Now the LORD had said unto Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and get out of your father’s house. Go to a land that I will shew you, and I will make from you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curseth you: and through you shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

So Abram left, as the LORD had told him, and Lot, his nephew, went with him. Abram was seventy five years old when he left Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, all their belongings, and the servants that they had gotten in Haran. They went forth to go into the land of Canaan.

And the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “Unto your descendents will I give this land.” At that place called Sichem, Abram built an altar to the LORD. Then Abram moved to a mountain on the east of Bethel, and setup his tent. There he built an altar unto the LORD, and prayed to the LORD. And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.

And there was a famine in the land. Abram went to Egypt to live because the famine was difficult to deal with where he was at. Now when he entered Egypt, he did not trust that God would protect him so he said to Sarai his wife, “Listen, you are a beautiful woman. The Egyptians will see you and they will say, ‘This is his wife’, and they will kill me, but they will save you alive. Please say that you are my sister so that they will not kill me.”

So when the Egyptians saw Sarai that she was very beautiful and the princes of Pharaoh also saw her, they told Pharaoh. Sarai was taken to Pharaoh’s house and he asked Abram for her. Pharaoh gave Abram sheep, oxen, he asses, menservants, maidservants, she asses, and camels. But the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai being Abram’s wife. And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What have you done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say ‘She is my sister?’ Now take your wife and go your way.”

And Abram left Egypt with his wife and all that he had. And Lot went with him. Abram was very rich with much cattle, silver, and gold. Abram went to Bethel to the place where he previously built an altar, and there, Abram prayed to the LORD.

And Lot also had flocks, herds, and tents. Now the land was not large enough to feed both Abram’s and Lot’s herds. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdsmen of Lot’s cattle.

And Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between me and you and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen because we are relatives. Is not the whole land before you? Separate from me. If you will take the land on the left, then I will go to the right. If you take the land on the right, then I will go to the left.”

Then Lot looked and saw all of the plain of Jordan and how it was well watered everywhere. Lot chose all the plain of Jordan and moved east. Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain, setting up his tent towards Sodom. But the men of Sodom were very, very wicked sinners.

And the LORD said unto Abram, “Look from the place where you are northward, southward, eastward, and westward. All the land, which you see, will I give to you and to your descendents forever. And I will make your descendents as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then he will be able to number your descendents. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; and I will give it to you.” Then Abram moved his tent and lived in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron. There he built an altar unto the LORD.

PARENTS: Young children love repetition and so they will love to hear this story over and over again. We did our best to include something for all ages so where necessary, please assist your child or adjust it to make it more their level.

Genesis 12:1-3 “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

MATCHING: For each item in the first column, write in the letter for the description from the second column.

___ 1. Abram ___ 2. Canaan ___ 3. Egypt ___ 4. Haran ___ 5. Lot ___ 6. Pharaoh ___ 7. Sarai

A. Nephew of the man called of God B. The wife of the man called of God C. The place where the man, called by God, originally lived D. The land where food was found during a famine E. The land where God sent the man He called F. Name of the man that God called to leave his family for another land G. Title of the person that thought a married woman was not married

[Answers to June 2001 matching: 1=C, 2=A, 3=G, 4=F, 5=D, 6=E, 7=B]

CRYPTIC: Each letter represents a different letter to make a real word. Replace the letter consistently in each word to reveal the verse being quoted. (Hint - the verse is from the cover story.)

A B	C D E C F	G H I C E J H G,	C A	J K H	M B E G	K C G
__ __	__ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __	__ __	__ __ __	__ __ __ __	__ __ __
.
.
A I B L H O	N O J B	K P F;	C O G	M B J	R H O J	R P J K
__ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __	__ __ __	__ __ __	__ __ __	__ __ __ __	__ __ __ __
.
.
K P F:	C O G	C D E C F	R C A	A H S H O J T	C O G	U P S H
__ __ __	__ __ __	__ __ __ __ __	__ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __	__ __ __ __
.
.
T H C E A	B M G	R K H O	K H	G H I C E J H G.
__ __ __ __ __	__ __ __	__ __ __ __	__ __	__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

[Answers to June 2001 cryptic: Each letter in the puzzle stood the place of a real letter as follows: Z=T, Y=H, X=E, W=R, V=F, U=O, T=I, S=N, R=S, P=A, O=M, N=C, M=L, L=D, K=B, J=U. The Bible verse was: Genesis 11:9, “Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth”]

UNSCRAMBLE: Rearrange the letters in the following words to reveal the Bible word. (Hint - the words are from the verses in the cover story.)

R M B A A	A A A C N N	E I R S S T
__ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __
.
.
A A H H O P R	A A I R S	T R L A A
__ __ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __
.
.
Y T P G E	A D E G L P U	T L O
__ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __
.
.
E T T N	A E F I M N	E E D H M N R S
__ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

[Answers to June 2001 unscramble: Row 1- CITY, BRICK, BABEL; Row 2 - PLAIN, TOWER, STONE; Row 3 - SPEECH, SHINAR, MORTER; Row 4 - SCATTER, LANGUAGE, CONFOUND.]

APPLICATIONS FROM THE COVER STORY: After reading Genesis 12 and 13, we see that Abram was not a perfect man from our perspective - he did not tell the whole truth, yet God called him. With the true worship of God just about extinct, God saw in Abram a person that would live up to all that was taught to him. This tells us that those who love God are responsible for living up to all that they know is right to do and avoid the wrong.

The response of Abram to God’s call was immediate despite the fact that he was not told exactly where to go. This tells us that if we truly love God without hesitation, we too will move to do what we are told even though we may not know all the facts or how things are going to work out.

Now wherever Abram journeyed to, he built an altar and prayed to God. This tells us that prayer is important in being guided by God, but beyond that, this tells us that we ought to say our daily prayers no matter where we have journeyed to - even on vacation.

Abram trying to protect himself from Pharaoh by focusing on the fact that Sarai was really his sister (Genesis 20:12) instead of the real status of being his wife, showed a lack of trust in God. It appears this way, however, being raised in a mixed pagan house (they worshipped God in ways God did not approve of and worshipped other gods), he knew no better. But still this showed that he was not trusting, which means that we should exercise trust in God to get through a problem instead of looking for an excuse to avoid the situation. It just may be that God will use you to show His glory by protecting you.

The fact that Abram was rich shows that wealth is not evil. How it is used is the concern.

Abram was quite generous in offering Lot the choice of land. If we truly trust in God, beyond what we desire, as long as God’s way is not compromised, we are to offer the same choice to our guests. It can be in the form of the last two pieces of pie, which story to read, etc.

With Lot choosing to live close to the city of Sodom, knowing it was a wicked city where people did not care about God and did bad things, shows a desire for the easy way instead of the safe way. Be careful of the choice you make especially if it will affect the lives of others. A little challenge in doing a task yet being safe should be the first choice even if loss of money may occur, longer time required, and so forth.

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