A Bump On The Horizon

November 7, 2005

For forty days and nights the rain never stopped. I suppose for a few days the ark just sat there, where it was built in Noah’s back yard, while the 8 inhabitants inside adjusted their planned routines. Outside the arc the water would slowly rise. Noah’s neighbors, friends and acquaintances plus a couple of hundred others who had heard about this monstrous boat probably would have been begging and pleading to gain a spot on the craft. It may have never rained before. But it wouldn’t take very long for people to figure out what was happening around them. A few would raise their glasses and party on too. But once they noticed that they were standing ankle deep in water they would have begun to second guess their safety.

By the biblical account, there was only one way on and off this barge. That door had been shut by God. The people on the outside without a doubt had constructed rafts and garnered fishing boats to stay on top of the water. They floated around this huge box of Noah’s for a few days, in the rain, slowly floating higher, up the side walls of the ark. I’d guess they hoped that they could eventually get on top of the vessel. But as the water rose the ark itself would have begun to float. At that point in time, the people on the little crafts floating around the arc would have had little hope. Eventually these “hangers-on” succumbed to the storm and drowned, leaving a sum total of 8 persons on earth.

Noah and his crew must have grieved the loss of life. Friends and relatives. Brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles, all gone. Livestock and houses and stores and barns and gathering places, all gone. Forests and groves and parks and meadows, all gone. For the next year on that arc, when anyone gazed out of the one window on the arc there wouldn’t be anything to see but water and whatever was floating in it.

The ark bobbed around the seas for what must have seemed to be forever. Then the wind began to blow. Noah and his sons must have given each other a knowing glance, wondering if the wind would bring another storm. How could they take anymore? Why were they spared in the first place. Even through the fortunate circumstances they knew they were in, there must have been days when wondered both why were they spared why they shouldn’t have been. This wasn’t a case of holier-than-thou self-righteousness on their part. This was a time of extreme, heart-breaking and gut wrenching grief.

After a few months of the sea-sickening churning, rolling and bobbing of this floating box of a barn they would have wondered if it was worth it at all. Wouldn’t it have been better to have died instead? The biblical account doesn’t indicate that they knew how long this would last at all. Of course they had plenty to eat. After all they had every animal on earth below decks. As long as the grain held out, they’d have fresh eggs. The waiting must have been excruciating.

Then, one windy day, just barely visible through that one small window on the watery world around them, a bump appeared on the horizon. Whoever saw that first bump must have taken a heart quickening second look with a double blink of his eyes. I wonder if he waited a day or two before telling anyone just to be sure he was really seeing something or if he was imagining a hopeful end to this horrible nightmare. Or maybe he ran to the others to have eight pairs of eye come take a look now before it disappeared. “Grab a notebook! We’ve got to document this!”


... to be continued.