This 11-month journey is a lot like Noah’s.
Noah was a pretty radical guy. He built a giant ship in his yard because God told him to. He was probably mocked and scorned daily. He had to gather enough food for every living thing in the ark. His life, every day, was completely devoted to this mission that seemed crazy. Racers give up jobs and have to get all of our ducks in a row before we leave. Some people think we’re crazy, some say we’re wasting our time, and others just call us foolish. We set aside what the world tells us is important to follow where God is calling us. And we have this huge ship to build – fundraising $16,000.
Noah sat in the ark for a week with all of the animals, just waiting for the rain to start. Surely he wondered if it would even rain or if he should give up. He hoped that all of that work wasn’t for nothing. Racers go to training camp, and it’s like we locked ourselves in a giant ship for a week even though the ground outside is a desert. We begin to wonder if the world was right and we really are crazy. We wonder if we can bail, but something holds us back (a small amount of faith that God really did speak to us, a lot of pride, and the fact that we spent months building a giant ship with our bare hands).
Then it rains. Noah was shut into the ark as every human and animal drowned. Some probably fled to the mountaintops or tried to stay afloat in ships. But they all died. Noah must have wondered how he could stay inside and not save others. Maybe he even questioned the goodness of God. Surely he was depressed, being stuck in the ark for five months of rain, darkness, and isolation. Hope had to be hard to see clearly in the midst of desolation. The 11 months begin. God takes us on a journey where we’re stuck in a dark ship with rain and flood around us for 11 months. We are stuck with the same people (who we can’t get away from), regularly wondering what we’re doing there. We see the darkness and desolation around us and struggle to have hope. We question God’s goodness.
It finally stops raining, but we aren’t finished. Now we have months left to wait faithfully for the waters to subside and for God to show us what’s next. Noah was in the ark for 11 months before the waters were dried off of the earth. Even then, he waited another 1.5 months before God told him to exit.
When it’s over, life won’t be the same, and we won’t be the same. We will see that all along, God had something bigger planned. In the midst of the darkness and the flood, He was still good, and He had a plan to redeem. And it will be worth the loneliness.
