When you read a book, do you start at the middle? When you watch a movie, do you turn it toward the very end? Of course not! Any good story starts at the very beginning. And that’s what God did with His story. When God told us why we’re here and what we’re here to do, He pressed the rewind button and backed up all the way to the beginning.

Just like everything else, our world, our galaxy, our universe, had a beginning. Before there was anything else, it was just God, and He decided to make EVERYTHING! He didn’t need a hammer or nails or construction machines. All He had to do was speak.

In the beginning the world was like a big batch of dough. Everything was dark. God breathed over it. He was ready to make it into something amazing.

First God said, “Let there be light!” Light came bursting out of the darkness.

God said the light would be for day, and the darkness would be for night. “This is good!” He said.

Second, God said, “Let’s take this water and make some of it stay up in clouds, while the rest of it stays on earth.” God called the water above earth the sky. “This is good!” He said.

Third, God said, “Now let’s scoop the water into big pools so that there can be dry places, too.” God called the water ocean and the dry places land. He filled the land with trees and bushes and flowers and grass and fruits and vegetables. “This is good!” He said.

Fourth, God said, “I’m going to scoop all the light into balls of fire. One of them will be close enough to earth that it can be seen during the day. The rest can be seen at night.” The closer one we call our sun. The far-away ones we call stars. He made our moon to reflect the sun’s light at night, too. “This is good!” He said.

Fifth, God said, “Let’s fill up the sky with birds. And let’s fill up the oceans with animals that swim.” So fish and whales and dolphins and walruses began to swim in the sea. And all different kinds of birds began to fly in the air. “This is good!” He said.

Sixth, God said, “I’m going to fill up the land with all kinds of animals.” All kinds of animals crawled and walked and ran all over the place. Last of all, God made creatures who were even more special than all the birds and fish and tigers and the elephants. He made people. A man and a woman. He loved them more than all the rest. They would be His children. And their children would be His children, too. All the humans would be God’s most precious creation. “This is good!” He said.

Then God was all done. He had taken nothing and made everything. He was ready to rest! And that is why every seventh day we come to church to worship God and rest.

God said that everything He made is good. That includes us. God loves us and wants us to love Him back.