Noah's Ark

A long time ago, God was sad to see.
Just how wicked the world turned out to be.
God found a faithful man, named Noah.
He told Noah to build an Ark.
God told Noah how big it needed to be.

Noah trusted God.
He started working very hard on the big boat.
People laughed at Noah whenever he told them
what he was doing.
They thought that Noah was crazy.

When the Ark was finally finished,
God sent at least two of every animal on the earth,
to Noah's Ark.
Noah and his sons loaded them onto the boat.
Noah and his wife, his three son's and their wives were the
only people allowed onto the ark.
When everyone and all the animals were safely inside,
God closed and sealed the door.

For forty days and night it rained and rained.
The waters receded for 150 days, so that
on the seventh month on the seventeenth day,
the ark came to rest on Mount Ararat.
The waters continued to recede until the first day
of the tenth month.

At the end of forty days, Noah sent out a raven,
which flew to and fro.  He also sent out a dove
to see if the waters had dried from the ground.
The dove found no place to rest so it came back to the ark.
He waited seven more days and again he sent out the dove.
This time the dove came back to him with an olive branch.
Noah waited seven more days before he sent out the dove
yet again.
This time the dove did not return.

God spoke to Noah.
He told Noah to take the birds and cattle and every living
thing and raise the young and to multiply the earth.
Noah built an altar to God and offered him burnt offerings
of every clean beast and every clean fowl.
God was happy with Noah.
God blessed Noah and his family.

God put a rainbow in the sky.
God promised Noah that he would never send
a flood to destroy all living things on earth again.
God made the rainbow so that everytime we see
one we will know God's promise to us.  God loves us
and always has.