If you see a rainbow…run for your life!!

Sometimes my brain just goes to the silliest places.

This morning, I was having my time with God and His word. I use a variety of methods to keep my devotions fresh. Sometimes I just read a book of the Bible, sometimes I do a topical study or a published Bible Study. Right now I am using a Bible Study Guide called “The Essential Bible”. I have used it before but discovered a clean fresh copy in my library and decided to go for it again.

It is “100 Readings Through the World’s Most Important Book”. It leads you through 100 easy to read passages from Genesis to Revelation for a good overview of what the Bible is all about.

This morning my reading was Gen 8:1-9:17. It is the story of what happened as the 40 days of flooding dried up from the earth and Noah and his animal friends were finally set free.

I got strangely tickled as I read how Noah sent the Dove out to find land and after the third try, it never returned. That bird flew the coop!

Noah and the first cruise ship were more than ready to dock as we might imagine. I have had a few short cruises myself and was always ready to hit the deck of dirt after just a few days.

The thing that cracked my warped brain this morning was what a major rip off it was for those critters who had endured what I calculated to be somewhere around a YEAR living on that crowded, dirty, stinky boat!!!!

The verse describes in Gen: 18-19 how they FINALLY hit land and Noah jumped off the boat with his entire family and all the animals and creatures, the ones who had faithfully endured the boat ride in the lower deck–without windows, no doubt.

Vs 20 says that the first thing that happened was that Noah “built and alter to the Lord taking some of all the clean animals and the clean birds (the dirty ones were safe I assume) and SACRIFICED THEM as BURNT OFFERINGS”.

Then a Rainbow appeared.

God was pleased with the new smell. Things were getting a bit intense, I feel sure.

As I reread this accounting this morning all I could think was…….. “What a RIP”!!!! Don’t ask why. I have never been able to figure out my thinking patterns.

But think about it, those poor animals and birds had endured a solid year on a stinky, hot boat tossing and turning all over the REALLY BIG ocean. Surely they were cramped and crowded in the belly of the boat after faithfully following Noah up the plank.

Can’t you just see their faces as they are led down the plank…FINALLY taking a deep breath of grass rich air…only to be led straight onto the rotiessere??

I don’t know, I am sure it is my weirdly wired brain but that was all I could think of today in this story. Don’t worry, I do GET the part about God’s faithfulness and Noah’s righteouness and THE COVENANT that still provides for our life today. I get the part about how Noah’s Ark leads to the Sinless Sacrifice of Christ. I do get that, really….gratefully.

Today, however, all I could think about was from the perspective of the critters, was “What rip”! ALL that misery, for nothing”

Is there anything going on in your life today that MIGHT look a bit like life look for those animals that day? Anything that feels like one bad day to another??