Shut In - Day 10: The Animals

Remember our recent time-travel to the day God shut Noah into the ark? (Genesis 7:16) [post at this link] 

Ten days have passed. Where are we now? 

Still shut in the ark.

“The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.” - Genesis 7:17

Along with ongoing grief and shock at trying to realize what was really happening outside the walls of this massive vessel (and maybe some sea-sickness), I imagine one thing was taking over most of the time and attention of Noah and his family.

Animals!

They were so important in God’s plan for re-populating the earth, that the account leading up to the flood has four sections devoted to the animals: two accounts of God explaining the plan to Noah, and two more of how the plans were carried out. (Gen. 6:19, 7:2, 7:8, 7:14) But reading through all of those lists can hardly give us an idea of what it was like to be there in the middle of it all.

[Check out this video and the Ark Encounter website for a little more idea and to learn some of the fascinating details about how Noah would have been able to follow God’s directions and fit every kind of animal on the ark.]

Let’s take a moment on Day 10 and try to picture this.

- the odors
- the noises
- the food consumed
- the drinking water lapped and slurped (and did the elephants spray it too?!)
- the clean-up...

Is Noah overwhelmed?! Maybe living in survival mode right now?

Did he feel like God was far away? We have no record of His speaking to Noah during this time. And people couldn’t just read or listen to Psalms on an audio-Bible as I do when hope and perspective are needed. 

What do we know about Noah’s relationship with God? I'll save that for another time when we check back with the family "shut in" the ark.

Other posts in this series:
Part I: The Lord Shut Him In

Next Post:
Part III: Day 20: The Man Noah

Amos Fortune: free man

Amos Fortune: free man by Elizabeth Yates is one of those children's books that is meaningful and inspiring no matter what age you read it. I first met Amos Fortune this winter of 2022. Even though he died in 1801, I say "met," because he was a man whom everyone would want for a friend. 

Despite all the pain he came through - including being captured by another tribe and sold into slavery in his teens, spending decades earning money to buy the freedom of more than just himself, losing loved ones, and sometimes being mistreated - Amos had a soft and grateful heart. 

It wasn't easy, but he lived out his faith in a very practical way and learned the value of following Jesus' direction to turn the other cheek.

"Amos watched the fire climb slowly at first, starting from a dozen different places; then like a wall of destruction it moved up the steep sides until the flames met and linked in a vast pyramid of fire at the summit, consuming everything that could be consumed and leaving the mountain bare and smoldering.

"Hate could do that to a man, Amos thought, consume him and leave him smoldering. But he was a free man, and free at a great cost, and he would not put himself in bondage again."

His gravestone in New Hampshire reads:

Sacred

to the memory of

Amos Fortune

who was born free in

Africa a slave in America

he purchased liberty

professed Christianity

lived reputably and

died hopefully

Nov. 17, 1801

Aet. 91

How To Make Readers

 

Children are made readers on the laps of their parents. - Emilie Buchwald

Project update: I continue refining and formatting my book lists. Getting close!!

Hopefully one result will be encouraging parents to read to their children even before they can read for themselves. If children don't see their parents put any value on reading, they are less likely to value it themselves. 

The Lord Shut Him In

Let’s time-travel today. Instead of this being 2022 A.D., we are in the 600^th year of Noah’s life.

Which Noah? The Noah born about 1,056 years after God created Adam (assuming Adam’s age-count began then – even though he was an adult). Since life spans were so much longer before the Flood this was only the 10^th generation of mankind.

Isn’t it sobering to realize that only 10 generations after creation, sin was already so hopelessly out of control that God determined not to put up with it any longer? I just realized that it was even less than two of Adam’s life-spans - from his creation to the Flood. (Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. Genesis 5:5)

The history record in Genesis 6 paints the picture of Noah’s time briefly, but strongly: “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (emphasis mine)

“And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart…. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.”

There is so much to ponder in these verses, but I am going to refrain and go in one specific direction today.

