Genesis Beginning

By Kimberly Tabor and Brian M. Boyce

In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth. So begins the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament and one of the worlds oldest tales. In Genesis Beginning, author Brian M. Boyce offers a Biblical account of creation re-told in rhymed verse.

Helping the Bible come alive, this picture book geared toward children tells the story of how God created the earth and mankind in an understandable format. Taking scenes from the Bible, Boyce explores the timeless questions involving God and the universe. Through rhyme and illustration, he shares some of the worlds most ancient stories, fascinating in their account of the human condition.

What would you put in a bath tub

That was as big as the bowels of the Earth?

It was easy for God to make something

To fill up the tides and the surf.

He made fishes from wishes to ride in the splishes

And eels and whales galore.

They ride on the tides, in deep caves abide

And sleep near the oceans rock floor.

Monsters and creatures and beings

That fumed and bloomed and roared.

Some of them still swim around us,

Others died with the last dinosaurs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Oct 28, 2015
• ISBN: 9781480821897

Kimberly Tabor

Brian M. Boyce is an award-winning writer, real estate broker, and competitive strength athlete. His work regularly appears in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, as well as daily newspapers and regional magazines. A lifelong Christian, he lives on his farm in west-central Indiana.

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Copyright © 2015 Brian M. Boyce.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Archway Publishing

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.archwaypublishing.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4808-2188-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-2187-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-2189-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015915507

Archway Publishing rev. date: 10/27/2015

Author’s Note

Who is God? Where exactly does He live and how does He deal with the day-to-day grind of being master of the universe? What all occurred in the days prior to His creating the cosmos as we mortals now know it? What was it like to know and work with God back in those early years when existence was still a start-up enterprise?

These and other off-topic questions rattle about my brain. In doing so, they never fail to shake some rhymes off the walls between my ears. The idea of rhyming out the Biblical book of Genesis came to me one day, and the words, In the beginning there was nothing. Not just nothing for nothing’s a thing. There was nothing of nothing and all of the stuffing in the universe was nothing again, just flowed off my fingertips, onto the keyboard of the computer in my office, like raindrops from a leaf. I knew I could translate the work into rhyme, and so I did. Not overnight of course. It took about three months full of days where I spent perhaps an hour or two on the project, picking up where I left off, a King James Version of the Holy Bible to my left, a keyboard beneath my fingers, and the blank screen straight ahead. Ultimately, I’d like to complete a series featuring each of the Bible’s books in such a manner.

Genesis Beginning doesn’t seek to answer any questions, but hopefully it raises a few and gives readers an excuse to wander through their own meditations. To that end, I have to think God enjoys being thought of, and any endeavor to understand the grand design, humble as it might be, is a worthy one. I was fortunate to have been born into a family full of readers, and to parents who encouraged my reading of the Bible at an early age. To Dick and Laura Boyce, thank you. To everyone else, happy thinking!

— Brian M. Boyce

In the beginning there was nothing.

Not just nothing for nothing’s a thing.

There was nothing of nothing

And all of the stuffing

In the universe was nothing again.

Not darkness for darkness is absence of light,

And you have to have light to have dark.

Not light for there was nothing to light with,

So the beginning was nothing from start.

No starting, no ending,

For those are things too.

No middle, no substance.

No one and no two.

This is the word of the scripture,

And we take this as fact plain to see.

For the nothing would have been something

If there were someone to witness, like me.

But this nothingness had to be somewhere.

For God is a something, no doubt.

And from elsewhere God looked at nowhere,

And decided to help no one out.

But it’s hard to make plans in the nothing,

For nothing is never too bright.

So the first thing God did

On His way to dig in

Was to simply say,

Let there be light.

And suddenly somehow light there appeared.

It’s neat how things work out that way.

For had I said the same thing to nothing,

Then nothing it would probably stay.

But I guess that’s the benefit of being the God.

And you need it for the work that you do.

For the next thing God did was to dig in again

And divide lighted nothing in two.

Now how does one divvy up nothing?

I don’t know, but I guess He was right.

For the half with the light became daytime,

And the half without it is night.

Now this here was quite an accomplishment.

An astounding managerial feat.

To mark the event, for when it happened again,

God thought of a name to repeat.

And He called this starting up segment

This beginning, the starting, Day One.

And while I wasn’t there, to help and prepare,

I imagine He thought it was fun.

In the beginning of the second new something

That God decided to call days,

He divided the space, just like the time

So the somethings would have somewhere to stay.

The line above the old nothing is heaven.

And the something below is called Earth.

With dirt, rocks and trees,

To separate some seas

God looked and gladly found worth.

But it’s really not fair to say nothing

About this something that was nothing so long.

Of course the time it was nothing’s not measured

Which means nothing’s to say that we’re wrong.

So the nothing was suddenly something.

But I guess it just wasn’t enough.

For God wanted to fill up the something

With an assortment of such and such stuff.

There were trees to be planted and grass to be grown,

And these seeds from a somewhere had to be sown,

To grow and bear fruit like apples and grapes.

Unfolding the something into an orderly shape.

With the plants and the flowers all growing,

God nodded at how it should be.

By the time he was ready for more work,

He had already finished day three.

On the fourth day of God’s little project,

He hung up some lights in the sky.

The sun and the moon and the stars took up room

That nothing had just occupied.

Photo1.jpg

And the sun was the ruler of day.

And the moon was the ruler of night.

The stars mark the times and the seasons,

So this something can be kept running right.

But with the heavens all filled to the brim,

The seas they suddenly paled.

All empty and lonely

They’d be perfect only

If some life there would finally prevail.

What would you put in a bath tub

That was as big as the bowels of the Earth?

