Paper Boat

After a winter of over 67 inches of snow, we now have to deal with rain in Pennsylvania.
Not just here in my state but many parts of the country are dealing with deadly weather.
Tornadoes, thunderstorms, and torrential rain are all around us this spring.
I have heard something about lions and lambs when discussing spring; now I understand.

In a twenty-four hour period, we were deluged with 4-7 inches of water.
It is said that one inch of rain is equivalent to 10 inches of snow.
If one does the math, we had a terrible storm no matter which way you look at it.
Roads were flooded and closed as the rivers and streams overflowed their banks.

Mud and debris was everywhere as it floated along to higher ground.
Pristine lakes became muddy and babbling brooks swelled.
Cars in train station parking lots had water up to their windows.
All in a couple of hours.

The water had nowhere to go in a twenty-four hour period.
The devastation, the flooding, and the debris were everywhere you looked.
I passed gravel driveways belonging to houses that sit far back off the road.
The gravel poured down into the roadway, following the path of the water.

I happened to notice something as I looked around.
Water runoff was following an obvious path, along the road or in ditches.
However, quietly, subtly, I saw water, as it seemed to glisten on the roadway.
A barely visible stream flowing inconspicuously along.

Water that barely moved as it diagonally crossed the road that slanted ever so gently.
Water that searched for the lower ground it was seeking.
I watched it for a few minutes and wanted to see where it was going.
I wanted to start at the unknown source and follow the barely there stream to its end.

I decided that I would like to sail a little paper boat in this stream.
A clean, white paper boat that would allow me to follow the water’s path.
A paper boat that could cross roadways if need be or hug the side of the road as it went.
A paper boat that floated above the chaos to its destination.

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And the rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in. For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as its waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. Every living thing that moved on the earth perished…Only Noah was left, and those with him on the ark. (Genesis 7:11-21,23)

Seeing what 7 inches of rain can do in the span of 24 hours, I can’t imagine 4o days of rain.
Forty days and forty nights of continuous, torrential rain.
Mud and debris flowing uncontrollably over the surface of the earth.
A global tsunami.

Trees uprooted and carried to a new location.
Topography changed as the constant pounding of the water eroded the landscape.
Layers of sediment laid down as gravel and mud piled on top of each other.
Mountains covered with floodwater.

Everyone dead.

Everyone except Noah and his family, safe in the ark, built to God’s specification.
Then the Lord shut him in.
The ark floating along, following the water, not knowing where it will end up.
Only knowing that God is in control; God knows the destination and the outcome.

Like my paper boat, floating along in twenty-four hours worth of water.
My boat would not survive forty days and nights of water.
Neither would I.
Unless the Lord shut me in.

I need the Lord to shut me in His ark.
I need His protective covering to withstand the floodwaters.
I need to be in the ark that is designed to His specification.

His way, the only way to be saved.
His Ark; my Savior.
Jesus.

Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, Your Savior.
(Isaiah 43:2,3)