The Flood

“You cannot come to Christ unless the Spirit of God brings you. But what if you ignore His warnings? Then you are in the gravest danger, for some day God will no longer be speaking to you. Then it will be too late. Come to Christ while there is still time. Christ, God's greater Ark, stands ready to welcome you to safety today.”  Billy Graham

I was a senior in high school when the great flood came.  Right about now you are asking, “What great flood”. 

I was born in the great state of Louisiana, home of the alligator, humidity, moccasins (snake that is), and rain and more rain.  We never had water restrictions in my home town.  We didn’t know what that was until we moved to Texas.    

Anyway, back to the great flood of 1980.  I was a senior in high school preparing for graduation.  Then the rains came.  Our graduation was going to be in Lake Charles, the nearest large town.  We were going to graduate at the Civic Center and rehearsal was scheduled for Friday evening. It started raining midweek and it didn’t stop.  We lived in the country and there was a bayou tributary that ran between our house and the main road in to town.  This tributary would often flood but it never came close to our house. 

This year that changed.  It started raining and the water rose and it rained some more and the water kept coming.  I can remember walking out the front door and seeing the water lapping onto the front porch and there was no sign of the rain stopping. As soon as we saw that we went to work.  We lived in a big two story house so every piece of furniture that would fit upstairs was hauled up.  Anything that didn’t fit upstairs was placed on top of paint cans.  The carpet was pulled up and moved upstairs. 

I will never forget walking downstairs the next morning and stepping off the last stair and into 2 inches of water.  The whole first floor was covered in water.  Our house had never been flooded by water so this was an event. The reason I call this the great flood is because my grandparents were driving from Austin to attend my graduation and they had to turn around and go back because portions of I-10 were underwater.  This is the southernmost transcontinental highway that stretches from the Pacific Ocean to Florida. When a major freeway is underwater that is a lot of rain.  By the way as a side note, my Dad had to take me in a boat to our car to get to graduation but I made it.

This story brought to mind Noah.  I grew up in a state that saw plenty of rain, but can you imagine Noah’s faith.  When God told him to build a boat and not just any boat but build a big boat, Noah’s faith didn’t waver. 

The neighbors wouldn’t think it was so strange if you built a boat that would hold one family and that you could hide behind the garage.  This was a boat that would hold 2 of every kind of animal on earth.  Can you imagine the neighbors looking out their window and their conversation about Noah?  It might go something like this.  “Hey honey, it looks like Noah is building a boat.  I wonder if it is going to be a fishing boat to take out to the lake.”  Several weeks later….”Honey I don’t think Noah is building a boat at all.   It looks like he might be building a McMansion.”  Two months later…. “Honey, that’s not a McMansion and it isn’t a fishing boat, it’s a cruise liner and there are animals lining up to get in. I always knew Noah was crazy and a little odd.  Why would he build a boat that large with no water in sight?  We sure have weird neighbors.”

When it comes to faith in God it doesn’t always make sense does it?  When we place our faith in God it is literally taking a leap of faith.  It is like walking to the edge of a cliff and stepping off.  Trust in God will always feel like that.  God can do great things through us when we have an amazing faith in Him.  God promised it won’t be a flood next time, it will be worse.  Are you ready?

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, many times my faith is shaken by things that happen in my life.  I want to have the faith that Noah had, the belief that You can do anything through me in Your Power.  When my faith wavers, please remind me that I can do anything through You and your strength.     

Scripture: Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  Genesis 6:5-8