Our Ship

Yep, I should totally be in bed. Wonderful lovely cushiony bed. But first I must write my third segment in the Noahs Ark story.

  This third part is probably my favorite, perhaps because of the stage of life I'm in, or maybe because it's helped me realize just how in control God is.

  So now Naoh and his own family are in the ark, it has started raining, giant bolts of lightning and load claps of thunder ring in their ears. They don't know what it looks like out there, the animals are terrified, and they have absolutely no idea how long they will be in this ark. Remember how I said I believe this story portrays the salvation story? That ark is Christ,and Noah is in the ark, just as we are in Christ when we are born again,  Noah answered Gods call, and he is now in that ship. There is no steering wheel...probably no anchor..no way for Noah to guide that boat. God is, he shut that door and he guided the ark thru everything, without accident. Gods hand led them wherever they went.

  We are in that ship, and while in there, we worry, we fret, we wonder, we get frazzled, but all the while Gods hand is leading our lives. It's quite amazing when you picture us scrambling around in there, don't you suppose Noah did? They worried, they wondered about their future, they hoped there was enough food to go around, and maybe they were concerned about their health. All we have to do is trust in Gods hand leading our lives. It is that simple. Sure, we have to put feet under our faith, but it is He who leads us where so ever we go.

The Parade

 Now just suppose you lived up the grassy hill beyond the Cypress forest a little ways, on the same side of the city that Mr. Noah was assembling his ark. Then suppose that your daughter had married a son of Noah's 

  She'd been coming home lately and giving you updates on the building of this giant structure that everyone was talking about. She was saying that it was awfully close to being finished. Then she proceeds to say that she'll be getting on. You look at her in bewilderment. She looks at you with silent questioning eyes, would you join? And in your head you're thinking....get on a boat...a giant boat...with somebody who says God told him to build it....and that it's going to rain, but it never has. She leaves, she says they'll be packing a few belongings any day now, and tells you which day they are planning to board. 

 You get back to making supper, tell your man what she had said, you both just wonder what is going on. Bedtime hits the land and you fall into a troubled sleep. Next day while outside in the garden, you hear a noise, something different, and it steadily gets louder. 

  It's animals, every kind you could think of, running, flying, walking, even the ones that typically would never show themselves out in broad daylight. The noise of the hooves is deafening, a parade of every kind of fur you could ever imagine, then you realize that they are not being led by a man. They are heading straight to that boat, almost as if there is was other place to go. In complete amazement you watch them board that ship along with Noah and then his family, and your own daughter.

Can you imagine?? Really imagine standing there and watching that?? The more I think on it, the more it boggles my mind. Then on the heels of that, I can't imagine someone not realizing that there was a much greater being than us mortal humans, leading those thousands of animals, then watching

 that door shut. Then it hit me...I do it all the time, I overlook the work God is doing, he may not be leading a parade of animals, but I can guarantee you he's doing far more than our small human minds can even begin to fathom.

Mr. Noah

   Been thinking a bit ... Ok... A LOT about Noah. There are so many lessons to be learnt from that story. It is far more than just a tale of a man and a ship.

  I would love to be able to get all of my thoughts down...but that is a bit of a struggle sometimes. This may come out fairly jumbled. I'll just go ahead and apologize in advance. If you're not particularly interested in reading a jumble..then I highly suggest you tap your screen and go to a different address on this space we call the World Wide Web.

  Here goes. In reading this story...I honestly think that it is a picture of the plan of salvation. Hear me out. It may take a few posts if I can get them all out, for me to explain my theory. But......just for a starting point. The faith of Mr. Noah and his dear Mrs. Can you even imagine if your husband came home and told you he was going to build a ship? Not just a boat to pull behind his muscular Chevy. Nope. In fact, a ship so large, he actually needed to rent a lot, ok, half a mile of space. Indeed, he says to you, God told me to. Would you not look at him just a tad cross eyed? Maybe think he wasn't getting all of his sleep? Or better yet, tell him to go mow the lawn? It's rather unfathomable... I wonder just exactly how God told him. You suppose it was a dream? Oh, and by the way dear Mrs. , it's going to flood around here, never mind the fact that it hasn't ever rained before. God is going to wipe out the world. I suppose she went back to her duties, and wondered what in the world was happening. But in the end she must have supported him I suppose, because she sailed with him.

  The faith it took to build that boat, in front of the eyes of the world, is beyond my comprehension. First of all, he must have been keen to the spirit, and secondly, he had much more faith than I have ever had. I envy him. To know God told YOU to build a boat. The exact dimensions even. Right down to the very little details. I wonder if he second guessed himself thru those years of construction, you suppose he did?

 I want faith that strong.

  Goodnight world.

Grace

   Today began like any other. I woke up late...had to do the mad dash...and I mean a dash. Had to get Jones to summer school ASAP.

    Got her there a minute late...then took Bodie to the Coffee shop..his idea...then scrambled over to Dillon's. Flew thru there like a crazy woman...found the exact watermelon I wanted in the bottom of the giant box...tumbled in with only my hind end poking out, grabbed that thing and went to check out. Had 8 minutes before I needed to get her...so I chose the self checkout. Yay me. Bodie wanted to pick his yogurt off of the table thing...I kept telling him he couldn't because it would start beeping at me. He didn't comprehend my frenzy type speech...so I proceed to lay into him. Really lay into him. He starts crocodile tearing...I get more annoyed. Then we flutter out to the van. Throw stuff in there...and I look at him and continue my rant....that is...until I really look at him.

   You see, we are raising Gods children....they are only borrowed to us for a spell. And today I failed miserably. While looking out my freshly smudged glass door today, the reality of how much grace is required to cover MY sin, made my soul start to feel crumpled and my body actually felt like it started to wither. Then it dawned on me, there is a giant golden tub of grace that we can bathe in. It isn't a limited supply. It is a glorious never ending amount, given to us by God himself.

   So I jumped in. Most likely I'll have to again tomorrow. Jump in and wash my sin off in that beautiful thing called grace, otherwise my dirt will be far too thick for my light to shine.

   I did go tell Bodie that I had messed up tonight...he nods his head and reassured me that he does still love me. How I love these children.