Advent Day 8 - Moses & the 10 Commandments - Deuteronomy 5:1-22

If you ask most people what the Ten Commandments are about, they would probably reply: "A list of rules." And they are a list of "do's and don'ts", but also so much more than that... they are a covenant - an unbreakable promise - between God and his people, the Israelites. It was God's way of saying: 

You are mine, save yourself for me. 
You bear my name, do not drag it through the mud.
I want to spend time with you - save one day a week especially for me.
Honor our love by living true to it - without stealing, lying, or cheating. 
Love others with the same love we share.

Looked at from that perspective, all of a sudden the dusty old tablets of stone become something beautiful and sacred. The words of Deuteronomy become those of a handsome groom to his beloved bride:

Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!   - Deuteronomy 5:29

"Oh that their hearts..."

Hear the cry of a God who loves you, the One who gave it all to be with you - forever - and longs to be close to you, even now.

All is grace, 
Carie

Day 8  -  Moses & the 10 Commandments  -  Deuteronomy 5:1-22

The Message (MSG)

5 Moses called all Israel together. He said to them,

Attention, Israel. Listen obediently to the rules and regulations I am delivering to your listening ears today. Learn them. Live them.

2-5 God, our God, made a covenant with us at Horeb. God didn’t just make this covenant with our parents; he made it also with us, with all of us who are alive right now. God spoke to you personally out of the fire on the mountain. At the time I stood between God and you, to tell you what God said. You were afraid, remember, of the fire and wouldn’t climb the mountain. He said:

6 I am God, your God,

who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of a house of slaves.

7 No other gods, only me.

8-10 No carved gods of any size, shape, or form of anything whatever, whether of things that fly or walk or swim. Don’t bow down to them and don’t serve them because I am God, your God, and I’m a most jealous God. I hold parents responsible for any sins they pass on to their children to the third, and yes, even to the fourth generation. But I’m lovingly loyal to the thousands who love me and keep my commandments.

11 No using the name of God, your God, in curses or silly banter; God won’t put up with the irreverent use of his name.

12-15 No working on the Sabbath; keep it holy just as God, your God, commanded you. Work six days, doing everything you have to do, but the seventh day is a Sabbath, a Rest Day—no work: not you, your son, your daughter, your servant, your maid, your ox, your donkey (or any of your animals), and not even the foreigner visiting your town. That way your servants and maids will get the same rest as you. Don’t ever forget that you were slaves in Egypt and God, your God, got you out of there in a powerful show of strength. That’s why God, your God, commands you to observe the day of Sabbath rest.

16 Respect your father and mother—God, your God, commands it! You’ll have a long life; the land that God is giving you will treat you well.

17 No murder.

18 No adultery.

19 No stealing.

20 No lies about your neighbor.

21 No coveting your neighbor’s wife. And no lusting for his house, field, servant, maid, ox, or donkey either—nothing that belongs to your neighbor!

22 These are the words that God spoke to the whole congregation at the mountain. He spoke in a tremendous voice from the fire and cloud and dark mist. And that was it. No more words. Then he wrote them on two slabs of stone and gave them to me.

The Christmas Cookie Conundrum...........AKA: Advent Day 7 - Joseph

A good rule of thumb: Don't make promises you don't intend to keep.
A second rule: And definitely make sure you don't speak those promises aloud.
Where little ears will hear.
And remember like it's carved into stone.
(Now why oh why can't it be carved into stone that I asked them to clean their room?)

I had mentioned this morning - off hand - that I might *might* make Christmas cookies later, you know, if the day went well and all...

Fast forward to 4:30 and I had completely forgot. So, knowing full well what I was getting myself into, I began making the cookies.

Now for some background before we get into the nitty-gritty:
1. My kitchen is the size of a postage stamp. It's a 1.5 butt kitchen. (Don't tell the kids I used the "b" word) And all three - yes three! - were in there and wanting to "help".
2. I am not a baker. There has to be a full moon, all stars in alignment (or a really big kitchen with lots of legit help) for me to want to make any recipe that requires rolling out.
3. Once I say I'm going to do something, I will get it done, come hell or high water. At times this is a strength.

This was not one of those times.

You know that little voice inside? The one that whispers - or if you're lucky - screams that "This is a baaaad idea! Rethink! Regroup! Run AWAY!

Well apparently, he had the night off.

Just about everything that could go wrong, did.
- Added flour to the brown sugar, instead of creaming butter and sugar. (In my defense, recipe clearly stated "Mix dry ingredients together." Since when is brown sugar a wet ingredient?!
- Hand sifted the brown sugar out since it was still in a measuring-cup-shaped lump. (And because that's all the brown sugar I had)
- Proceeded to add baking powder to the brown sugar instead of the flour.
- Re-hand sifted the brown sugar by hand.

