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 <*}}}><