Are you living on an ark?

All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another. Genesis 8:19 New International Version

Yesterday I went to the local zoo with my Kinship kid. She has been there many times and loves seeing (and naming) all of the animals.

For myself, it wasn't quite so much fun. Having seen these animals in the wild, in their natural habitat, it is so hard for my heart to not break seeing them behind bars, knowing that their habitat is now a fraction of what it would be in the wild.

I know that zoos serve their purpose. They are there to educate people about these magnificent creatures in a way that looking at pictures in books cannot come close to achieving. Zoos also allow some of our most endangered species to survive. Efforts in many of the world’s zoos and animal preserves are keeping these animals from becoming extinct.

It wasn’t until I looked up the story of Noah that something dawned on me. Conditions in that ark had to be worse than nearly any of our country’s zoos. And even though it hadn’t been for the lifetime of these animals, they had to be scared and uncomfortable.

Just like those animals on the ark, sometimes we are scared and uncomfortable. Maybe our boat is different, but we are still cramped, if not physically, then often times emotionally and spiritually. We feel like we aren’t living where we should, that this isn’t the life we were meant for.

But this life here on Earth isn’t eternity. It is a short piece of all time. One day we will be set free. We will be in heaven, able to roam the vast spaces we were meant to roam, live the life that God set out for us.  

 Then I saw this zebra. Do you see a word in the stripes on his back? At first it looked like it read “Jesus”, but I can also see the word “life”. But aren’t those really the same words?