If you ever make cut-out cookies, the Number One tip I can give you?
MORE FLOUR.
Always use more flour. If you think you have enough and your finger doesn't stick to the dough?
ADD MORE FLOUR.

I must have scooped the dough out of the bowl like four times only to realize it was too sticky, then had to scrape it off the counter and back into the bowl for more flour.

At this point I was ready to chuck the whole bowl out the window.

Well...I finally got the right consistency and was in cookie making business. Until the baked cookies stuck to the sheet and snowflake arms started flying off left and right. Too bad I'm not Canadian, cuz they sure look a lot more like maple leaves than they do snowflakes.

Tip Number Two: NON-STICK SPRAY IS YOUR BFF.

By this time I was pretty sure God had performed a miracle and was reenacting the story where the widow's oil and flour never ran out...because I didn't feel like I was making a dent in that bowl of dough.

By now the kids were running like hellions around the house playing "Jedi and Darth Vader" - a result of another promise I had kept by letting them watch Star Wars earlier in the day - and Lil' Peach was sitting on my feet, crying rivers because I wouldn't let her have another cookie and "are you going to starve me forever Mama?!"

And somewhere in the midst of this chaos I thought: Where is the peace? This is supposed to be fun. It's supposed to look like those gosh darn Hallmark commercials. I'm supposed to feel blissful and full of holiday JOY for goodness sakes! When all I really wanted to be full of was a glass of wine and about half a tray of cookies.

But the thing about those holiday commercials?
They're not real.

This. THIS is real. The sifting through mistakes only to make the same mistake a few minutes later. The broken pieces of dreams and the big 'ol crocodile tears streaming down our faces wondering when we'll get our just desserts and "are you going to starve us forever God?!"

Joseph's holiday card would not have looked picture perfect. His memories weren't filled with glittering smile-filled get togethers. His brothers hated him. They tried to kill him. He was spoiled, prideful, spited, hated, kidnapped, sold, exiled, bought, framed, imprisoned and forgotten. 

Yet each painful unfathomable mysterious step was orchestrated by God and used to save an entire nation. God was in each moment, holding Joseph, whispering hope. All the tough stuff he had to go through made him the perfect man to lead Egypt through an unbelievable crisis.

And the God that held Joseph is the same God who holds you. Who can take the cookie-crumble pieces of your life and turn them into something beautiful and full of hope.

Embrace the darkness...he has you hidden in the shadow of his wings, the enfold of his strong arms.

Keep seeking for Hope...he knows what he is doing, and is doing it.

All is grace,
Carie

Day 7  -  Joseph  -  Genesis 37:3-4, 12-24, 28

The Message (MSG)

37 Meanwhile Jacob had settled down where his father had lived, the land of Canaan.

Joseph and His Brothers

2 This is the story of Jacob. The story continues with Joseph, seventeen years old at the time, helping out his brothers in herding the flocks. These were his half brothers actually, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. And Joseph brought his father bad reports on them.

3-4 Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he was the child of his old age. And he made him an elaborately embroidered coat. When his brothers realized that their father loved him more than them, they grew to hate him—they wouldn’t even speak to him.

5-7 Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said, “Listen to this dream I had. We were all out in the field gathering bundles of wheat. All of a sudden my bundle stood straight up and your bundles circled around it and bowed down to mine.”

8 His brothers said, “So! You’re going to rule us? You’re going to boss us around?” And they hated him more than ever because of his dreams and the way he talked.

9 He had another dream and told this one also to his brothers: “I dreamed another dream—the sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to me!”

10-11 When he told it to his father and brothers, his father reprimanded him: “What’s with all this dreaming? Am I and your mother and your brothers all supposed to bow down to you?” Now his brothers were really jealous; but his father brooded over the whole business.

12-13 His brothers had gone off to Shechem where they were pasturing their father’s flocks. Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers are with flocks in Shechem. Come, I want to send you to them.”

Joseph said, “I’m ready.”

14 He said, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing and bring me back a report.” He sent him off from the valley of Hebron to Shechem.

15 A man met him as he was wandering through the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

16 “I’m trying to find my brothers. Do you have any idea where they are grazing their flocks?”

17 The man said, “They’ve left here, but I overheard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph took off, tracked his brothers down, and found them in Dothan.

18-20 They spotted him off in the distance. By the time he got to them they had cooked up a plot to kill him. The brothers were saying, “Here comes that dreamer. Let’s kill him and throw him into one of these old cisterns; we can say that a vicious animal ate him up. We’ll see what his dreams amount to.”

21-22 Reuben heard the brothers talking and intervened to save him, “We’re not going to kill him. No murder. Go ahead and throw him in this cistern out here in the wild, but don’t hurt him.” Reuben planned to go back later and get him out and take him back to his father.

23-24 When Joseph reached his brothers, they ripped off the fancy coat he was wearing, grabbed him, and threw him into a cistern. The cistern was dry; there wasn’t any water in it.

