“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens. Brown paper packages tied up with strings. These are a few of my favorite things…”

Have you started singing along with me yet?

These words to a famous, well-loved song are truly some of my “favorites!” As is waking up to raindrops on my patio! Which I did this morning, when I wrote this blog post. Yes, you heard me right. I woke up to raindrops, all over my patio. And not just my patio, rain had fallen pretty hard during the night and had left everything covered in a fresh coating of crystal glaze. There were even puddles!
Welcome to life in West Sonoma County in June!

The prettiest sight of all were the raindrops hanging gently from my father’s roses. Yes, I said roses, plural! Three additional buds have opened, and four lovely red roses have hung from my father’s rose bush, and this morning God covered them in raindrops.
My heart leapt for joy as I stood outside in the coolness of the morning, taking in the fresh scent of rain, and smiling from ear to ear at the sight of raindrops clinging to my dad’s roses.

Both are miracles you know. Only God can cause a flower to grow and bloom, and only God can cause the rain to fall. How do I know? Because until our next Action Hero put his faith into action, no raindrops had ever fallen!

Today we are introduced to a Boat Maker! A man of God who found so much favor with God, that he was called a “righteous man, blameless, one who walked in close fellowship with God.”

“Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on the earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.” Genesis 6:9

This was our Boat Maker before he ever considered going into the carpentry business!

We do not know what Noah did for a living before God asked him to be a carpenter, but we do know the kind of life he lived. He was a good family man, who obeyed God, walked with God in close fellowship, and remained “blameless” in the middle of a corrupt and violent world!

“Now God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence.”
Genesis 6:11

Sound familiar? But instead of feeling lost and hopeless, Noah demonstrated great Faith in God and remained “blameless” and walked in close fellowship with God!

We could stop right here and declare that Noah was already a Hero of the Faith. But, actually the story has just begun! Noah becomes a true ‘Action Hero of the Faith’, as he faces and accepts his greatest “Faith Test” yet!

“It was by FAITH that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. HE OBEYED GOD, WHO WARNED HIM ABOUT THINGS THAT HAD NEVER HAPPENED.”
Hebrews 11:7a

“THINGS THAT HAD NEVER HAPPENED!” Did you catch that?
Action Hero Faith is not just believing in God, walking with Him, talking with Him…True Action Hero Faith is putting that faith into action when you cannot see the outcome. Or in this case, EVEN COMPREHEND IT!

Our Hero, Noah, had no understanding or comprehension of RAIN, let alone a FLOOD!

“So, God said to Noah, “I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence. Yes, I will wipe them all out along with the earth!”
Genesis 6:13

God put that exclamation point there this time, Not Me! This was BIG!
God was going to start over! His creation was not following Him! It had rejected His ways, and had turned to their own ways! All, but ONE!
One faithful man of God stood alone among the rest. Noah…and now God was calling him to be His ACTION HERO!

God was asking him to live out the reality of Hebrews 11:1, to “Act on what He hoped for, but could not see!”

“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1

God is asking Noah to build a boat, a large boat, and to waterproof it, because “RAIN” (which Noah has never seen or heard of), is going to “cover the earth with a flood!‘
Genesis 6:14, 17a

You see, the song I quoted at the beginning of this Blog never could have been written at this time! NO ONE HAD EVER SEEN A RAINDROP! No one had ever walked out on a beautiful morning, like I did this morning, and viewed the world covered in a soft, wet blanket. No one had ever seen a rose with a delicate drop of rain sitting upon it.
NO ONE HAD EVER SEEN RAIN!

Yet, God is asking our Hero to build a large boat, with God’s very specific instructions,(Genesis 6:14-16,) and fill it with his wife, his sons and their wives…

Let me pause here a moment and just say how thrilled I would have been to have said “YES” to the proposal from one of Noah’s sons! This was my passport to safety people! Just saying!
Seriously…”and a pair of every kind of animal – male and female, every kind of bird – male and female – and every kind of small animal that scurries on the ground.” Genesis 6:18-20

Now, granted, this would have been a stinkey ride, but a safe one!

Not only was God asking Noah to build a boat, but He was also making him to do even more physical work and load the boat with food for EVERYONE aboard!

“And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the animals.” Genesis 6:21

Noah had to build the boat, convince his entire family to get on board and “TRUST HIM,” round up two of every kind of living species on the earth, corral them onto the boat, and fill the boat with enough food for EVERYONE!

I could not imagine the migraine size headache Noah must have had as all of the “grumbling and complaining” started over what they wish the had for dinner, verses what they actually had for dinner! We are such complainers, aren’t we?

With all of this work behind him, our Hero is about to move into “Action Hero” status!

“So Noah did everything as the Lord had commanded him.”

GENESIS 6:22 and GENESIS 7:5!

That’s right! Not once, but twice, and I would imagine many other times before and after Scripture records it for us!

Our Action Hero was Blindly Obedient! Noah put His Faith into Action even when he could not see it or understand it!

Truth Bomb

ACTION HEROES ARE BLINDLY OBEDIENT!

“He (Noah) obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By His FAITH (in acting on what he did not see or understand), Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received righteousness that comes by FAITH.” HEBREWS 11:7b

Friends, if we chose to follow in the foot steps of the great Action Heroes of the Faith who have walked before us we need to
“Do everything as the Lord commands us.”

This means saying Yes, to the things of God, and No to the things of this world. It is our choice to make! Will we walk in Action Hero Faith like Noah and be seen to “walk closely with our God?” Or, will we walk just close enough to God, and just close enough to this world that no one can see the difference?

The choice is ours to make! Let’s be like our heroes of faith!

Speak Truth Love