Imagine you're about to go to war. It's 2450 BC. You've been summoned by the tribe leader, and you have two months to prepare for a battle you don't know that you'll come back from. The only way you know how to soothe your family is to explain to them why tribes go to battle, and why people like you are used in those battles. You explain to them through the use of metaphor, the power drive that causes tribes to think they are favored by the gods over all the other tribes. And you tell them there's not anything you can do about it, for to resist and withdraw would surely mean death and what good would it be for the family if you were put to the sword? What the Noah story does is give the family hope that they will be spared from the evils and catastrophe that lie ahead. But deep in your bones, you know this isn't how it's supposed to be. You aren't supposed to be fighting. Tribes aren't supposed to be feuding over whose god is bigger. You feel like a pawn in a huge game of thrones, and you have no control over the outcome. All you can do is trust the still, small, voice inside that tells you, "Trust in me. I will watch over you. Everything will be okay. Just trust in me."
"And the story continues: "The Great Power didn't forget about Noah and his family and all the animals that were aboard the barge. And the Great Power sent a massive wind over the whole earth, causing the water to stop filling up. The reservoirs underground stopped leaking water, and the sky stopped pouring buckets of water; and the water slowly drained from the earth, and by the 150th day the water started evaporating. On July 17th, Noah looked out the window of the barge and saw that the barge was nestled on top of the Ararat Mountain range. The water kept dissipating until October 1st, and Noah noticed the tops of other, much shorter mountains starting to come into view.
And by the second week of November, Noah opened the window to the barge. He let out a raven, but the raven never came back. It flew and flew and flew until the water dried up from the face of the earth. So Noah never got any evidence from the raven that it was safe to offload. Then, he sent out a dove, and the dove couldn't find any trees to fly to. So, the dove came back to the barge and that told Noah that it wasn't time to get off the ship yet. Noah waited seven more days and in the third week of November, he tried the dove experiment again. This time, the dove came back with a fresh olive leaf in her beak. This told Noah that it was finally safe to unload the barge. But, just to be safe, Noah waited another seven days, and in the last week of November he sent the dove back out. This time, the dove found a nesting place, so Noah knew it was definitely safe to get off the ship.
On January 1st, in Noah's 601st year of life, the water that once covered the earth was all dried up. It was as if it never happened, and Noah opened the door of the barge and saw dry land for the first time in a very long time.
And the Great Power told Noah, "Take your family and get off the barge. Get all the animals out so they can repopulate the earth."
Noah did as he was instructed, and every animal went out just as they had come in.
Then Noah did what we still do today when we worship. He built an altar to the Great Power, and took one of every clean animal that went aboard the barge, and sacrificed them on the altar.
The Great Power smelled the soothing aroma, and said, "I won't allow a flood like this to ever happen again. The evil of the human heart is inevitable, and there's nothing I'm going to do to stop it. Man will have to learn on his own how to overcome his wicked ways. And, I will never again allow every living thing to be destroyed."
And Noah sang this song in celebration: "While the earth is still standing, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night, Will not stop their cycles of life."
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