Crazy Stable

It rained over the weekend—rained hard. I ran from room to room, squinting at the ceilings. No drips. I ran my hands compulsively over the surfaces beneath, hunting for errant drops. Nothing. I stuck my head out the window, peering at the Roof Valley of Death; no firehose-like torrents issued from it, and the new extra-wide gutter was not overwhelmed by the downpour.

In reviewing the story of Noah's Ark while finding this circa-1750 engraving, I was struck by several things.

One: Waterproofing hasn't changed much since the Year of the Flood (although Biblical scholars still puzzle as to why God's specs for the Ark included "gopher wood," a term found nowhere else in Scripture and one that still stumps translators; given the hurried job schedule, it probably means 3/4-inch plywood).

Two: Protecting your family (and your critters) from the elements is one of the primal bargains you try to make with God.

Three: It feels like one heck of a blessing when the storm is over and you're still nice and dry.

The guys "knock up the gutters" today, says the roofer, and then we're done. Genesis says nothing about Noah feeling pretty overwhelmed by the prospect of cleaning up all that water damage and starting over from scratch, not to mention repopulating the earth...

"Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.

This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.

You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.”

                                                                   Genesis 6: 14-16

 Image: Ancestry Images