One day Emma Smith, age 7, sat watching the rain fall outside her bedroom in Phoenix, AZ. Since she had to stay inside, Emma decided to play her favorite game, land of make-believe. Aunt Katie, Uncle Steve and Joey loved to play make-believe, too.
Today she decided to pretend to be one of her favorite Bible characters, Noah.

Emma remembered the wonderful story of Noah's Ark and imagined herself being there instead of Noah. Emma closed her eyes really tightly and then ...ZOOM... she was in another land long, long ago with Aunt Katie, Uncle Steve and Joey.
Most of the people in this new place seemed to be mean and hateful. They were being selfish and greedy and they were fighting in the street.

Suddenly, God was talking. The Lord told Emma He was going to cause a flood over the earth because of all the bad people. But Emma, along with Aunt Katie, Uncle Steve and Joey would be safe if they built a huge boat, called an Ark.
Big elephants helped Emma collect wood to make the Ark.

Emma built the ark just as the Lord commanded. It was covered with tar, called pitch, to make it waterproof. Other animals helped to make the ark by carrying buckets of the pitch. Even when Emma finished building the ark, there was still more work to do.

Then Emma and her family collected all the food and supplies they would need on the ark. They gathered sacks and baskets of apples, melons, hay, grain and everything else they needed.
When the work was done God sent his animals two-by-two, a boy and a girl of each kind, so they could be saved from the flood.

Emma put the animals on the ark just as God wanted. Giraffes, lions, rabbits, raccoons, penguins and many other creatures walked up the steps to the ark.
Then Emma, along with Aunt Katie, Uncle Steve and Joey, got on the ark too. When everyone was safely aboard, God shut the door.

It rained for 40 days and nights without stopping. Sometimes Emma was a little frightened, but she knew that everyone would be safe in God's ark.
The storm continued to rage on and on. The sky stayed gloomy and scary while the flood covered the earth. All the cities and towns were now under water.

Finally the rain stopped and the waters became calm. The ark came to rest on top of Mount Ararat. Emma, along with Aunt Katie, Uncle Steve and Joey felt excited to see blue skies and the sun chining again. Then God caused a wind to blow over the earth, which began to dry up the water.

A while later, Emma sent out a dove three different times to see if the ground was dry. The first time the dove could not find a place to rest and came back. The second time it came back with a fresh olive leaf. That meant the ground was almost dry. The third time the dove didn't return at all. The earth was dry!

At last God told Emma along with Aunt Katie, Uncle Steve and Joey to come out of the ark. God promised never to destroy the earth with water again. He sent a rainbow to remind everyone of his promise.
Just then Emma opened her eyes and noticed the rain outside her bedroom had stopped. In the sky was God's beautiful rainbow, reminding her of God's promise long ago.