One day Lucy Wyngate, age 6, sat watching the rain fall outside her bedroom in
Raleigh, North Carolina. Since she had to stay inside, Lucy decided to play her favorite game, land of
make-believe. Aunt Kelly, Uncle Jeff, Mom, and Dad loved to play make-believe, too.
Today she decided to pretend to be one of her favorite Bible characters, Noah.
Lucy remembered the wonderful story of Noah's Ark and imagined herself being there
instead of Noah. Lucy closed her eyes really tightly and then ...ZOOM... she was in
another land long, long ago with Aunt Kelly, Uncle Jeff, Mom, and Dad.
Most of the people in this new place seemed to be mean and hateful. They were being
selfish and greedy and they were fighting in the street.
Suddenly, God was talking. The Lord told Lucy He was going to cause a flood over the
earth because of all the bad people. But Lucy, along with Aunt Kelly, Uncle
Jeff, Mom, and Dad would be safe if they built a huge boat, called an Ark.
Big elephants helped Lucy collect wood to make the Ark.
Lucy built the ark just as the Lord commanded. It was covered with tar, called pitch,
to make it waterproof. Other animals helped to make the ark by carrying buckets of the
pitch. Even when Lucy finished building the ark, there was still more work to do.
Then Lucy and her family collected all the food and supplies they would need on the ark.
They gathered sacks and baskets of apples, melons, hay, grain and everything else they
needed.
When the work was done God sent his animals two-by-two, a boy and a girl of each kind,
so they could be saved from the flood.
Lucy put the animals on the ark just as God wanted. Giraffes, lions, rabbits, raccoons,
penguins and many other creatures walked up the steps to the ark.
Then Lucy, along with Aunt Kelly, Uncle Jeff, Mom, and Dad, got on the ark too. When everyone
was safely aboard, God shut the door.
It rained for 40 days and nights without stopping. Sometimes Lucy was a little frightened,
but she knew that everyone would be safe in God's ark.
The storm continued to rage on and on. The sky stayed gloomy and scary while the flood
covered the earth. All the cities and towns were now under water.
Finally the rain stopped and the waters became calm. The ark came to rest on top of Mount
Ararat. Lucy, along with Aunt Kelly, Uncle Jeff, Mom, and Dad felt excited to see blue skies
and the sun chining again. Then God caused a wind to blow over the earth, which began to
dry up the water.
A while later, Lucy sent out a dove three different times to see if the ground was dry.
The first time the dove could not find a place to rest and came back. The second time it
came back with a fresh olive leaf. That meant the ground was almost dry. The third time
the dove didn't return at all. The earth was dry!
At last God told Lucy along with Aunt Kelly, Uncle Jeff, Mom, and Dad to come out of the ark.
God promised never to destroy the earth with water again. He sent a rainbow to remind
everyone of his promise.
Just then Lucy opened her eyes and noticed the rain outside her bedroom had stopped.
In the sky was God's beautiful rainbow, reminding her of God's promise long ago.