Here it is. February has arrived. We survived the artic temperature of the last half of January. With those temperatures came the drifts of snow and a little ice. We survived that also. Now what about what is ahead?

February has a lot going on. There is Valentine’s Day, Rose Day at the state capital and Super Bowl Sunday. Next month there is spring, time change, spring break for the schools and Good Friday. April brings with it to start the month Easter.

And so the list goes on until before we know it, it’s Thanksgiving and Christmas and then another year is over! We look back and we say, “I survived another year!” I mean it’s just another year, 365 days, 8,760 hours or 210,240 minutes. How hard can that be?

Well, my friend Charlie was just in my office and we were talking about Noah and the Ark. I went there one time back seven years ago. The Ark Encounter, Noah’s Ark replica, is located in Williamstown, Kentucky. I believe everyone should go and see it once. Anyway, (I might have digressed a tad), we were talking about the size of the ark, all the animals on the ark, food for all the animals and specifically, how long they were on the Ark. That was a lot of animals for a boat (big to some) and after being on the Ark for one solid year, I would imagine it wasn’t big enough to others.

Noah, Mrs. Noah along with the three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth (and their wives) all on the boat with 7 pair of clean animals and 2 pair of unclean animals. I see that as a whole lot of togetherness. And it did nothing but rain for the first 40 days. It was another 150 days before the water crested and started to begin to go down.

We stay in the house because of cold weather or snow and/or ice for a few days and we get “Cabin Fever” and start to go stir crazy. How would you like to be on an Ark for one year? It is not like you could go for a walk, have any alone time or anything.

But, there were chores to be done. Animals had to be fed. Cages had to be cleaned. Pretty sure the animals were not too crazy about being caged up for an extended time either. They may have had to soothe temperaments of the animals as well as their own.

The first couple weeks probably weren’t too bad. But the weeks turned into a month, then two months and three months to six months or seven months. Discussions about whose turn it was to clean out the lion or elephant’s cage may have occurred. Little things that never bothered you much now became a major nuisance. Yea, I’ll bet it got interesting.

Then you put sibling rivalries in the mix as well as daughter/sister in law to the mix…. think I will pass. I rode in a car with siblings on an 800 mile trip with no animals or in-laws just the rivalries and thought it was the end of the world.

But you know what, Noah and his family survived. Survived the rain. Survived the floating for over half a year before the sea began to settle. Survived all the animals and never ending chores. Survived the raven and dove going out and coming back. Survived the Ark settling on solid ground… finally. Survived each other.

The door opened and the Terra Firma was in front of them. They walked out and I’m sure they stretched their muscles, inhaled a deep breath of fresh air and worshipped God. They survived.

It has only been one month of the New Year. We have had the bitter cold. We experienced the winter blast of winds, snow and ice. Flu had struck many. Colds have gotten many more. Other illnesses have hit as well. Injuries to our bodies have been dealt with as well. And, death has been a part of our community as well as some of us individually. And we are only in February. One month conquered and 11 left to go.

Not very optimistic? We survived, though. And we will keep on surviving each month until 2026 is past. I know this because I have been through 64 of the years, soon to be 65. Some of the years have been good and easy, other years difficult and hard, but God has been there with me.

It was faith that kept Noah and his family strong and together (not killing each other). It was faith that led them on the Ark, faith that kept them in the Ark and faith that took them out of the Ark.

For us to survive 2026, the 11 months left, it will take faith to get through it. When things get to be bad and you think you can’t go on… remember Noah and the Ark.

And remember Hebrews 11:1, “ Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Surviving, Bro. Tim