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NAVIGATING THE FLOOD

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Genesis 7:1-5

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Noah shows us how to deal

with the turbulence of life.

A sermon preached by

Rev. William O. (Bud) = Reeves

First United Methodist Church

Hot= Springs, Arkansas

June 8, 2008

One of the great adven= tures I love is whitewater rafting or canoeing.&= nbsp; As a family we have had opportunities to raft on several big rivers = from the Smokies to the Rockies. Dr. Jim Moore tells a story about a youth minister named Paul who took a group of senior high youth whitewater = rafting on the Ocoee River in Tennessee, one of the most exciting whitewater rivers in the country. The problem was, Paul did not like= to swim, and he did not like to get cold, both of which were pretty much inevitable on a raft trip. To= make matters worse, the guide on their raft was a guy named Fuzz, a college stud= ent who had been a river guide for approximately one week.

The trip went pretty m= uch as expected. Paul fell in three = times in the first five miles. Then= , just as they were entering a huge rapid called “Hell’s Hole,” = Fuzz the river guide stood up in the back of the raft and jumped overboard! The raft careened down the river o= ut of control, then it flipped over, dumping everyone into the water. The other two rafts came to the re= scue and pulled Paul and all the teenagers to safety. A few minutes later, Fuzz came flo= ating along. When he got to the riverbank, Paul confronted him: “What in the world were you thinking?!”

Fuzz replied, “Y= ou don’t understand, man. That’s where the vortex is.” He explained that the rock formati= on at that particular spot in the river created a tornado-like current underwater, but the middle of the vortex was absolutely calm, like the eye of a hurricane. Fuzz had floated c= almly to the bottom of the river while the rapids churned all around him. He told Paul, “It’s amazing. It’s so peacef= ul down there. There is turbulen= ce all around you, but there in the vortex, it’s so calm and peaceful and serene.”[1]

The vortex is a wonder= ful place except for two things. = One, it’s underwater. That m= eans you can’t breathe down there. Eventually you have to step back into the turbulence and shoot to the top to get some air. Second, = during his “vortex moment,” the boat Fuzz was supposed to be responsib= le for was crashing down the rapid, spilling out teenagers into the raging riv= er.

Some people live their= lives looking for the vortex, longing for a place that is quiet and peaceful. Some folks try to avoid the turbul= ence at all costs, even if it means deserting the people for whom and to whom th= ey are responsible. We all somet= imes dream of a safe place where we are protected from the turbulence, the hardships, the pain and the problems of the world. You can look for the vortex in dru= gs, alcohol, extramarital relationships, or buying more and bigger toys. The problem is, there is no vortex= ! It’s not real. At best it’s temporary. Eventually you have to come up aga= in for air, and there you are in the flood again.

We all need time away, quiet moments for refle= ction, prayer time alone with God. That’s very important. But that’s not where we live.= Our home is in the whitewater; real life is in the rapids. If we find the vortex, we can̵= 7;t stay there; we have to eventually come up into the turbulence. We can’t avoid it.

It seems like we’ve had more than our sh= are of turbulence lately. Torrential= rains caused flooding across our state and the Midwest this spring. There have been = twice the number of tornadoes in the U.S. this year than last year up to this point.= In the merry month of May, a devastating cyclone in Myanmar took an estimated 100= ,000 lives. Ten days later a massi= ve earthquake in China<= /st1:country-region> caused over 65,000 deaths and left 5 million homeless. We read about these tragedies in t= he newspaper or we see them on TV, and it boggles our imagination.

