June 2023 – Creation and the Fall

“In the beginning…” We all know the verse. I assume we also all believe the account which comes after “God created the heaven and the earth” even though the majority of Americans and, according to research, many Christians do not

The Creation account displays the power of God’s Word and His sovereignty. It is a wonderful opportunity to teach your kids some apologetics that will help them as they share the Truth of the Bible for years to come. It’s also a super exciting time to study nature through the days of creation.

In addition, Genesis chapters 3-5 and specifically the Fall sheds light on so much in life – God created a perfect world then mankind sinned and broke fellowship with God. Now all creation suffers – death, disease suffering, persecution. Although God punished and will punish sin, He also planned to send One who would reconcile sinners to himself. God sent Him once, and He’s sending Him again! Don’t miss this excellent opportunity to discuss the Gospel with your children and give them a foundation to understand and help others understand why a good God allows suffering and death and where they can find Hope, both huge stumbling blocks and questions for many nonbelievers.

As you choose the best way to cover the first five chapters of Genesis with you family this week or this month, just remember Creation and the Fall set the stage for all that follows – from Genesis to Revelation to today to the end of the world as we know it.

For our Week 1 Biblical Account Overview I am going to focus on a particular verse in Genesis 2 for this email/blog and how it will help focus our coming year as we story though the Bible and learn more about God’s creation and sovereign plan through agriculture. Chapter 2 gives us a little more detail about God’s grandest creation, His image bearers called mankind. I love the way God “formed” the man and then “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Amazing! Nevertheless, it’s what He did with the man after He breathed life into him that we’ll be looking at in more detail.

And the LORD God took the man,

and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Genesis 2:15

God put the man in a specific place He had planted especially for him – “a garden in Eden” (vs 8) – and give him a specific task – “to dress it and to keep it” (15).

Let’s look at a couple of those words in detail and see how they can help us determine our purpose for the coming year.

Man

Transliteration – adam

Strong’s H119

• Man and ground in Genesis 2:7 – And the Lord God formed the man of the dust of the ground – share a common root – Strong’s H119 – adam – which means to be red or red.

• God later reminds Adam in Genesis 3:19, “for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return”- dust, Strong’s H6083 means dust, clay, earth or mud. In other words, dirt.

Garden – garden, enclosure

Transliteration – gan

Strong’s – 1598

Gan is always translated as garden in the Bible, and is used 42 times in the Hebrew.

• Ezekiel – “And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited” (Ez 36:35).

Dress – to work, serve

Transliteration – abad

Strong’s – H5647

It’s the same word used:

• in Exodus when God says “Let mey people go, that they may serve me” (Ex 7:16).

• in Numbers when God describes the duties of the the priests “to do the service of the tabernacle” (Num 3:7).

• in Deuteronomy – “if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments…to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut 11:13)

• in Judges – “the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim (Jdg 2:11)

• in 1 Samuel when Goliath challenged the Israelites – “ if I prevail against him…..ye be our servants, and serve us” (1 Sam 17:9)

• in Psalms – “serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing” (Ps 100:2)

• in Ezekiel – “I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown” (Ese 36:9)

Keep – to keep, guard, observe, give heed

Transliteration – samar

Strong’s – H8104

It’s the same word used:

• in Genesis when God told Abraham – “Thou shalt keep my covenant…and thy seed after thee in their generations” (Gen 17:9).

• in Exodus when God institutes the Passover – “And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever” (Ex 12:24).

• in Deuteronomy as Moses instructs the people before they enter the Promised Land – “For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you” (Deut 11:22).

• in Judges when Gideon and his men “attacked” the enemy – “So Gideon, and the hundred men….had but newly set the watch and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands” (Judges 7:19).

• in Esther – “she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed” (Esther 2:15).

• in Job – “the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life” (Job 2:6).

• in Psalms – Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defense” (Ps 59:9).

• in Proverbs – “The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul” (Pro 16:17).

