Nine Hours

We left early Tuesday morning and headed south. To Williamstown, Kentucky. We were two girls headed to see something spectacular. But what we saw and experienced went far beyond anything we could have ever imagined.

The destination: The Ark Encounter. My friend, Sherri, and I were told we would see a lifesize replica of Noah’s Ark. But we were not prepared for the width and depth and detail of what we truly encountered. We stood at a distance from the ark and tried to take it in. Scaled to the details laid out in the Bible, we were awestruck. “Big,” “huge,” “ginormous” are words that did not do it justice. We were told to allow 4-6 hours for the full experience. We got there at 8:30 and left at 5:30. Nine hours. Nine hours that shifted our hearts and our spirits in immeasurable ways. And impacted our minds to the point of overload. An experience that we will never forget.

As we began our walk through the ark, we were awestruck. They used dramatic license - which they acknowledged - but they also used their research of the times and the people to portray how and what they did to make room for their family and the animals in order to survive for over a year on that ark. 

As we walked and read and absorbed it all, the ark, for the first time, made sense. Not only for the design and the structure, but for the housing of the animals. Animals of every “kind” versus animals of every “species.” It was brilliant and logical. 

But the Ark was not built just for Christians seeking an explanation for the “how.” It was truly designed for all of us, believers and nonbelievers alike, to see how Noah’s Ark was pointing to Jesus. Because on that ark was ONE door. One door to enter, one door to save you from the upcoming flood, the one door for your salvation.

It truly was an experience that walked us through the Bible. From Adam and Eve to the flood to the story of the world, to the sacrifice of Jesus, to the spreading of the gospel. Told truthfully and compellingly. Answering questions I didn’t even know I had, answering questions that the skeptic has - all answered with unquestionable respect.

I left the Encounter with two overarching thoughts.

First, God is, as He always is, greater than I know. After 73 years of life with God, I stupidly thought I had a pretty good grasp of who He is. I was reminded, as I left the Ark, that I underestimated God…again. But because of this one day I spent at the ark, I was given renewed hope that Paul writes in Ephesians 3:18-19…

And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, 

how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you

 experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. 

Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life 

and power that comes from God.

My second thought as I left was how I have, and the church has, done a disservice to Noah’s Ark. Turning it into a child’s Sunday School story. A cute story about an ark and animals and a flood and a dove. When it is a riveting story that should be told to adults as often as the cross is told. Because it is the story about a people who were evil in every way. A story of how God found one righteous (though sinful) man. A man that God used to save what He had created with a promise that He would never repeat this devastating event again. Because he would send another Door. Another Door to life. Another Door to salvation.

It took Sherri and me 9 hours of driving to get to The Ark Encounter and nine hours of driving to get home. But it was worth it. Because of the nine hours we spent in the presence of God. Nine hours where our lives and hearts and spirits were impacted. Irrevocably.