It was on one of those cool early mornings that I saw Noah walking up to my little storage shack.  I never moved out of the thing even though they offered something better.  It became like my little apartment.

I did add onto it.  A small kitchen was the second addition.  The first addition was the most important.  With the help of Shem I engineered a somewhat prehistoric functioning bathroom.  I am sorry but an outhouse just was not for me.

How did I do this you may ask?  I remembered from college history classes how kings in the Middle Ages had done something quite similar.  I may not be a king, but I decided to live like one.

Besides, I was an archeology major.  I really wanted to mess with someone in the future.  I was tempted to carve E=MC² into a stone, but I just couldn’t do it.  Instead they get the bathroom.  This is the kind of nonsense I would conjure up in my boredom of work.

My Last Conversation With Noah

Noah came to my door and once again asked for a walk.  He was much older now.  I believe he was 949 years old.  His walks were quite slow, and he used his cane which was carved from wood taken from the ark.

“Clay, have you figured out why you have come to us?” he asked. 

He knew I did not know this answer.  It became a common question he would ask with a smile to remember our first meeting.  Sometimes it was just a greeting where he had a little fun with me.

“No, I still ask myself why every day.” I replied.

The fact that I had not died yet showed that something changed.  I still appeared to be the same age as when I arrived.  It was as if I was out of sync with time, although passing through it.  This perplexed me often and I began to think it was a form of punishment.

“There may be an answer to that question Clay.  I will not pretend to know the answer, yet I cannot but wonder if it was to allow you to witness history.”

I could not help but question this. “Why?  What would be the point when those who lived in the past are a witness to events by their stories and what they write?”

Noah stopped walking and turned to face me.  The early morning light shining a gleam into his eyes and a small smile formed across his face as he continued to explain.

“Yes, each of us will leave a mark in history with the stories we leave behind.  You though are not like us.  You still do not truly believe despite these stories.  Clay, you see what is in front of you but you to not believe in the one who allows you to experience it all.”

I still could not make the connection.  Okay, to say I do not believe is not accurate.  I certainly believe that God is real especially after experiencing all of this. 

“I do believe in God though. After all this He is something I cannot refute.” I stated.

Belief Does Not Make A Follower

His smile turned into a light chuckle of a laugh.  “I believe each of our interpretations of the word belief means different things.  Did you know that Satan himself was the highest and most powerful angel of God?  He stood before God.  Yet Satan did not truly believe in God.”

So now I am getting seriously confused.  If Satan was in front of God serving Him, of course he would have to believe in God. 

“Okay Noah, you are trying to tell me something again and I am not getting it.  What are you really wanting to say?”.

The smile went away, and I could see the seriousness come back into his eyes.  “Believing with one’s eyes is not enough.  Believing with one’s heart putting your faith and trust in Yah is the difference.  Clay, you want to control everything in your life, but you control nothing.  The question is, who do you truly serve?”

“You cannot control where you are nor when you are in time.  You trust only yourself.  Until you can surrender yourself, your heart, and give everything to God, then and only then will you begin to see and know Him.”

I could not help but ask one question which started from this conversation.  “So how does all of this play into me being here?”

His answer was simple.  “That is for you to discover for I do not know.” 

We had reached his favorite sitting spot along the river.  We sat and the conversation would begin to take a dark turn.

Noah’s Concern For Me

“Do you remember when I told you that the world would change, men’s hearts would become dark, and you began training with the sword?” Noah asked.

Of course, I remembered.  I felt like a child trying to wrestle his dad because Japeth is so big. All of them were huge compared to me. 

I did notice though that with each generation something was taking place.  The size of mankind began to diminish rapidly.  With this also the state of their health.

Age began to set in faster and illnesses were more prevalent.  There was beginning to be a greater distinction between those who were weak and then those that were strong.  The youngest generation stood at near my height and size.

“Yes, I remember when you told me that.  It was before our last trip to the ark.  Why do you bring it up now?” I asked.

The look on Noah’s face was more than sad, it was as if a dark depression had been hiding within him and it started to come out.

“Clay, God once walked with man and still man decided to attempt being his own god.  God then separated Himself from man because our hearts are evil and He cannot be a part of sin.  We then turned on each other to dominate mankind.  This is done with a belief that man is god.”

“I have grandsons that believe they are powerful, mighty hunters, conquerors.  They trust their own power so much that Yah is forgotten.  What you will need to do in order to survive will not be easy.”

I seriously did not like where this was going.  There were several major problems with the line of thought.  I really needed to get out of here and be back home.  Still Noah continued.

“Taking a life to protect yourself or to protect the innocent is sometimes necessary.  My fear is that if you do not know Yah then it could be that you fight for the wrong side.” He was worried that I would become like the others who fell away.

I instantly interrupted as it was just too much.  Never in my life have I been some kind of warrior. 

“I cannot take anyone’s life, the whole time travel thing and changing history alone would not let me do it.  This is crazy Noah; I have to get home.” I pleaded.

His eyes pierced mine, “Clay listen to me, you have been placed here and whatever is put into your hands to do, then you must do it.  Your reasoning does not account for what God knows or has already taken care of.” He said.

This made no sense to me, “Still if I take a life and alter the future …”, as I was speaking Noah interrupted. 

“You are not listening to me.  You said you are from a time thousands of years in the future.  Has there ever been another time when mankind almost died to no longer exist?”

I am not sure where this was going but, “Yes, we call it the Dark Age.  Why do you ask?” 

“If God can choose to nearly eradicate all of humanity but still get His job done, I really do not think you are going to mess up His plans.  Look at me and what happened.”  He said with a gleam in his eye.

The one piece of logic from all of this hit me.  The Dark Age is still in the future, and presently population growth is exponentially high.  If I am only defending myself things should be alright.  Whatever footprint I leave would have been wiped clean anyway.

I was not in the place where I could buy Noah’s point.  Just let God handle things and no matter what, if He wanted something to be, then it would be. 

Noah started chuckling, “Your mind is always working to make sense of things.  It is good to try and understand.  You may think I am crazy, but I am the guy who built a boat on dry land.”

That stopped me dead in my tracks.  Noah stood up and began to walk back towards the farm.  He knew something.  I could see it, sense it.  It was as if he was just waiting for it.

Noah’s Gift To The World

The walk back was pretty normal.  Talk of projects of the farm, animals, and the still ever changing weather patterns.  Violent storms with blistering cold to the next days warm sun was at times too much.  The weather was getting better than in the past, but it certainly made farming life challenging.

We reached the outskirts of the farm and he turned towards me, “Something tells me that you will soon be traveling to distant places.  Take these.”  He held out his hand and in it was a pouch.

“What is it?” I asked. 

He smiled at me saying, “A gift from the world before, seeds for great trees.  Plant them on your journey, but only in very fertile soil and a warm moist climate.  I want future generations to see that what is now was not always so, and what was before was so much more than this.”

Trees?  Seriously?  Of all the things to “leave behind” he chooses great trees.  Wait, leave behind?  Was he dying?  I looked up to ask but he was already walking away.  I decided to let that thought go.

I couldn’t stand the thought of what all of this meant.  When I first arrived I hated being here. The fact is I shouldn’t be here.  I have spent the equivalent of several lifetimes from my world with Noah and his family.  In truth they are now also my family.

I was adopted, taught as if I was a child, and given a chance in a world I did not belong.  It was all because of that man I am alive.  I owe him more than I could ever repay.  I owe his sons more than I could ever repay.

Great trees, of all the things Noah.  One would start to think you have carpenters blood in you or something.