Rain, Rain, Rain!

Genesis 7

For a long time Noah went on building his boat and trying to persuade
people to change their ways and tell God they were sorry for the bad things
they had done.
Then, one day, the hammering stopped. Noah’s ark was finished. But there
was still plenty of work to be done. Food must be gathered and made ready
for all the passengers – human and animal. Then the animals had to be
collected. Noah’s family worked as hard as he did.
At last the preparations were done. “It is time to go into the ark,” God said.
“Go in, Noah, with your family and all the animals. The rain will begin in a
week’s time.”
In that week Noah got everything and everyone stowed on board. At the
end of the week, the rain began to fall, as God had said it would. When Noah
and his family and all the animals were safely on board, God shut the door of
the ark.
The rain fell night and day without stopping. Soon the torrential downpour
began to swell the streams and rivers. Water lapped the bottom of the huge
ark. As the water rose, the wooden boat creaked and groaned and shifted.
Then, gently, the water began to lift the ark. They were afloat!
The huge craft began to drift slowly, buffeted by rain and floods. But Noah
had done his work well. The ark was safe and watertight.
Gradually, as the flood waters rose higher, all the well-known landmarks
disappeared. Soon, even the tops of the highest hills were covered by the
water. There was nothing to see but water all around. People and animals had
all disappeared beneath the flood.
For six weeks the rain fell.
But God had not forgotten Noah and his family. At last, as he had promised,
the rain stopped.

Taken from: The Children’s Bible in 365 stories by Mary Batchelor