Stones from who knows where...

For K- Who saw the stone
And D- Who gave it to me

What a week!

Life is so rich and full that in the course of a single day one can experience things that alter it forever.
We all experience those marks and movements that make us better, and make us brave. It would be silly for me to believe that I am the only one among us who understands the altering possibilities of a day.
This week, and if I'm honest, the last several weeks, have been full of genuine mercy. So much mercy. Severe at times, but mercy can be that, too.
Last night I scraped the edges of the conditioner bottle and decided it's almost time to buy more, which led me to be grateful I had the luxury of conditioner in the first place...

And I thought of the story I read yesterday morning before I scraped those edges. It's a story of someone in the Bible who has long been cherished by this heart. If you've read the Bible for any length of time, or even if you haven't, you probably know His name, and the bulk of his story. However, most people, Christian or not, don't talk about him much in the full context of the story...

His name is Noah, and while you probably immediately associate him with an ark full of animals (I don't blame you), I associate him most with the action he took after exiting the ark.

To fully understand Noah's position in the midst of the times, you have to go back to Genesis. In that time people had turned from God, the world was a mess, and it's recorded that "Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord." So, he does what God tells him to *build a big boat, put the animals on it, it's going to rain.* Rather than ask what rain is, or drag his feet, Noah builds a houseboat on dry land with enough room for everyone from Aardvark to Zebra. He doesn't just shut the door, either. He implores people to come into the ark, and they scoff at Him. So, he takes his wife, three sons and three daughters in law, and he seals the door of the ark behind them.

And it rains.
and rains.
and it keeps raining.
The whole earth is wet. No one else survives.

Eventually the rain stops.

When the door opens there are many things Noah could chose to do...but it's what he does that gets me.

In the midst of the realization that everyone else has perished, and all that's left are eight people (who are far from perfect, read the story) and some animals, Noah could have wept, screamed, given up, been afraid. But the Bible says he built an altar (with stones from where? I want to know!) And HE WORSHIPPED GOD.

Let me stop here and tell you that NOAH WAS NOT PERFECT... at one point in the story he gets drunk and curses one of his sons, it was the biblical version of something on Jerry Springer...oh the humanity...but Noah generally desired to honor God, and as imperfect people, we live imperfect lives.

We keep going. It gets me every time though that Noah could have chosen something different. Something less productive. He chose worship. Noah is one of my fallback stories. Always. For several reasons, but for this one above all: Eight people exited the ark that day. Those eight are the only ones who lived at that moment. The population was now their responsibility...and everyone else was dead. Let's be honest: OH NO!

In the midst of that moment, that empty, broken, potentially lamentable moment, Noah chose worship. Not only that...but he built the altar himself... with stones from who knows where.

My heart is unbelievably humbled that in the midst of life (good and difficult) there is always cause to worship. I am grateful, too, for the people who surround me, and love me enough to remind me of the stones that build my altar.

Build,

Courtney