A Modern Noah's Ark

By Johnny Angel

Dear friends,

This is a great story that one of my friend sent me. It is written for a comical effect, but I feel we can discover some spiritual truths from it. I've listed some ideas below.

N Prayer,
Johnny <*}}}><

A Modern Noah's Ark

And the Lord spoke to Noah and said: "In six months I'm going to make it rain until the whole earth is covered with water and all the evil people are destroyed. But I want to save a few good people, and two of every kind of living thing on the planet...

I am ordering you to build Me an Ark," said the Lord. And in a flash of lightning He delivered the specifications for an Ark...

"OK," said Noah, trembling in fear and fumbling with the blueprints...

"Six months, and it starts to rain" thundered the Lord. "You'd better have my Ark completed, or learn how to swim for a very long time."

And six months passed. The skies began to cloud up and rain began to fall... The Lord saw that Noah was sitting in his front yard, weeping. And there was no Ark...

"Noah," shouted the Lord, "where is my Ark?" A lightning bolt crashed into the ground next to Noah, for emphasis...

"Lord, please forgive me," begged Noah. "I did my best. But there were big problems. First I had to get a building permit for the Ark construction project, and your plans didn't meet Code. So I had to hire an engineer to redraw the plans. Then I got into a big fight over whether or not the Ark needed a fire sprinkler system...

My neighbors objected claiming I was violating zoning by building the Ark in my front yard, so I had to get a variance from the city planning commission. "Then I had a big problem getting enough wood for the Ark because there was a ban on cutting trees to save the Spotted Owl. I had to convince U.S. Fish & Wildlife that I needed the wood to save the Owls... But they wouldn't let me catch any owls. So no owls...

Then the carpenters formed a union and went out on strike. I had to negotiate a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board before anyone would pick up a saw or a hammer. Now we got 16 carpenters going on the boat, and still no owls...

"Then I started gathering up the animals, and got sued by an animal rights group. They objected to me taking only two of each kind. Just when I got the suit dismissed, EPA notified me that I couldn't complete the Ark without filing an environmental impact statement on your proposed Flood. They didn't take kindly to the idea that they had no jurisdiction over the conduct of a Supreme Being. The Army Corps of Engineers wanted a map of the proposed new flood plain. I sent them a globe...

"Right now I'm still trying to resolve a complaint from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over how many Croatians I'm supposed to hire, the IRS has seized all my assets claiming I'm trying to avoid paying taxes by leaving the country, and I just got a notice from the state about owing some kind of use tax...

"I really don't think I can finish your Ark for at least another five years," Noah wailed...

The sky began to clear. The sun began to shine. A rainbow arched across the sky. Noah looked up and smiled. "You mean you're not going to destroy the earth?" Noah asked, hopefully...

"Wrong!" thundered the Lord. "But being Lord of the Universe has its advantages. I fully intend to smite the Earth, but with something far worse than a Flood. Something Man invented himself." "What's that?" asked Noah...

There was a long pause, and then the Lord spoke his Last Word, "Government."
As I read this, I realized that when God wants us to do something, we give Him all the reasons that we can't. We worry about all the "what if's" and scenarios. I have learned that we can know it's really God speaking when the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and the circumstances all speak together at the same time. By the Bible, I mean the passages we read while we have a decision to make. If the Holy Spirit is speaking at the same time and the circumstances point to your decision, it's a pretty good sign that God wants you to do it. When God tells us to do something, He doesn't have to tell us all the details. He just needs us to get started on it. And when we start having problems doing things one item at a time, we can pray for God to show us the way to do the task, and He will!

If you've ever looked at Romans 8, you know that it talks about how nothing can separate us from God. It goes on to explain that natural disasters, crisises in our lives, powers of darkness, etc. can not and will not separate us from the love of God. I think we can add that the government can't separate us from God either!

And last of all, God promised Noah that He would not destroy the Earth again with a great flood. Earth will be okay until the Lord comes to take all His children home. After that, it won't be very good to still be around. Let us rejoice in the Love that Jesus showed us on the Cross so that we can all go to be with Him one day by our simple child-like faith in Him!

N Prayer,
Johnny <*}}}><