Other types of turbule= nce are more personal—a family member has a terminal illness, a marriage ends, a child gets in trouble with the law. These personal and private tragedi= es are the common experience of all of us. Folks will come to me all embarrassed about some difficulty in their lives, and I tell every one of them, “If the people who have problems stayed home on Sunday, the church would be empty. Every pew holds a heart that is hu= rting, a life that is broken. That&#= 8217;s why we’re here.” We’re here because sometimes we feel like the bridge over the troubled waters of our lives has been washed out. We’re here because = the flood of events has swept us away. It’s more than we can handle on our own, and we need help. Does God have a word for us today?=

Things didn’t wo= rk out too well for God in the beginning, either.= His ultimate creation, the human being, proved to be a flawed model. They were constantly t= urning away from him and engaging in all sorts of deviant behavior. So finally God just got sick of it= and decided to start all over. He’d done pretty well with the animals, so he picked one man, Noah, and his family to gather all the animals together and preserve them w= hile he destroyed the rest of humankind. (Don’t get all tied up in knots trying to analyze the characte= r of God in some of these Old Testament stories; just go with the flow, or in th= is case, the flood.)

God called Noah and ga= ve him the design for a huge boat to carry all the animals. Noah built it, and he and his fami= ly herded every kind of living creature into the ark. Then the heavens opened up, and it rained for forty days and nights. The whole earth was covered with water. Every person and every animal that= was not on the ark drowned. (I gu= ess the fish were OK.)

When the rain finally stopped, Noah began sending out doves to determine if the floodwaters had receded. On the third attempt= , the dove did not return to the ark, and Noah knew it was safe to disembark. Genesis 8 indicates that they were= on the ark a little over ten months with every animal in the world. When they came off the boat onto d= ry land, the first thing Noah did was to thank God! Then God gave Noah the sign of the rainbow, a sign of hope that God would never again destroy the earth by a flood. Noah could look into t= he sky and see the rainbow and know that God was keeping his promises.<= /span>

Noah and the Flood is = one of the classic stories of our faith, but I also believe it is an instructive s= tory for our discipleship. LetR= 17;s learn three lessons from Noah that will help us deal with the turbulent tim= es in our own lives.

First, play to an audience of one. Live your life to please one person—and it’s not you= rself. Adopt as your priority the will of= God for your life, and you will endure and thrive through the troubled times you face. It’s not about yo= ur boss; it’s not about your spouse; it’s not about your child; it’s only God who can give you the power to survive the flood.

Noah and his family we= re able to survive the flood because they alone among all the people of the wo= rld had remained faithful to God. The Lord said to Noah, “Go into t= he ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteo= us before me in this generation.”[2]

Can you imagine the ri= dicule and criticism Noah had to endure while he was building the ark? Especially when he told people why= he was building it—that God was tired of their sin and was going to send= a flood and destroy them all. If there had been homes for the insane back then, Noah would probably have been committed. Nevertheless, he j= ust kept working, getting ready for the day, following the call of God, and bei= ng faithful. Do you think that g= ives us any clue on how to live?

Pastor Kenneth Mitchell tells about a friend of his named Rufus Kidd. Rufus was a young African-American= man who worked on the loading dock of a trucking company with Kenneth. He was a devoted Christian. He had just completed an associate degree in transportation and was seeking a career in the trucking business. A position opened u= p, and Rufus went in for an interview.

Later Kenneth asked Ru= fus how the interview went, and Rufus said it went fine and that the company had offered him a job in sales. I= t was a fantastic opportunity with great potential. Kenneth was excited for his friend= until Rufus told him he had turned it down. Although it was everything he had hoped for in a job, in order to ta= ke it he would have to give up his ministry with singles at his church. Rufus said he would just wait for = a job that would allow him to continue to teach his class.[3]

Whom was Rufus listeni= ng to? Where were his priorities= ? His life had a higher purpose than making money or building a career. His main goal was to please God and to work for God’s Kingdom. He was playing to an audience of one.

Second lesson from Noa= h: Build your ark before the rain starts= . Once the floodgates open, it i= s too late. Prepare for the storms = while the sun is shining, so you’ll be protected when everything breaks loose. I’m sure Noah lo= oked silly building a boat on dry land when there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. But he built on faith, a= nd when the thunder rumbled and the lightning flashed, he was ready. We need to build the foundation of= our faith like that and be ready before tragedy strikes.

