A Letter to Noah

“DEAR Noah, I have several times read in the Bible about you and how you built an ark in which you and your family were saved through the Flood.”

So begins a letter that a 15-year-old girl named Minnamaria entered in a writing contest for students aged 14 to 21. The contest was arranged by the Finnish postal services, the Federation for Finnish Mother Tongue Teachers, and the Finnish Literature Society. The contestants were to write a letter based on a book. It could be addressed to the author of the book or to a character in it. The teachers chose more than 1,400 of their students’ letters and forwarded them to the contest panel. The panel then selected the best one, the ten second-best, and the ten third-best essays. Minnamaria was delighted that her letter was placed in the third group.

Why did Minnamaria, a teen-age student, write her letter to Noah, a man who lived some 5,000 years ago? She comments: “The Bible was the first thing that came to my mind. Bible characters have become very familiar to me. I have read so much about them that they seem almost alive to me. Noah was my choice because his life was so exciting and different from mine.”

Minnamaria’s letter to Noah concludes with the words: “You are still an example of faith and obedience. Your life encourages all those who read the Bible to act on their faith.”

This letter of a young Bible reader well illustrates that the Bible truly “is alive and exerts power” on people, both young and old.​—Hebrews 4:12.