Remember that we are now in the 600^th year of Noah’s life. He has already spent decades working and preparing in faith that God would do what He said and wipe out every life of man and beast on the land – except those who would be saved in the ark. Again, we could learn much from those 120 years. But the time has come...

Seven days ago God told Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. … For in seven days I will send rain on the earth… and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” (Gen. 7:1,4)

So why am I thinking about this, today of all days? Because of the date: 2.17

Notice Genesis 7:11: “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.”

I do realize the calendar has changed, and Noah was not likely a New Year’s baby. But this is the closest I can get to picturing what Noah and his family went through when “the LORD shut him in.”

Already in 2022, I have been struck by the many accounts we have of God’s people being “set aside” or “shut in.” Many for years at a time.

Many of us can relate. (And I’m not talking about lockdowns, either.)

So I thought I would try to take notice of the length of this unique and lonely boat-ride as I continue to ponder God’s ways...

…and God’s faithfulness.

Want to join me? I’ll probably post status updates about Noah’s time on the ark from time to time.

Next Post in this Series:
Part II: Day 10: The Animals

Ark Photo by Lucas Dial on Unsplash

Two Reasons for Less Posts

I see it has been longer than usual since my last post. There are two main reasons for that which can be explained further at another time. But for now...

#1: Mold Remediation

Don't worry... we hired professionals to do the moldy work, but we had to do some dismantling in preparation.

#2: Creating Book Lists

Besides writing a guest blog post for another blog, I am spending many hours these weeks compiling and formatting book lists that will hopefully be a blessing to readers of any age.

More later...

Bearer of Good News

We are enjoying getting to know the most special gift our family received in 2021: Evangeline!

Her name means "bearer of good news." May she be just that in our world full of bad news.

Meanwhile, Joseph is learning to be a caring big brother...

...and learning to solve puzzles!

New Mittens for a New Year

 

On the knitting side of life:

I knit 42 pairs of mittens in 2021 and sold more than that on Etsy, so our stock is super low now.

But rather than simply restocking from the same old patterns, we think a new year begs for a new design added to the Nautical Nordic Scandinavian mitten line! After all, we were created in the image of our Creator to be creative!

One January evening I sat down with my "boss" [younger sister who owns the business and manages the shop] to pore over an amazing book for inspiration. In "Selbu Mittens" Anne Bårdsgård shares more than just a selection of classic patterns, hundreds of charted motifs, and a feast of photo inspiration. The reader is also given a history lesson with real stories and faces behind this beautiful and creative tradition.

Of course the design we both settled on had no pattern or chart, so out came the magnifying glass, graph paper, and pencil. Then it was my turn to be creative to make it fit my yarn/gauge. Plus I tried a new style of thumb gusset increases inspired by other photos in the book and added a little flair to the thumb itself.



Finally, type it all into my (proprietary) computer template, add our most popular yarn colors, and...

We love the result!

But pictures will have to come later. ;-)

Courage, dear heart!

 

"Courage, dear heart!"

Did you know that more than sixty years before Lucy heard these comforting words in C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia," they had been penned to you and me (to any follower of Christ) by a British man named Charles?

He went on to tell us to:

"Bear up, for the Lord will bear you up, and bear you through. He who made you knows how frail you are, and how little you can bear. He will handle tenderly that which he has fashioned so delicately. Therefore, be not afraid because of the painful present, for it hastens to a happy future."

• C.H. Spurgeon, 1888
Chequebook of the Bank of Faith

I haven’t counted how many times this little book has made it on to my blog over the past year, but the fact that I keep sharing from it shows how highly I can recommend it to anyone looking for a short daily reading in addition to their study of God’s word.

Having started it a few weeks into 2021 and then gotten behind over time, I just finished the 365th entry this week.

Here is one more quote from the last few pages:

“This volume is a cheque-book for believers, and this page is meant as a warning as to what bank they draw upon, and whose signature they accept. Rely upon Jesus without limit. Trust not thyself nor any born of woman, beyond due bounds; but trust thou only and wholly in the Lord.”

[entry for December 26]