Usually when we travel it's for fun. A vacation to a place we want to see, history we want to experience, loved ones we want to visit. I have a friend who just returned home from a month in Europe. A month! I can't imagine being away from home that long.
David and I once planned an 18 day vacation. We camped our way from Arizona to Washington State and back home through Northern California. It was the best vacation ever. No timeline, no schedule. We stopped when we wanted, changed plans as we went, drove more one day and less the next. We ended the trip after 16 days because we missed our home!
Can you imagine traveling for 379 days? That's how long I calculate Noah, his family and all the animals spent on the ark. 379 days. That was one long cruise. I bet Mrs. Noah was glad to get off that boat! Although she didn't have a home to return to, I bet she was anxious to set one up again. Can you imagine starting over at her age?
The patience it must have taken to wait for the earth to dry, the testing of their faith. Talk about the storms of life testing someone! Next time you feel like you're being tossed around by the storms of life, remember Noah. Remember patience, remember faith, remember God will bring you through.
Genesis 8:6-14 NLT
6 After another forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the boat 7 and released a raven. The bird flew back and forth until the floodwaters on the earth had dried up. 8 He also released a dove to see if the water had receded and it could find dry ground. 9 But the dove could find no place to land because the water still covered the ground. So it returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back inside. 10 After waiting another seven days, Noah released the dove again. 11 This time the dove returned to him in the evening with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Then Noah knew that the floodwaters were almost gone. 12 He waited another seven days and then released the dove again. This time it did not come back.
13 Noah was now 601 years old. On the first day of the new year, ten and a half months after the flood began, the floodwaters had almost dried up from the earth. Noah lifted back the covering of the boat and saw that the surface of the ground was drying. 14 Two more months went by, and at last the earth was dry!
Blessings, Cecilia
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