The bright pink tractor was spinning around and around, and smoke and steam surrounded it. Hundreds of animal crackers came out of the tractor’s smokestack!
When the smoke and steam cleared away, Gummy Bear and M&M saw that they were in a thick forest. It was not quiet and peaceful! There were loud noises all around. Gummy Bear heard a noise right behind him and spun around to see what it was. It was…A Snake! No just kidding, it was not a snake… it was TWO SNAKES! Gummy Bear and M&M began to run, and the snakes were right behind them. They went around a corner and there were… Lions and Tigers and Bears (Oh My!), also there were dinosaurs, leopards, grasshoppers, dogs, rats, hippos, elephants, and gerbils! M&M noticed that there were two of each kind of animals and they were all moving in the same direction! M&M said, “Hey Gummy Bear, remember, we are invisible, they cannot see or hear us.” Gummy Bear yelled back, “I know that, but they can step on us by accident, and that probably would not feel very good! Let’s get away from these animals. Gummy Bear and M&M ran and dodged and ran some more! It was like the biggest game of dodging that you can imagine!
Finally, they got out of the way of all those animals and stopped to catch their breath. There was still a lot of noise, but now the noises that they were hearing sounded like voices. Gummy Bear said, “Do you think that these animals can talk? Let’s go and find out!”
The voices were coming from a grove of trees at the bottom of a steep hill. Our two fearless super-heroes ran to the edge of the hill and jumped over the edge! They lost their balance and rolled down the hill completely out of control while screaming. Of course, no one could see or hear them. They peeked into the grove of trees and could not believe what they saw! There was a huge crowd of people! There were hundreds and thousands of people! They were calling each other names, hitting each other, kicking each other, and hurting each other! Everywhere Gummy Bear and M&M looked they saw evil and violence! It just kept going and going. Suddenly the crowd of people started laughing and pointing at someone.
On the other side of the valley, on top of a hill, stood an old man. He called out to the crowd with a loud voice. He told them that they needed to quit doing evil things and saying evil things. He told them that they needed to pay attention to God and ask for forgiveness for their sins. The crowd of people laughed and laughed and began throwing things at the old man. The crowd yelled, “Tell us the story about your boat again! We love to hear that fairy tale!”
The old man told them that it was not a fairy tale! God had told him that a great flood was coming to wipe out all the sinful people of the earth. Only those who believed in God could escape from the flood. God had told him to build a huge boat to carry his family and two of every kind of animal, to save them from the flood. The old man told the crowd that there was room for them on the boat if they believed God and asked God for forgiveness.
The crowd laughed and laughed and yelled, “Old Noah is crazy! He is building a boat hundreds of miles from the ocean and we have never even had a small flood here!” They laughed more than ever and threw more things at Noah.
Noah spoke to the crowd one more time, he said, “You have seen for yourself how the animals have been coming to my boat for a week now. They have come two-by-two. Only God could have made that happen! Today is your last day to change your minds and ask God to forgive your sins. The last of the animals are going on the boat now, and then my family and I will go on the boat, God will shut the door, and then it will be too late!”
The crowd of people laughed and laughed. Noah turned and left the crowd of people. Gummy Bear and M&M ran back up the hill. There were no longer any animals on the hill, they had all gone into the boat. Gummy Bear and M&M ran to their bright pink tractor and drove it down the path that the animals had made. Soon they came around the curve in the path and saw a big wooden wall in front of them. Gummy Bear stopped the bright pink tractor and said, “This has got to be the biggest barn in the world, I wonder where Noah’s boat is?” M&M was looking to the right and to the left and up. The wooden building was huge! M&M said, “I do not think this is a barn, I think that this is Noah’s boat. It is big enough for all those animals and Noah’s family and for anyone else who believes God and asks for forgiveness.”
As they were standing there, suddenly the only door to the boat shut with a loud boom! They could not see anyone shutting that door. M&M said, “It happened just like Noah said, ‘God shut the door’.”
Gummy Bear said, “Have you noticed that we are still on the outside? What are we going to do?” M&M replied, “Let’s drive the bright pink tractor up on the top of the boat, then we will be safe.” There was a tall hill behind the boat, so M&M and Gummy Bear drove the tractor up to the top of the hill and then took some long, thick boards and laid them from the top of the hill to the roof of the boat. Carefully they drove the bright pink tractor across the boards onto the roof of the boat.
They got up there just in time! Suddenly, huge, dark clouds came out of nowhere with thunder and lightning! Tons of water began to fall from those clouds, and even more water burst up out of the ground! In no time at all, the whole area was flooded! Gummy Bear and M&M could hear the huge crowd of people again, but they were not laughing now, they were screaming because they finally believed in God, but now it was too late! As the waves of water came against the boat, it started to move. The water was so violent that the boat rocked from side to side. The bright pink tractor began to slide faster and faster toward the edge of the roof. Gummy Bear and M&M tried to stop the bright pink tractor, but it was no use. The bright pink tractor slid off the edge of the roof and began to fall into the angry deep water below!
M&M yelled, “Hang on, I’m going to push the bright red button!” There was a noise like a strong wind, the bright pink tractor began spinning in circles, smoke and steam surrounded them…..
What Gummy Bear, M&M and you can learn from this story:
The story of Noah and the great flood is found in the Bible in Genesis chapters 6 & 7.
There are consequences for sin! It is important for us to understand this because we are all sinners. In Noah’s time, all the people except Noah and his family kept sinning constantly and made fun of anyone who did not join them in their sin. God decided to send a worldwide flood to kill the sinners, but God also had mercy on sinners. If anyone chose to turn away from their sins, there was room for them on the ark with Noah and his family.
There is also another consequence to sin, an eternal punishment!
In the Bible in Revelation 20:15 it says:
And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Just like in Noah’s time, God provided a way to escape from sin. God provided a way of escape from the flood by having Noah build an ark (a very big boat). God has also provided a way of escape from the lake of fire (the eternal punishment from sin). Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for all our sins. If a person believes in Jesus, asks for forgiveness, and asks Jesus to come into their life and take control, then that person’s name will be written in God’s book of life.
In the Bible in Acts 4:12 it says:
There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.
The time to accept Jesus into your life is now!
In the Bible in II Corinthians 6:2 it says:
For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the ‘right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.