God Gave Us the World Read online

  GOD GAVE US THE WORLD

  PUBLISHED BY WATERBROOK PRESS

  12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200

  Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921

  ISBN 978-1-4000-7448-8

  ISBN 978-0-307-73087-9 (eBook)

  Text copyright © 2010 by Lisa Tawn Bergren

  Illustrations copyright © 2010 by Laura Bryant; www.laurabryant.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.

  WATERBROOK and its deer colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Bergren, Lisa Tawn.

  God gave us the world / by Lisa Tawn Bergren; [illustrations by Laura J. Bryant]—1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: While visiting a museum, Mama Bear tells Little Cub about all the different kinds of bears living around the world, and that God created this big, diverse planet to be their home.

  x[1. Creation—Fiction. 2. Christian life—Fiction. 3. Polar bear—Fiction. 4. Bears—Fiction.]

  I. Bryant, Laura J., ill. II. Title.

  PZ7.B452233Gor 2011

  [E]—dc22

  2010011910

  v3.1

  For Jack, may you know how wide

  and wonderful God’s world really is…

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  First Page

  “What a beautiful world we live in!” Mama Bear said. “Just look at all this snow!”

  Little Cub looked around. “We always have snow, Mama.”

  “Yes, but it’s always different! Sometimes it’s slushy, and sometimes dry, shimmering sparkles drifting from the sky. But this is my favorite kind of snow…big, fat flakes you can catch with your tongue!”

  Little Cub giggled when she saw Mama trying to catch flakes on her tongue.

  “You look funny.”

  Mama smiled and nudged her with her hip. “You do too. I think you have the pinkest polar bear tongue I’ve ever seen.”

  “Ever?”

  “Ever.”

  “Do all bears have pink tongues?”

  “I don’t know, Little Cub. God made a whole world full of bears. And we all look a little different.”

  “He did? Why’d he do that?”

  “Because God is creative. Just like he made all kinds of places to live, he made all kinds of different bears…and all kinds of different bear tongues.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Little Cub said. “There are other kinds of places to live?”

  “Well sure,” Mama said. “While the Pole is our home, lots of bears live in far different places.”

  “Why would they wanna do that?”

  “Because they like their homes best. It’s where God put them. God gave us this great big, wide world and a whole bunch of different bears with different fur and different families.”

  “Where do those other bears live? I’ve never seen ’em!”

  “All around the world, Little Cub. Some very far from here.”

  “Panda bears live in China. All they eat is bamboo.”

  “What’s bamboo?”

  “A kind of tree.”

  “They eat trees for breakfast?”

  “Breakfast, lunch, and dinner!”

  “And there are sloth bears in India. They hang from trees and like to eat termites.”

  “Bugs? Eew!”

  “They think they’re delicious. And they have the longest tongues you’ve ever seen!” Mama said.

  “Here we are. Grizzly bears live in America. They like to catch fish.”

  “Phew!” Little Cub said. “Finally another bear who eats normal food.”

  Mama smiled. “Even though other bears eat what you might not like, we’re all bears. God made us all. God made the world and everything in it.”

  “Why not make us all the same?”

  “We’re not all the same on the inside, are we?

  Some of us are quiet,

  others LOUD!

  Some of us like to move fast,

  and others take their t-i-m-e.

  I think it’s fun that God made us all bears, but all special too.”

  “Don’t those other bears miss snow?” Little Cub asked.

  “Do you miss the sand of the desert? Or the big green leaves of the rain forest? We love what we know, because it’s home to us. Every bear has a special place in God’s great, big world.”

  “Why not put us all here? Why not make us all polar bears?”

  “Oh, there wouldn’t be room here for all of us! And the world reflects God’s work. How big, big, BIG he is. God can do anything. And if he’s capable of anything, why would he make us all polar bears?”

  “The whole world is like a mirror of God’s work, Little Cub. Out of all the places he could’ve put us, he chose this world, Earth, to be our home. He made it just for us. God gave us this special world and every creature in it.”

  “Why’d he do that? Put us on Earth, I mean.”

  “Because he is the Creator. Can you imagine your Grandma not cooking something new? Or your Grampa not working on a new birdhouse in his shop?

  God created our world and everything in it, because it’s in his nature to create. Understanding that is part of why he put us here…to serve and worship him, our amazing God, who gave us this amazing world.”

  “Do you ’member when he created it?”

  Mama laughed. “Our world is older than anyone can remember. It’s older than my great-grandmother’s great-grandmother.”

  “Whoa, that’s old. Like that huge ol’ tree in the forest?”

  “Older.”

  “It must be very strong.”

  “Very strong. And yet fragile too. We have to take care of our world. It’s God’s gift to us. He’d be sad if we hurt it.”

  “God might get mad if we hurt our world,” Little Cub said. “I get mad when the twins hurt my stuff.”

  “Yes, I understand that,” Mama said, picking her up. “We don’t want to make God mad or sad. We want him to smile. We want to take care of this world he gave us.”

  “Do you think we’ll ever meet the other bears?”

  “Hmm. Maybe someday. It’s a big world and constantly changing. It’d be fun to know more bears, wouldn’t it?”

  “Maybe a panda bear will come on an iceberg and bring us some bamboo!”

  Mama laughed. “It’s always good to make new friends, try new things, and know more about this world that God gave us.”

  Little Cub went to sleep that night, thinking about the stars in the sky and her special world.

  She thought of other little bears falling to sleep, in forests and caves and jungles. And she was glad that God had made her, little her, to be one of the bears in it.

 

 

  Lisa Tawn Bergren, God Gave Us the World

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