On the Seventh Day God Rested
33 New Lessons from the Old Testament
by
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Noah's Ark
Genesis 8:15-17 God said to Noah, “Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons and their wives. Bring out every living creature: the birds, the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground, so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful.”
typewriter (tip’-ri-tur) noun
1. A machine for producing printed characters as a substitute for writing, usually having a keyboard.
Woolley, Sir (Charles) Leonard (1880-1960)
Oxford educated British archeologist who, after a major excavation in the 1920’s and the discovery of inconsistency in layers of soil, dated the great flood in Noah’s lifetime at around 4000 B.C.
faith (fath) noun
1. Belief beyond mere evidence.
2.Confidence in or dependence upon a person, statement or thing as trustworthy.
3. Faith is responsibility: my response to God’s ability.
Before I was a Playboy Bunny I did time at a Catholic boarding school in the Midwest named “Ladywood”—more aptly called “Ladywouldn’t” by the inmates. After the convent scene I’m the last person you’d expect to write a book about God. Ask my friends and family. Better yet, ask the Sisters of Providence.
What a difference a day—or say thirty years—makes, I’ve written a book about God. And it’s been a highly impractical career choice. For decades I’ve been a freelance makeup artist and illustrator but on September 11th I lost my biggest client and that was just the beginning—the attack took its economic toll on everyone. Then I found out the brownstone I lived in was sold and being converted to a single family dwelling, meaning I had to find a new apartment, identical circumstances to my last move. When renters in New York City have to relocate it’s like being assaulted with a deadly weapon—which sometimes happens anyway. Needing income to survive, much less a home, you think I’d have been engaged in marketing my known talents rather than developing new ones. I saw my bank account dwindling: it’s expensive just to breathe in New York. Was I breathing too much?
Worry often goes with the self-employed territory. Then, back in 2003 a friend gave me his old Mac laptop that I glared at for six months, terrified to come out of the cave. In the years after 9/11, I had frighteningly little income, was computer illiterate—and started writing this book like I’d been shot out of a cannon. Risking all, when I let go and trusted that my financial and housing needs would be met, for some supernatural reason I wasn’t worried. I was building an “ark”. As I felt certain this book would be published everyday I ecstatically drew and typed away. I walked by faith.
Speaking of typing, did anyone in school ever think it mattered? Who but my all-time favorite movie character, the computer HAL in 2001:
A Space Odyssey, could have foreseen an entire planet brought to its knees by its ability to type? With the exception of Gal Fridays, every student since the invention of the typewriter has endured typing classes, unsure of what future purpose this skill could possibly serve. Decades later we scratch our heads and think, “Golly, I’m actually typing? It mattered? Glad I didn’t skip those classes!”
Consider Noah. In some absurd way there’s a parallel. God instructs him to build an aircraft carrier in the middle of a desert that gets less than zero rainfall annually—in front of a jeering audience. As you know, once the monsoon got underway only Noah, his family and the animals survived. “Holy mackerel! Glad I didn’t ignore God’s instructions!” Building permits, inspectors, zoning, animal rights groups, unions, environmental studies—I’m sure he’s glad he didn’t have to build it now either.
God’s will for your life is based on his infinite ability to see your future needs. Think. A boat seemed illogical to Noah given the weather. He built by faith. Typing classes seemed illogical to everyone. We typed by faith. Earning zip during the time necessary to produce this book seemed illogical, I walked by faith. So if you bought and read this book, my “ark”, I’ve survived the flood. Thanks. Glad I wrote it. Knowing how to type helped.
P.S. Remember, professionals built the Titanic…. amateurs built the ark.
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About the Book
Playboy Bunny Barbara Camp cordially invites you to a G.S.I.—God Seen Investigation. On the Seventh Day God Rested presents timeless Biblical truth made modern—its table of contents alone previews the infinite territory covered in this encyclopedically varied adventure.
Of 33 stories featured: Parting of the Red Sea celebrates space-age cancer treatment, Tower of Babel examines excessive cell phone usage, Samson and Delilah evaluates feminism—forty years later, Creation of Adam chronicles DNA, Daniel’s Lion’s Den mirrors Wall Street, Temptation in the Garden occupies present-day Iraq, and in Jonah, Seventh Day explores the cacophonous distraction eclipsing the most important voice of all—God's:
"I reckon we live in the most intellectually and psychologically interesting time in history. When else did you have the luxury of listening to a Strauss waltz and reading Shakespeare or the Greek classics while revving from zero to a hundred in sixty seconds on FDA approved, mind-altering energy drinks, doing your laundry and cloning your livestock or even your pooch? There’s so much to do and we do it all."
Ultimately, you won’t need the isolation of that whale’s belly to “get it”. Read this book. And fasten your seatbelt—the fingerprints are everywhere.
About the Author
After a Midwest childhood and ex-patriot years abroad, Barbara Camp draws, paints faces, writes, collects vintage treasures and snaps SX-70 Polaroids in New York City. Having read the Bible a dozen times, On the Seventh Day God Rested is her first book. A New Testament sequel is in the wings.