After eating I couldn’t sleep at first.  Exhaustion finally took over, yet it was not a normal sleep.  I had weird dreams.  In my dream I saw a room which had a brilliant light at its center.  Around this center was like a rainbow of colors.

Added to this were these disk looking things which would fly around that center point from place to place.  There was no sound in the dream.  It was complete silence, yet that light was nearly blinding. 

The dream woke me and I felt as tired as when I lay down.  I sat up in the cot placing my feet on the ground.  Walking to the door I opened it to find a heavy fog.  It looked like something out of a horror film.  I sat on the ground for a few moments taking it all in.

The night air was cold yet the earth itself felt warm.  This was an experience I was not accustomed to. I missed my bed. 

A short while later I went back to sleep for what seemed like a moment, then something woke me before dawn.  It was another loud crack in the sky and what felt as though the earth moved.

With the light of dawn, the one called Shem came to greet me with more food and water.  I say he greeted me in this way because he never said a word.  It is as if I am not accepted, or I am not believed to be who I say I am.

I dared to not move from this stone shelter which was nothing more than a storage for some tools, a cart, and a hearth for fire.  A workbench was along the back wall.  Looking at the tools again I noticed they really did have steel of some kind.  Perhaps it was iron.

According to modern history this Noah and his sons should be cave men.  The iron age would not be for many years to come.  Steel is a far more modern creation.  These guys should be using stone knives and wearing loin cloths, but it was not this way.

My Interrogation From Noah

After eating I could hear the men and their wives tending to chores.  I was about to seek them out when I saw the man called Noah walking towards me. 

Upon reaching me he said, “Let’s walk by the river and talk.”

We walked at a slow pace for a few minutes saying nothing.  It seemed that he was gathering his thoughts as he would occasionally pause from walking and look up.  I am not sure what he was seeing in the sky.  Maybe he was praying or trying to talk to his God.

“Clay, can you tell me more about your life and your world?”  He used my nickname from childhood, Clay.  It was at times common for people to do this, I did not think much of it.

As I began to describe life in general like day to day activities, I began to notice he had no concept of many things.  Cars, planes, television, video games, the simple things not only did he not know but I had no way to explain.

There was not a way to convey what these things were or begin describing it in a way that he could understand.  It was at this point that I went from patronizing what I thought may be a joke to beginning to accept this was for real.

“Clay why do you think you are here?”
“I honestly have no idea why.” I replied.
“Did God send you here?”

I really did not know how to answer this, especially without offending him.  “I don’t know, and if God is a person, then I don’t know why He would.” 

“You mean that you do not believe in God then.” Noah began to laugh.
“I do believe in a God, or that God exists in general.” I replied.

“Clay let’s be reasonable. You go to sleep in your home and wake up in another place.  Here you find yourself in this world stumbling upon me and my family.  It would seem an impossible act has taken place in your life that can only be made possible by a very specific God.”

Okay so his logic was sound.  There is no other real explanation other than perhaps alien abduction, a wormhole, or a black hole and time travel.  Still, he would not understand aliens.  I could give the alien thing a try, beings from another world would make sense to me right now.

“Noah, what if a being came from another world, took me, and caused me to be here?” 

In any other rational setting that question would cause me to be put into a padded room.  This whole situation left reason a long time ago.

“Angels can do many things, some good, and some can be very horrible.  Nevertheless, only God can do what has been done.” Noah replied.

He kept insisting on this God.  For me the point of being here held no proof of God.  I could really care less about the spiritual debate at this moment.  I needed to get home.

“Noah, I do not mean to offend you.  I believe that God can be in many things, and people have different names for him, different religions, but they all speak to God.”

It was here his laughter not only had passed but the comical smile he had went away.  I figured it was at this moment he might break me in half and feed me to the fish.  Maybe that is why he walked me away from the rest of the group.  I suddenly realized my mistake in following him.

“Look around you at the world Clay.  Light, color, the diverse species of animals, a sun that rises and sets, stars which map the night sky that we travel by, it all has a very detailed and specific order.  Order of this kind does not come from a general god without person.”

This had become ridiculous.  We all know how the earth came to be and life evolved, but now I am hearing this instead of finding a way home. 

“Okay so God planted the seed of life and we all evolved into the here and now.  That does not help me get home.” I shot back at Noah.

Another mistake, I had to explain the concept of evolution.  Apparently, this was a new idea in his time.  I felt like I was a child again and my mother was scolding me.  Except he was a lot scarier than my mother.

“There is no way that order of this kind can come from chaos or an accident Clay.  Please understand that the imbeciles of my former time could at least accept that something cannot come from nothing.”  Did he just call me stupid?

I have heard this argument before.  I could hear my mother’s voice and words say the same thing in my mind.  At this time the gravity of his statement just had not hit home.  At this time, it was another sound bite of religion not reason by fact and truth.

