Today was such a good day! We decided to take our 8 year old grandson to The Ark Encounter in Williamstown Kentucky.

Little man had recently given his heart to Jesus and we felt like the life size replica of Noah’s ark would be a visual that he would always remember.

My husband and I had both had similar experiences growing up as we watched the epic Ten Commandments movie with Charlton Heston. The big screen brought the Bible Story to life and we cherish that movie to this day.

This morning as we arrived to pick him up our daughter had only mentioned the 3 1/2 drive we had to make but did not tell him where we were going as we had asked her previously not to. He was concerned that he would need his tablet for such a long drive. I immediately told him that we were going to spend the day unplugged. I also told him that we were going to give him clues along the way and see if he could guess where we were going.

The idea of clues and making a game worked and we were on our way.

First stop was Dairy Queen and some breakfast together. We enjoyed that very much and told him that this day was all about him.

The full tummy, a pillow, and my soft velour blanket in the back seat soon lulled him fast asleep.

We had already discussed lunch and decided we would stop just before we got there as the food inside might be very expensive.

We stopped for lunch and he was curious about coffee and I gave him a couple of sips and he grinned continually and acted as if it immediately made him hyper. It was so funny!

He really opened up in the car the rest of the way and we had wonderful discussions about God, Noah, Jesus, and Satan.

A classmate had told him that at age 14 you get a free ticket to heaven…. I got that straightened out and then he told me that he didn’t think Satan was real. I explained all of that. My husband chimed in too and the questions we got were very interesting but very sincere. I felt honored to be given this day with him. There were funny moments too like when we discussed Noah’s sons; Shem, Ham, and Japheth and he said Japheth was a funny name and my husband said maybe Noah was hair lipped and couldn’t pronounce Jacob. I about choked on that one!

The weather was gorgeous, the ark was spectacular, the workers were so nice and our little boy of the day just made our day! The joy and excitement of learning and seeing this Bible story come to life through the eyes of an 8 year old boy is a day I will always cherish.

I highly recommend a day at The Ark Encounter but most of all I recommend spending a day unplugged, conversing with a child.

Matthew 19:14King James Version (KJV)

14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.