does two things... goes a long way toward explaining the likelihood of the global flood AND describes the world as being round thousands of years before anyone else figured it out. Somehow Noah (I think the common assumption is that he penned the first five books?) knew this scientific fact that it took "science" another 8000 years (or so) to figure out. Pretty amazing argument for the supernatural accuracy of the Bible.

Our picture ended up being a blue circle, representing the lower water, with another circle (the sky) and yet another mass of blue out in "space", representing the upper mass of water. The only way to draw it was as a circle. Otherwise it looks like a sandwich with blue bread. = )

Day 3: God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." AND "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds."

He gathered the land and seas, declared them good, and then -- a double whammy -- He created vegetation, plants, fruit, etc... It was good. By the way -- evening and morning... the third day.

I believe we just drew the "globe" with some brown and blue spots and then added some vegetation. We were drawing these on little sticky note sized comic panels so... we didn't have a lot of room to work with. = )

Day 4: God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years. Let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth."

The sun, the moon, stars... etc. I think it's interesting that the first three days passed without a sun. It's fun to think about what the source of the "light" was. By the way -- evening and morning... the fourth day.

To illustrate this day, we drew another black/white panel with stars on the black side and the sun on the light side. Only 2 more. = )

Day 5: "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky."

So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." And there was evening, and there was morning... the fifth day.

This was a fun slide because my kids always liked this little fish that I would draw when they were little (some of them still are). Regardless -- fish, whales, sharks, birds, octupus, etc. Why is it that birds always get lumped into one big group. = )

Day 6: God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." AND ""Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." Wow -- big day! = )

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground -- everything that has the breath of life in it -- I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning... the sixth day.

Day 7: We all know what happened this day... right?

For me, and for my kids... this was a fun (and interesting) exercise and a great way to get to know this phenomenal event a little better. I suppose my encouragement is two-fold today:

1. Sometimes to see the "deep things" of the Bible -- you have to come to it like a child. "For the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these." - Luke 18:16

2. Anytime spent with God's Word OR your kids is good time.

God bless you and your families! We'll talk to you tomorrow.