The look on Noah’s face maintained its serious composure “It would seem you know my name, my story, and are still in disbelief.  If you cannot believe your eyes seeing the world around you, it should not surprise me that you cannot believe your eyes seeing me.  You still cannot accept that you are here.”

“Clay, you are stuck here.  I do not know how to take you home.  I suggest that you make the most of your time until your purpose is revealed.  You may live in the building you slept in, help with daily tasks, and begin to find your way home.”

I knew he was right, but knowing this did not make it easier.  I was angry.  I wanted to lash out, but at who and how?  I was in a whole new world.  In that moment I did not appreciate what he was offering me.

He could have sent me away.  He could have thrown me into the river to drown as some abomination that should not be here.  Instead, he opened his home to an unknown that by their words should not exist.

Adjusting To Life In A Post Flood World

Days would turn into weeks, and weeks into months, then months into years.  There would be many surprises which would come.  Some small, and some surprises would forever change my thinking about the world and history itself.

Before coming to Noah, my life was filled with a job, people, entertainment, and news or other media which never ended.  My phone kept my mind busy by itself, so I never took the time to really think about things.  Here, there was nothing but work and time to think.

In my world people would hear a quick sound bite and maybe think on it for a few moments, perhaps check Google, and this was the end of thought.  Their philosophy to life was not even theirs.  It was controlled by media or authority of some kind, not personal research or thought.

My relationship with my mother was horrible.  After college I rejected her altogether.  I blamed her religion for chasing dad away.  I knew she hated being in the mountains and wanted to live in the city.

After dad left I always believed that she got what she wanted.  We moved to Nashville and started a new life.  At home I can never remember a day where we spent more than 15 minutes talking to each other.  How shallow it was to make assumptions when knowing so little about her and dad.

On this farm living from day to day I witnessed this family interact constantly.  They worked together, ate together, spent time teaching their children and raising them.  There was not a moment when caring for each other was not the focus.

Truly our depth in my time was as deep as a puddle, but we believed that we swam within an ocean of depth.  Other lessons I would also learn but the hard way.

My Early Post Flood Education

I spent the first year working on Noah’s farm.  Rarely would I ever leave it.  He had so many animals of so many kinds it was hard to imagine.  The first time away from the farm was to learn hunting wild game.

I hunted deer back home, but this was altogether different.  Ham took me out hunting and instructed me on how to move with the terrain in order to keep myself concealed.  Instead of following the contour of the land I crossed the top of a hill to find a lion.

I didn’t remember there being lions in the Middle East region.  Then again, the Middle East in my time did not look like grasslands in central USA.

Another major surprise was my discovery of what we call dinosaurs.  According to my history they went extinct long before humans walked the earth.  On this trip it was Japeth’s turn to laugh at me.

Apparently, some did survive the flood in the ark.  I learned that these animals had a difficult time surviving in the world after.  I also learned that this world now was very different from the one before.

This revelation came after an event which shook the family.  Noah was at his vineyard and his sons visited him.  Something took place there dealing with some kind of embarrassment.  I do know that Noah had too much to drink that day.

While I was kept from the details, Noah’s attitude toward Ham changed.  Noah would forgive him and the relationship would become better, yet it did forever impact Ham in a deep way.

In another walk by the river Aras I asked Noah what was bothering him.  He had been troubled for some time.   He was a deeply philosophical man, certainly spiritual, but also would speak plainly.

I began to learn of the world before.  It was very lush with life, a single continent and predominantly flat with low rolling hills in places.  The whole of the earth was of one climate where it never rained.

A dew like mist would rise from the ground in the night watering the Earth. The mornings and the evenings were very close in temperature.  Food was much easier to come by when compared to this present time, and also richer in nutrients.

Before the flood those who followed God’s commands did not eat meat.  The “fruit of the land” was more than enough to sustain them.  Gold and silver could be found with ease in the same way as iron and other materials.

Resources were at hand rather than hidden, the air was pure, and the water was perfectly clean.  After listening to Noah, the realization of what he was enduring was quite deep.  For Noah, his present situation was a post-apocalyptic world and everything with everyone from before was now gone.

I then understood the incident at the vineyard more clearly.  In Sunday School as a kid I always remembered the Genesis story as being one of creation, the flood, and a lot of names and generations.  Living here now was definitely not the colored cartoon characters portrayed in the children’s books.

With this new knowledge I could reason why some animals had such a difficult time adjusting as well.  Their entire ecosystem had changed.  Not all would make it to my time in the future for one reason or another.

Seeing Noah’s distress told me it was all real.  It wasn’t a story anymore.  It was day to day life.  The grind of work, hunting, fishing, building, and watching their families grow in a world that was ripped apart.  The fifteen-minute Sunday School lessons as a kid just could not capture this.

Each day that passed I also began to question my position with God.  I discovered from Noah his God had a name.  His name is Yah.  Noah said that I had a problem with my head connecting to my heart.  My ex-wife used to say the same thing.  Maybe they both are right.