God remembered Noah so I'd know God remembers me

​This morning, as part of some reading and writing and note-taking I'm doing each morning, I got a prompt to go to Genesis 8:1 in the bible. Most mornings, these prompts direct me to multiple verses. But this morning, one little verse.

My initial thought - what's the point? Why waste time on one verse?

It turns out, the point was God didn't want me distracted by any other verses. He needed me to hear just one.

So the story of Noah's ark:

God tells Noah man has turned out evil. God's sorry he made man; he wants to hit the reset button. And Noah, well he's that lucky button.

God tells Noah he's going to flood the earth. Build a giant boat, Noah - fill it with a pair of every creature that exists - and then it's all about riding the storm out - (hmm, a great REO Speedwagon song I suddenly feel a need to listen to on my run after this).

So Noah spends the next 120 years building this boat. Yes - ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY years...

Then the flood comes and Noah spends 150 days in the boat with the world's first zoo as his sidekick.

So here's the thing about the bible - to me. I know a lot of people who spend a lot of time and energy - believers and non-believers of the bible alike - debating just how true or untrue the elements in the story I just shared are.

I wasn't there. I wasn't Noah. I wasn't that zoo. I won't begin to debate the theories and facts of the story of Noah's ark.

But I will share an undebatable truth. This is factual.

I had dinner with a buddy last night. It was about a 45 minute drive home from where we ate. Sometimes I use long drives like that to listen to a ballgame. Sometimes music. If I'm feeling really brave and borderline sadistic - CNN or Fox News.

Last night I opted for quiet. And many times in that quiet, to be honest with you, I found myself wondering - God, have you forgotten me? Have I made you mad or disappointed you?

You know, for me, sometimes knowing the answer isn't the same as feeling the answer. I knew the answer to my questions was no - but during the drive home the answers felt like yes.

So this morning, the story of Noah's ark, it wasn't about the ark at all. It was a story about a God who wanted to talk to me - only me. He wanted me to show up this morning to hear him say to me - God remembered Noah.

I wondered if the words "God remembered Noah" are in the bible because Noah wondered if God had forgotten him. If God was angry at him.

I wondered if part of that story is written for me - and maybe for you - because God knows there are days we'll feel forgotten. Some days the bible is God's way of saying I'm right here.

I'm not mad and you're not forgotten.

Sometimes one verse isn't just one verse at all. True or not, the stories in the bible are much more than stories.

To me.