Canaan
"Something is coming" God said to me in my five hundredth year. "A great flood will come and destroy everything, for humanities deeds have become evil. this is not what i had planned for them. Before the sin of Adam and Eve and after I had always planned for mankind to live in peace with one another, but the world is different now. It's ways are unspeakable."
"Will you destroy even us? What of my wife and my son's Shem, Ham and Japheth and their wives?" Fear began to rise up my spine.
"Fear not, for you have found favor with me" said the Lord. "Build a boat, an ark, and take with you upon it your wife, your son's and their wives, and two of every kind of animal."
Trembling at the glory of the Lord, the almighty, the one true God I whispered "It shall be done as you say."
When the presence of the Almighty had departed from me only one thought came to mind: "A boat? Where on earth do I start?"
For months afterward Shem, Ham, Japheth and I worked tediously on the ark of the Lord. They were good boys, always willing to help and I had been incredibly grateful to the Almighty for allowing me to take my family with me, for such a great loss it would've been for my heart otherwise.
Finally when the Ark was ready, God said "It is time." So I loaded the animals upon the Ark, every bird and every creature of the land as the Almighty had commanded.
Then my family and I entered as well, sealing the door to the Ark shut tight so the flood waters could not ravage us.
"Why us Father?" Shem asked.
"The Lord's ways are a mystery to man, but we must trust them, he knows what is best." I placed a hand upon Shem's shoulder and he silently nodded, and then made his way over to his wife, my beloved daughter in law.
For forty days and nights the floodwaters poured upon the earth,, until at last I released a dove and it came back to me with a olive branch, signifying that the flood was now over.
"Finally!" Japheth exclaimed as at last we disembarked. "Forty days and nights with a bunch of stinky animals, it's enough to drive anyone mad."
"It was the Lord's command" I said seriously, "and we must listen." As I looked upon everything that had been done, my heart wept with relief and joy that the Lord had spared us.
I prepared an altar for the Lord, offering a burnt sacrifice and the aroma was pleasing to him.
"This will be a sign for you, that I shall never again destroy the earth" the Lord whispered. Suddenly, a glorious rainbow appeared in the sky. Tears rolled down my face, for finally, we had a new beginning.
A second chance.