Our Visit to the Creation Museum

A dream has come true for the Nave family...and alot faster than we anticipated! In the Spring of this year, we were blessed as a church to have Dr. Ken Ham visit with us and speak on the topic of Creation. During that time he shared about the Creation Museum near Cincinatti, Ohio and we immediately talked about visiting it in the future. Well, the future is now and we are here!!! How exciting to visit the beautiful campus and fabulous museum!
As we entered in, we decided to visit the Planetarium first. We were very much in awe of the magnificence and wisdom of our Creator as our minds struggled to comprehend the vastness of the Heavens! We learned about the galaxies, stars, planets, suns, etc...There was so much that I did not even know and it truly is amazing! Indeed, "the heavens declare the glory of God!"
After this we viewed "The Men in White". This was a well done and humorous presentation with great special effects! It was especially good for our 13 year old son as he was able to get a glimpse into a traditional science class and listen to a Biblically knowledgeable student challenge his "professor".
A highlight to our day was the opportunity for our boys to meet Dr. Ham and have a family photo made with him. What an honor to be able to meet a true Christian hero of our time, challenging secular humanism with the truths of Scripture! He is a very kind and generous man and it was a blessing to spend a few moments with him.
Next we walked outdoors to visit the petting zoo where we petted donkeys, baby goats, saw a large potbellied pig, and for the first time a zorse and a zonkey (no I am not misspelling this...one was a donkey/zebra mix and the other a zebra/horse mix!) We also visited with a camel and some other barn animals! Of course the boys loved the animals and fresh air and the scenery was very pleasing to they eyes!
Later we toured the walk-through section...dinosaurs, Adam & Eve, Noah's Ark magnificently done, the effects of sin and disregard of the Bible clearly shown, suffering and sacrifice - all depicted with excellent quality! We were very impressed with all of it! It was wonderful!
As I sat in one of theaters I was overwhelmed with the joy of being able to bring my sons to a place that completely reinforces what the Bible teaches and does so with excellence! There are so many other museums that we have visited that attack our Biblical worldview at every turn, but today we were able to see realistically what the Bible teaches and our hearts and minds were stirred with God's truths!

Autumn has a nostalgic effect on me. Every year when the weather starts to cool, the leaves begin to change, and the evenings become shorter, I can't help but be reminded of years gone past. I am not talking about my years, but long years ago when people lived a much simpler life (in some ways) and autumn was truly a time of harvest for them.
I have always been an old-fashioned kind of girl, but even more so as the season of Fall goes on. I think about the lives I have read in stories, such as Anne of Green Gables or The Little House series...lives where people worked hard, knew an awful lot (despite lacking educations), and loved one another enough to pitch in and help when times were tough. Perfection I do not see in those stories, but a true sense of community and a devotion to Someone and something much bigger than themselves!
Being the dreamer I am, I can't help but imagine what it would be like to live a life such as the men and women in pioneer days. Of course, in my mind it is much more romantic than reality, but still I think there are some things that they understood that we have overlooked:

*The importance of family - People in days gone by desired to have large families and children really were considered a blessing and a gift from God. Obviously the hands were needed to work the farms, but it was more than just that! Fathers and Mothers understood the sacrifices and responsibilities in raising their children, yet they went about it with an attitude of honor rather than duty or obligation. Children, in turn, perceived their parent's love and commitment and genuinely respected them and regarded them as their dearest friends.

*Knowledge of the things around them - Knowledge "in those days" wasn't optional! It was a necessity. One needed to know how to make butter or milk, how to build their homes, how to care for their flocks & families...life depended upon their knowledge and resourcefulness. I think about the things that I encounter on a day-to-day basis and how much I don't know about the very essentials! How to cook from scratch (completely!), how to sew or quilt, the care of land animals or the tending of gardens or flowerbeds...all of these things I have very limited knowledge on - and I can't help but feel that I have been cheated! With each new "convenience item" man invented, a little more of the knowledge of the things around us was stripped away.

*Dependance on God and each other - Almost all classic literature that portrays life in pioneer times naturally relates the foundation of the families and communities...God and His Holy Word! Over and over you will read of families who prayed together, fasted together, read God's Word on a daily basis together and not at all begrudgingly! Entire communities met together to hear the Word preached, to pray for God's forgiveness and provision, and spur one another on to good works and belief in God's goodness and mercy! There was this general knowledge of God's Word and His ways that knit communities together. Today there is all this talk about the importance of diversity, but somehow, in the name of diversity, concrete belief in anything wanes. It is rare to meet someone who fully believes one particular way...it reminds me of the toothpaste aisle - there are so many choices, that when you leave the store you're never fully sure that you bought the best one! People's belief systems seem to me to be like this, a gnawing uncertainty in their hearts, regardless of the professions of their mouths. How refreshing it would be to meet men and women who truly believed and followed the words of Christ!


*Gratitude and Simple Joys - Oh, how often I catch myself thinking in the negative! And to think, I have the "words of life" (Bible), live in the USA, am married to a wonderful husband, have 5 very healthy children, am able to stay at home with them each day, lack no provisions, and on and on and on...!
What an ungreatful woman I can be! Just the other day as I was reading Anne of Green Gables to the boys, we listened as she repeatedly expresses her joy in the natural things around her (the blooming trees & shrubs, flowers, sunshine, etc...)And I think back to Christmastime in The Little House series - the children would receive a few pieces of candy along with some homemade gifts and were elated for days! Comparing that to my family today gives me this remorseful feeling about some of the ways we have adopted without giving them any thought. In just a few months we will celebrate Christmas ourselves, yet I am dreading the shallowness of it in today's society. What I would give to be able to start all over again and guide my children into the ways of thankfulness and simple joys!

Of course, I can't go on and pretend that there was all of this goodness without the bad. I know full well that life in those times was hard! I can't imagine the grief of losing children or a husband or wife, as many did to illness. The effort it would have taken just to get the meals on the table or the laundy done is beyond me! However, I still believe that there was substance to these people that is lacking today...there was belief! There was character and hope and the hard work to go along with it all! Somehow in these twenty first-century days of Fall I pray that the Nave household may experience a bit of it!