Last month, I took a business trip to Cincinnati, Ohio for the Advanced Writer’s and Speaker’s Conference and the International Christian Retail Show (plus the launch of my third book, Experiencing God Through His Names). What an amazing experience.
From the time I stepped foot onto the airplane, the voyage was full of divine encounters. I will continue to share a few more of them in the weeks and months ahead. A highlight of the time was a media tour of the Ark Encounter. Since the Ark Encounter had not officially opened for business, we were not able to go inside the exhibit, but remained outside.
In a recent interview with Forbes, Ken Ham, founder and creator of the nearby Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter said, “We are bold about the fact that we’re doing it because we’re Christians and we’re doing it for the Christian message. But we’re not trying to force it on people. What we want to do is challenge people to consider that what they’re seeing was true and feasible. We want to get them to take the Bible seriously.”
Before we check out the Ark Encounter website, let’s review the story of Noah’s Ark in Genesis 6:9-22:
“This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them. Noah did everything just as God commanded him.”
Why not plan to visit the Ark Encounter? You might be renewed, refreshed and revived in your faith. If God wills for me to return to Cincinnati, Ohio for next years’ AWSA/ICRS, I hope to make a point to experience the Ark and actually go inside. Who knows? I might even ride on one of the ziplines. Check it out here and read their description of the experience below:
The Ark Encounter features a full-size Noah’s Ark, built according to the dimensions given in the Bible. Spanning 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high, this modern engineering marvel amazes visitors young and old. Ark Encounter is situated in the beautiful Williamstown, Kentucky, halfway between Cincinnati and Lexington on I-75. From the moment you turn the corner and the towering Ark comes into view, to the friendly animals in the zoo, to the jaw-dropping exhibits inside the Ark, you’ll experience the pages of the Bible like never before. The Ark Encounter is a one-of-a-kind historically themed attraction in Williamstown, Kentucky. In an entertaining, educational, and immersive way, it presents a number of historical events centered on a full-size, all-wood Ark, which is the largest timber-frame structure in the USA..