While helping his grandfather in the garden, Aaron saw a strange-looking stone, full of tiny holes. "Look," said Aaron. "It almost looks like this stone is rotting away. Hey-maybe it's a fossil. We learned about them at school."

Grandpa took the stone and looked it over. "I think you're right," he agreed. "So what did you learn about fossils?"

"We learned that when a living thing, like a plant or an animal, is buried in mud or clay for years and years, the material around it hardens as time goes by," replied Aaron. "Then the plant or animal dissolves away, leaving openings right in the hardened material. Those openings are exactly the shape of the plant or animal that has disappeared." He looked at the stone again. "I think there was a plant in this one. There's a leaf-shape here." Grandpa nodded, and Aaron continued. "This has gotta be real old-I guess it's as old as the hills." He looked at Grandpa. "That's what people always say," added Aaron with a grin. "How old is that?"

"We don't know for sure," answered Grandpa. "But God knows, because He existed long before the earth or anything in it."

"Yeah. He's older'n anybody, isn't He?" asked Aaron. "Even older than Jesus."

Grandpa disagreed. "No," he said, "Jesus is God, too. He was right there when the earth was made. Jesus, along with God the Father, made the earth and everything in it."

"But Jesus was born in Bethlehem," objected Aaron.

"Yes, He was born as a baby many years after the earth was made, but before that, Jesus was up in heaven," explained Grandpa. "He is eternal. That means He has no beginning and no ending, because He is God."

"That's hard for me to understand," said Aaron.

"For me, too." Grandpa nodded. "But God said it, so I believe it."