All my life I have kno= wn people who had storm cellars in their yards. In South Ar= kansas where I grew up, we called them “fraidy-holes.” I always thought that was the sill= iest thing until March 1, 1997, the day I stood in my driveway and watched a fun= nel cloud go over and dip down to cut a mile-wide swath of destruction and take the l= ives of 12 people, including 2 of my church members. Suddenly I could see the value in a shelter!
I have read that one o= f the most popular options for people building houses now is to build a “tornado room,” a concrete box in the interior of the home that= can serve as a closet in good weather, but will be a safe haven in the event of= a storm. When one contractor in= Tulsa began offer= ing these tornado rooms, at an additional cost of $2,500, nine of the first ten families he talked to decided to build one. The tenth was a couple in their mid-70’s who opted for a hot tub instead.[4] I know one thing—when the tw= ister is across the street headed in your direction, it’s too late to call = the contractor to install your concrete box.

When your life is thre= atened by a personal tragedy, it’s too late to try to build a spiritual foundation for strength. That already has to be in place. I= t just breaks my heart to see families go through an intense time of suffering and= not have the resources spiritually or emotionally to deal with it. The blows of life knock the wind o= ut of strong Christians sometimes. = But without the strength of faith, a tragedy can knock your props out completely and send you falling into the abyss—unless you have a lifeline to God. If we make a habit of wa= lking with God, we can make the claim Paul made: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.̶= 1;= = [5] Build your ark of faith befor= e the rain starts; then when the floods come, you can float on top.

Lesson three: When the storm is past, send out the = dove. Don’t let the floods of life embitter your spirit. DonR= 17;t let the turbulence turn you away from God.=

After forty days and n= ight of rain, Noah was waiting for the floodwaters to recede, and three times he sent doves out to see if they could find a perch. The first time the dove just retur= ned to the ark. The second time the = dove brought back an olive leaf—a sign of hope. Then the third time, the dove did = not return; it had found a home on the dry land.

The dove is a sign of = hope, a sign of peace, a sign of the Spirit.&nbs= p; After a storm in our life is past, we need to send out the dove. In other words, reach out to find = hope and peace in spite of our difficulties.&nb= sp; It’s too easy, when life has knocked you for a loop, to stay a= ngry and bitter about the whole experience and wallow in self-pity and ask over = and over again, “Why me, Lord?”&nb= sp; You can stay angry at a person who has hurt you, or at a situation t= hat has forced you into a bind, or at God who failed to protect you from trouble. Or you can send out = the dove of peace to that person and seek reconciliation. You can send out the dove of hope = and let the past be past and look to the future. Or you can draw near to God and re= ly on him for strength and healing in the aftermath of your trouble. When the storms of life deposit the debris of anger, grief, hostility, resentment, and self-pity, let go of it. Send out the dove, and lo= ok for a new day.

In his book, Lee: The Last Years, Charles Brace= lyn Flood tells about a time after the Civil War when General Robert E. Lee was visiting a farm in Kentucky. The lady of the house showed Lee a= grand old tree in her yard that had been scarred and damaged by the Federal artil= lery when they had come through during the war.= She spoke with great bitterness about the Northern armies, and she expected Lee, the defeated Southern general, to condemn the North or at lea= st to sympathize with her loss. Instead, Lee responded, “Cut it down, my dear madam, and forget it.”= [6] Send out the dove.

Today I want to give y= ou a reminder that God gives us the resources to navigate the floods in our live= s. It’s a cork. Corks float, no matter how turbule= nt the water gets. As a person of faith, you can float when the flood comes. God will not let you sink. Put this cork on your kitchen coun= ter, in your medicine cabinet in the bathroom, in your place of prayer. And don’t forget the lessons= of Noah in the flood.

Play to an audience of One. Build your ark before th= e rain starts. When the storm is pas= t, send out the dove. Find your = peace in God. That will be your “vortex moment.” = That will be your bridge over troubled water.&n= bsp; That will be your high ground in the flood. That will be your great adventure.= Amen!