It was easy for God to make something

To fill up the tides and the surf.

He made fishes from wishes to ride in the splishes

And eels and whales galore.

They ride on the tides, in deep caves abide

And sleep near the ocean’s rock floor.

Monsters and creatures and beings

That fumed and bloomed and roared.

Some of them still swim around us,

Others died with the last dinosaurs.

And just for good measure and fairness

God looked to the heavens again,

And decided to make some more somethings

Where nothing had for so long been.

Once again I wasn’t around then.

So it’s conjecture on my part to think,

That God looked at the specs of the fishes

And knew if put in the air they would sink.

Something new would be needed for airfare.

Rather different than travel by sea.

So the gills became feathers, the fins slowly wings.

On the fifth day, birds came to be.

These birds like to fly towards the heavens.

Though they could never get past the top line,

That God made when drawing up nothing

Into what is still His and now mine.

Like the fishes that dive to the bottom,

Of the craters in the bathtubs of Earth,

The birds still soar through the cloud tops.

God looked and gladly found worth,

In the birds and the fishes, the cousins,

That don’t look so different at all,

Except that one dances in blue air,

While the other, in blue water, still crawls.

So the fifth day finished the air and the sea,

Filled to the tips with life and life waiting to be.

And things were still good as far as we see,

Day six was when animals came in to be.

For it only makes sense

When given a thought,

That air, sea and land

Should be left not to rot.

Waste not and want not

Is heard quite a lot,

With wisdom in mind

That’s worth gold if it’s caught.

What was the first thing God made on the land?

Do you wonder, a lion, a bear or a lamb?

With fuzzy white wool

Or fangs and a mane?

The possibilities endless,

It might drive you insane.

The big and the small

Thin and round like a ball,

Snails with tails and that isn’t all.

Everything living had once been no thing.

From elsewhere to nowhere our God came to bring

All the tree trunks and treasures we trip on each day,

And then last but not least He gave thought to a way,

To make something different

To stand out from the fray.

For the ants and the whales and eagles and hares

Are all different and magic with a life force to share.

But they aren’t in His image.

That’s what we infer.

God said, "I’ll make people

That can worship and serve."

In His image He made one.

And He called him a man.

Molded from dust

By the holiest of hands.

He said, "Your name’s Adam,

And Earth is now yours.

There’s fruit on the trees

And there’s fish near the shores.

There’s meat on the birds

And eggs in their brewd.

With milk in the cows

And milk in goats too.

You’ve nothing to want

And nothing to fear,

And the Garden of Eden

Is what I’ll call here."

Then Adam the man

Sat down on a rock,

And named every creature

That from nothing was brought.

Then butterflies whispered

The names to a dove,

Who danced in the tree tops

Singing above

Songs in whose lyrics

Were names such as dog,

And kitty cat, zebra,

Opossum and hog.

And Adam the man

Came to think well of the plan

That had spawned his own self

From just dust, by God’s hand.

But when he was made,

Lonesome was too.

You want someone with you

When you live in a zoo.

And Adam the man

Said he wanted a friend,

To talk to and point with

At the mountains and bends.

So God said, "Now Adam,

You take a nap."

And while Adam slept

He took a rib from his back.

Photo2.jpg

And the rib that He took

Was rolled in the dust,

Padded and patted

Like a good sculptor must.

And when He was finished

God looked at His end,

And said, "This is a woman,

To be Adam’s friend."

Then Adam awoke

Missing one rib.

And what did he think

Had happened to him.

Did he lose it while fishing?

Did it fall on the ground?

Would he have to invent

The world’s first lost and found?

You too would be curious

If you woke with less ribs.

But surely God told him,

For God wouldn’t fib.

This is a woman,

He explained like I did.

"And she’ll help you and know you

And want you to send,

Your attention to her again and again."

So Adam the man

Called the woman his wife,

And said, "Your name’s Eve,

And it will be for life."

PHOTO3.jpg

Adam and Eve,

Eve and her Adam,

Had no cares to speak of,

None but to manage

The Earth and the beasts

Of air, sky and land.

This was the duty

Of the original man.

So Adam and Eve

Were the very first couple.

And it hadn’t been long

When they got into trouble.

But for the time being

It was all for the best.

On the seventh of days

God took a rest.

PHOTO4.jpg

And this He called Sabbath,

As we do today.

A time not for working;

To rest and to pray.

Now given a garden

To live and to play in

Wouldn’t be such a bad thing,

Especially in Eden.

For God told the couple

That all things were theirs

Except plans to sustain them.

No worries, no cares.

Fruit from the trees

And water and sun.

Were the whole of their lives

To be there for fun.

Except for one rule

On which He was clear:

No eating from two trees,

Don’t even go near.

The big Tree of Life

Was one of the two.

God said don’t you eat it,

Whatever you do.

PHOTO5.jpg

And the other tree also,

Not to wobble nor weable,

Was the great Tree of Knowledge

Of Goodness and Evil.

Now Eden itself was a beautiful place,

Before landfills and spill piles and nuclear waste.

No refuse, no bad news, no scars to erase.

Pristine perfection, the perfection of place.

To water the garden, God made a big river.

Which flowed out of Eden

Into four splitting splinters.

For God wasn’t stupid.

He’d thought this all through.

Why water His garden

Like you and I do?

Where we carry buckets

Or tangle a hose,

God makes a river

And tells it to flow.

First rate and first class,

Nothing’s too good

For God’s special hobbies

Done like only He could.

The first of the splinters is known as Pishon

Which circles Havilah, where gold dusts the lawns.

Onyx, as well, is found in this land,

Where the great Pishon River,

Runs a circular span.