Adam

Kind of got off to a shaky start with this first lesson. I think I had a tough time trying to figure out what to say about Adam. Adam isn't on that list in Hebrews 11 of men and women who lived by faith. The chapter skips him and starts with his son Abel. I think that made it a bit more difficult.

That difficulty, combined with the fact that it was the first night back, made the lesson long and labored, but somehow it resonated with these kids (mostly boys). Adam failed to take responsibility for himself and his family, twice. He failed when he and his wife ate the fruit God told them not to eat. Then Adam failed again when God called him to answer for his actions, and he passed the blame. In the words of one young fellow in my group, “Adam should have been a man.” The consequences of Adam's sin brought sin and death to all mankind. It affected Adam's children far more than I'm sure he could have imagined. One child murdered another. I'm not sure it could get worse.

Of course, no lesson on Adam would be complete without the Gospel. Sin enters the world, and death by sin, then God points Adam and Eve forward to the day when Christ would provide the way of salvation (see Genesis 3:15). This NT verse puts it nicely: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” (I Cor. 15:22)

When I thought about drawing Adam, I definitely wanted to convey the sorrow and the impact of his sin. So here he is, presumably after a hard day of work, wiping the sweat off his brow—or maybe those are tears, perhaps some of both. I think I drew him a bit too gaunt and stiff, but thinking about it, I'm sure he was exactly that in those early days after the Fall. Adam also looks kind of shaky to me—just like the lesson about him was. Maybe God will use this drawing like He used that lesson.