• in Isaiah – “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?” (Isa 21:11)

Back to the verse:

And the LORD God took the man,

and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Genesis 2:15

Now we can read it as God put the “dirt bag” in an enclosed garden to work or tend it as service to God and to guard or watch over the garden.

It was also in the garden where God met with the man and the woman every day. Nevertheless, we know Adam lost the privileged of being in the Garden and having fellowship with God. Therefore God banished him from the garden and cursed the ground he had tasked Adam with tending and guarding.

However, all was not and is not lost…. God promised to send a Seed to redeem all mankind and all creation which He did when He sent Jesus and will complete when He sends Him back.

We also read in Ezekiel 36:35.- “And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited”.

In other words, we lost our chance to be in God’s presence in the Garden of Eden, His perfect creation. But God…..redeemed us and will put us back in a Garden with Him – a garden with a rive of water of life with fruit trees on either side that yield a different fruit each month (Revelation 22:1-2)! A garden called Heaven!

Now that’s something worth “watching” for! (Pardon the preposition at the end of the sentence!)

Which brings us to our plan for the year. If God originally intended for the man to work the garden as an act of service to Him, I still think He wants us to do the same. I am NOT saying we should all be farmers or tree huggers. What I am saying is we should all be stewards of His creation because it brings Him glory when we respect and care for His creation. (Granted, the ground is not cursed and grows plenty of weeds, but we know it will not always be this way. ) Nevertheless, we cannot care for His creation if we do not know anything about it.

With that in mind, my plan for this year is for us to study through the story of the Bible while we learn more about God’s creation. As I mentioned before, the ultimate purpose is to bring glory to Him and I truly hope each and everyone one of us will stand in awe of Him as we learn more about Him though His Word and His creation this coming year as we watch for and prepare for our life in the new garden to come .

I can hardly wait! Are you “watching” with me?

AGRICULTURE

WHAT IS AGRICULTURE?

What comes to mind when you hear the word agriculture?

Do you think of someone on a tractor, an old man hoeing his garden, or a mother in Africa walking to get water? A 1,000 acre field, a backyard garden, a roof top garden, or a pot on someone’s front porch? Do you think of a field, a pasture, a factory, a warehouse, a research lab, an business office, or a grocery store? How about a state park or a botanitical garden in a big city? How about the landscaping in your front yard or at your favorite resturant or amusement park? Do you think of a farmer, a rancher, an animal trainer, a salesman, a web designer, a hunter, a finsherman, or a scientist? Do you think of vegetables, meat, and dariy? Or do you also think of clothes, building materials, paper products, makeup, and dog food?

In fact, all of these are part of agriculture. According to Webster’s dictionary, agriculture is “the science, art, or practice of cultivating the soil, producing crops, and raising livestock and in varying degrees the preparation and marketing of the resulting products.” In other words, agriculture is getting the food and fiber necessary feed and cloth people all over the world to the people who need it. Managing natural resources is often included in agriculture as well.

One of the best ways to help kids understand what all agriculture includes is…… making a pizza! Think about it. There are products from grains, dairy, vegetables, meat, and sometimes fruit if you like pineapples on our pizza. I draw the line at fish on my pizza, but snot everyone agrees with me on that one! Don’t forget the trees to make the packages on any products or the fuel to haul the ingredients from the field to the processor and then to the grocery store. Also, discuss the marketing that went into convincing you to buy a particular product or brand.

Check out this webpage if you need a little help pointing out how each ingredient in and on a pizza come for agriculture, or let your older kids do a little research on their own: https://www.agfoundation.org/news/where-does-pizza-come-from

Below are links to more information and some extra resources about some of the ingredients.

