By Ann Farabee

We purchased our tickets. We looked up the ramp toward the door.

It may have been a wooden ramp beneath my feet, but it felt solid as a rock.

It was leading up to the Big Boat — Noah’s Ark in Williamstown, Kentucky.

The door to the ark was open.

An ark is defined as a vessel or sanctuary that provides safety and protection. Noah built an ark as directed by God, in order to provide protection and safety from the flood God sent to cover the earth. The ARK lived up to its meaning!

During our visit to the Ark, the story of Noah’s Ark went from a story in the Bible to a story in the Bible that came to life. My words to my family as we walked through were mostly, “Look at that! Look at this!”

If you visit the Ark, I recommend asking the Holy Spirit to allow it to be a spiritual experience. I am certain it is much better when the Holy Spirit guides you through, as you will see a new revelation in each scene. I had read about it in God’s Word and felt it in my spirit, but now someone had given it life in the form of a lifelike walk-through on Noah’s Ark in Kentucky.

The wooden frame may have seemed a bit dark and dull, but the experience was illuminating and illustrious. I was in a place made by man to give others a starting point for internalizing the magnitude of Noah’s Ark and also the magnitude of the purpose of Noah’s Ark. I chose to experience it with my heart more than with my eyes, although my eyes certainly were given a feast.

Noah did what God told him to do. Then God shut the door.

The rain covered the earth. In those rain clouds, the storm met the sun.

The rain ended. Everyone began to look up to see the rainbow.

It was a promise from God for a new beginning.

Everyone had a chance to accept the promise that was to come. They had seen Noah building the big boat for 40 years and they knew what he was up to — but yet — most chose not to believe God’s man. Or maybe they did believe, but they just thought they would get on board closer to the time the ark would be put to use, not knowing when God would actually be closing the door. They assumed there would be more time, perhaps one last second chance.

Only those who took that step and went through the door into the ark received the promise. Had they not taken that step and gone through the door, they never would have seen the rainbow. They never would have seen the promise.

Would I even have gotten on the ark?

Noah spent years building it. I hope I would have.

While visiting the Ark in Kentucky, it became much more than a story, it became a choice.

It is our choice to get on the ark of safety given to us by God before the door is closed.

I only had to look to page 18 in my Bible to read this beautiful story of God’s love:

Genesis 8:1 — “God remembered Noah.”

Genesis 8:18 — “And Noah went forth.”

Genesis 9:13 — “God set the rainbow to be seen in the cloud to be a token of the promise and everlasting covenant between Him and those on the earth.”

As I walked up the ramp to the ark, I thought, “I am so glad I purchased my ticket to go through that door into the ark of safety.”

No, I was not thinking about the ark in Williamstown, Kentucky.

I was thinking about how Jesus purchased my ticket for me as He died on the cross for my sins, so that I could receive Him as my Savior and be on the ark of safety in His arms now — and in my eternal home — heaven!

I am so thankful the door of salvation was open.