Noah: the Preschool Edition.

With all the controversial mishmash I've been hearing about the "Noah" movie, I thought I'd share the story from the perspective of a five-year-old.

A little background here, my neighbor got called into work one Sunday and asked me to keep an eye on her little girl since her husband and son were out of town for the weekend. I took the five year old to church with me and dropped her off in the Sunday School class, since I was volunteering in the nursery that day. After the service, I went back down the hall to get her and found her standing at the door with a paper Ark on a popsicle stick, beaming proudly. "Hey there, (name)," I said, "What've you got there?" And she proudly informed me it was "a Noah". Once I'd put her in her carseat and we were on the road, I glanced into the rearview mirror and asked her to tell me what she'd learned in class that day. 

The following is, as near as I can remember it, the basic transcript of what she told me.

Little Girl:  "Well, the world went bad, and e'eryfing was wotten." (Rotten). "And it made God sad. So God sended a fwood to wipe off the earff."

Me: "Right! And what about Noah? Do you remember who he was?"

Little Girl: "Yeah, Noah. Umm...he was good, and God told him to build a boat."

Me: "Yeah! What kind of boat was it? Was it a big boat?"

Little Girl:  "Yesss...it was a awk. And God bwought all the lots of animals on it."

Me: "Why did He do that, (name)?"

Little Girl: "Um...so they would be safe from all the watew."

Me: "Do you know how long they were on the ark?"

Little Girl: "I dunno...twenty-seven days?"

Me: "Forty days and forty nights, actually."

Little Girl: "Phwaw! Fowty days an' fowty nights! Yeah, an' then they went bump! And they landed on, on a mountain, and Noah sended out a bird, but it didn't find anyfing. Then he sended it out again, but it didn't find anyfing. Then it went away to build a nest."

Me: "Good job! What did God put in the sky to show He wouldn't flood the world again?"

Little Girl: "....I don't wemembew."

Me: "It was a rainbow."

Little Girl: "Ohhh! That's wight, a wainbow!"

She then proceeded to very carelessly say something baffling. (I've noticed with small children that very often when they say something deep or startling, it's in such a nonchalant way, as if it isn't strange at all to them!)

She nodded her head and said, "Just like Eastew!" Confused, I asked her, "What was just like Easter, honey?" Drumming her feet against the back of my seat, she said, "Last Eastew, God telled me He was gonna put a wainbow in the sky for me, so I looked out the window and it was up there!"

I had no idea what to say. How do you answer that?! 

I love hearing Bible stories retold by kids.