• Grains: https://www.agfoundation.org/news/grains-fuel-for-life

• How Cheese is Made: https://www.agfoundation.org/news/how-is-cheese-made

• Herbs: https://www.agfoundation.org/news/mint-other-herbs

• Similar lesson about a Thanksgiving meal: https://www.agfoundation.org/news/how-did-that-get-on-my-thanksgiving-day-plate

If pizza is not on your family’s list of favorite foods or you just need a little more, consider this class starter to help your kids understand the importance and vastness of American agriculture. Click on the “Virtual Wal-Mart Tour” class started on this page of the Georgia Agricultural Education website: https://www.georgiaffa.org/page.aspx?ID=128

You can also simply talk about the various raw materials that went into making the products you use each day including where they were grown/mined, how they were processed, and how they got to you. Don’t forget the research for product development and marketing.  Examples include:

• Pencils: wood, lead, rubber

• Notebooks: paper, metal, ink

• Clothes: cotton and other fiber crops

• Packing on many products: paper

• Toiletry products including toilet paper, makeup, and shampoo

National Geographic has an interesting page about agriculture without too much you will need to filter through (no millions of years, etc.) @ https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/agriculture/  There are also plenty of videos online about farming, agriculture, etc.

METHODS AND TECHNIQUES OF AGRICLTURAL PRODUCTION

Suggested Activities:

• Research the pros and cons of the following methods and techniques and host a family debate to determine the best one – or is there one?

• Design, build a model, draw, describe, etc a farm or business using various technique listed below. Which one would you enjoying “farming” the most?

• Design an ad to promot your choice above.

Commercial agriculture is when the food is produced for sale including but not limited to resturants, stores, exports, farmers markets, and more.

Subsistence agriculture is growing food to feed your own family with no intention of selling the produce/end product.

Monoculture is farming only one crop. 440 millon acres of farmland in American uses monoculture.

Organic agriculture is growing food and processing without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides.

Sustainable agriculture is farming in ways that not only meet current needs but also do not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs. (Slash and burn would be the opposite.)

Permaculture is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. (Source: Permaculture Research Institue) Holictic farming could be a synomym.

EXTRA RESOURCES

You may have noticed several of the links above came from the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture. This is an excellent website with tons of information, resources, and activities for agriculture literacy. Check out the links below to some of the most relevant pages on their site.

Common Questions about Agriculture: Answers with well-sourced accurate information

https://www.agfoundation.org/common-questions/

This is a really neat page with all sorts of questions from how much of every dollar spent on food does the farmer receive to food safety to the relationship between agriculture and technology.

At Home Learning

https://www.agfoundation.org/news/category/at-home-learning

Suggestions and resources for learning about agriculture at home. Activities for different age groups. (Click “Read More” under each month’s title.)

AG LIT Catalog

https://www.agfoundation.org/ag-lit-catalog

Check this out! Search for resources by topic, grade, cost, length, format/type of activity, and more. Links to lesson plans, apps, videos, and more.

Free Resources & Lesson Plans

https://www.agfoundation.org//free-resources/

Links to various resources. Be sure to check out the Upclose Experiences!

Food and agriculture science experiments

https://www.agfoundation.org/news/food-and-agriculture-science-experiments

Sustainable Agriculture Lesson Plans

https://www.agfoundation.org/sustainability/

5 lesson plans about sustainable agriculture.

Agriculture Education

https://www.agfoundation.org/news/category/ag-education

Blog list. You’ll have to filter through, but there are lots of post about various topics such as harvesting, harvest equipment, weather and farming, different varieties of common food crops, aquaculture, and lots, lots more. (Also has some more “news” type blogs like who won a grant, etc, but there are plenty of goods ones for homeschoolers.)

Especially check out this 10-week series of blogs:

At Home Ag Activities

https://www.agfoundation.org/news/free-at-home-educational-activities-about-agriculture-week-1

(Change the 1 in the URL to 2, 3…10 to read the following weeks. Lots of activities here for all ages.)

7 Things that Grow How?

https://www.agfoundation.org/news/7-things-that-grow…how

Video to see how some interesting food plants grow including pineapples and peanuts.

My American Farm

http://www.myamericanfarm.org/

Online farm games for K-5

GARDENS

After discussing the various methods and techniques above, you can in turn relate them to gardening. Check out this page for an explanation of 22 different gardening methods. Yes, 22! (Did you know there were that many?!)

Suggested activities:

• Pick a couple of methods to research more in-depth.

• Pick the method that would work best for your family in this season of life and with the resources you have and then design a garden.

• Design a garden using the method you chose above.

• Design your dream garden

*Don’t worry if you can’t grow a garden right now.  There are plenty of U-Pick farms, farmers markets, co-ops, and more if you are looking for fresh vegetables somewhere other than the grocery store.

SUMMARY

In my opinion, the most important things to teach your kids this month are:

• God gave mankind dominion over creation. Although we are no longer in the Garden of Eden, we are still to steward His creation and take care of it.

• Your food, clothes, building materials, school supplies, etc do NOT come from the store. Someone had to grow or raise them and often times process/make it into the final product you use.

• You cannot survive without agriculture – See bullet above!

I hope you enjoy introducing your kids to agriculture this month. Be sure to link it back to Creation and God when you get a chance.

Also, feel free to share a resource if you find something especially useful.

 

 

Lanier Farm

1742 Poplar Springs Church Road, Nashville, GA

3rd week of June

 

Lanier Farms is a U-Pick produce farm in Berrien County.  They have many kinds of produce include tomatoes, potatoes, cucumber, squash, onions, blueberries, jellies, and more.  (You don’t have to pick it. They have some already picked!)

Check out their Facebook Page for more information.

Come ready to pick a basket full!  Cash or check only.

Suggested Projects/Activities:

• Try out your favorite or a new recipe with some veggies you pick at Lanier Farms

• Preserve some veggies you pick at Lanier Farms

• Make a vegetable or plant ID notebook with names, varieties, pictures, how and where to grow, potential diseases, etc of various vegetables or plants

• Add dried leaves, flowers, etc to your ID notebook to help learn to identify plants

• Create your own artwork out of dry seeds or other agricultural products

• Plan a garden to feed your family for the summer – what kind of garden, what to plant, where to plant – and plant it!

• Research the nutritional value of your favorite dish – ingredient by ingredient!

• Make an educational board or 3D display of something you learned about agriculture

• Write a story: How life would be different without American Agriculture

• Complete a science fair project related to plants:

  • effects of different soils, lightning, fertilizers, etc.

  • compare and contrast various techniques such as organic, commercial, aquaculture, etc

  • compare nutritional value of fresh verses frozen verses canned produce

• Check out the following link for possible 4H projects with plants and more at the GA National Fair in October (must be 4H members to participate – contact me for more info) – GA National Fair 4H Exhibits

Bible Drill 

(See BibleDrillAndSpeakers.com for more information.

Children – 3^rd-5^th grades*

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;
male and female created he them. – Genesis 1:27 KJV

Youth – 6^th – 8^th grades*

How can I minister to others?

As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. – 1 Peter 4:10 KJV

High School – 9^th – 12^th grades*

What does the Bible say about the one, true God?

But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. – Jeremiah 10:10 KJV

Creation Family Challenge: Tire Stack (or Life Savers)

Object: Rearrange randomly ordered tires (or other objects) into a predetermine order.

Materials:

• several different colored or numbered objects – tires, life saves, pieces of colored paper, Legos, paper clips, etc

• a predetermined order for the objects

• 3 posts, pieces of string, sticks, etc. to place the object on to keep them in order

• a stopwatch if you want to add a time limit

How to Play:

1. Spread the posts/sticks/etc out on the “the playing field” – one on left, one in the middle, and one on the right.

2. Place all the objects in a random order on left side post/string.

3. Inform the players of the correct order into which the objects need to be stacked or placed on the right side of the playing field.

4. Moving only one object at a time rearrange the into the correct color onto the post/stick on the right side. Use the middle post/stick to temporarily hold objects as you rearrange them one at a time. (You can have multiple objects on each post/stick at one time, but you can only move one object at a time. In other words, ou cannot move two or more objects all at once.)

5. Challenge is complete when all objects are in the correct order on the right post/stick.

Purpose: Organization requires thought and effort, yet God organized all of creation out of a formless, void darkness with just His Word!! How awesome is He?!