25-27 Then they sat down to eat their supper. Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites on their way from Gilead, their camels loaded with spices, ointments, and perfumes to sell in Egypt. Judah said, “Brothers, what are we going to get out of killing our brother and concealing the evidence? Let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let’s not kill him—he is, after all, our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.

28 By that time the Midianite traders were passing by. His brothers pulled Joseph out of the cistern and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites who took Joseph with them down to Egypt.

Advent Day 6 - Jacob - Genesis 28:10-22

Jacob has always irritated me. Who knows what he looked like, but I've always imagined him as ruggedly handsome, with playboy smirks and a way with words. He seems like a conceited lying mama's boy. (Although I'm not a big fan of Jacob, I am glad that God used him. I'm so glad that God doesn't always use the perfect and "wise" option - that he chooses the weak, the unworthy and unloved to carry out his plans...)

But of course the leading man would choose a gorgeous leading lady. I think that is what bugs me the most - poor Leah. She probably fell for his good looks and charm just like her sister. Can you imagine how heartbroken she must have felt after her wedding night when Jacob tossed her aside in anger? 

There have been times in my life that I could relate to Leah. I was always the youngest in my class, relegated to eternal girlhood while all my best friends were metamorphosing into model-look-alikes for Seventeen magazine. Always the friend of all the boys, but never the girlfriend. I sympathize with wanting to be desired. To be "The One".

And for years marriage definitely filled that hole. I was finally "The One", and yet, slowly, almost imperceptibly the same flashes of restlessness and comparison have crept back in. It might only take a glance at Facebook to see glowing skin and glistening abs, or glimpse a commercial with a be-winged buxom brunette...

Or maybe it's just the friend who got a new car. 

It doesn't matter what sets it off, but the feeling is instant and strong. 

Discontentment. 

The desire to be more than I am, experience more than I do or be someone I'm not.

It's so hard to remind myself that this feeling - this discontent - is a built in alarm system from God. It's his way of saying "Helloooo...There IS something missing in your life... ME!" I've heard the voice so many times its easy to brush right over it, not acknowledging it for what - Who - it really is.

Discontentment is not bad, as long as it turns us to Christ. As long as the end result is a heart that is more thankful, more aware of God's Graces in it's life. And the longer I live, the more I'm realizing that this discontent, this yearning will never really leave. We are made of earth for heaven, and until we are there, a part of us will always long for more. The key is: Where does this yearning lead us to?

God always redeems what is hurt, lost and broken...

God blessed the pretty-boy schemer with a brood of sons and an eternal covenant.

In the end it was Leah - not Rachel - who bore the son who continued the lineage of Christ. 

A plain nobody from nowhere - a carpenter's son - would grow to became the hero of the world.

What is lost, broken or hurting in you?

Is your heart yearning for something you can't put a finger on?

Turn to The One who makes all things new. 

Who brings beauty from ashes. 

Who saved the world.

All is Grace, 

Carie

Day 6  -  Jacob  -  Genesis 28:10-22

The Message (MSG)

10-12 Jacob left Beersheba and went to Haran. He came to a certain place and camped for the night since the sun had set. He took one of the stones there, set it under his head and lay down to sleep. And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground and it reached all the way to the sky; angels of God were going up and going down on it.

13-15 Then God was right before him, saying, “I am God, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. I’m giving the ground on which you are sleeping to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will be as the dust of the Earth; they’ll stretch from west to east and from north to south. All the families of the Earth will bless themselves in you and your descendants. Yes. I’ll stay with you, I’ll protect you wherever you go, and I’ll bring you back to this very ground. I’ll stick with you until I’ve done everything I promised you.”

16-17 Jacob woke up from his sleep. He said, “God is in this place—truly. And I didn’t even know it!” He was terrified. He whispered in awe, “Incredible. Wonderful. Holy. This is God’s House. This is the Gate of Heaven.”

18-19 Jacob was up first thing in the morning. He took the stone he had used for his pillow and stood it up as a memorial pillar and poured oil over it. He christened the place Bethel (God’s House). The name of the town had been Luz until then.

20-22 Jacob vowed a vow: “If God stands by me and protects me on this journey on which I’m setting out, keeps me in food and clothing, and brings me back in one piece to my father’s house, this God will be my God. This stone that I have set up as a memorial pillar will mark this as a place where God lives. And everything you give me, I’ll return a tenth to you.”

Advent Day 5 - Isaac - Genesis 22:1-18

Abraham was a patient man. He waited almost a hundred years for God to fulfill his promise to make him a daddy. Can you imagine the excitement and love he must have felt when he finally held Isaac in his arms? The longer you have to wait for something, the more you appreciate it. Abraham must have been one proud papa.

When we found out our first child was going to be a boy, I was so thankful. My husband is the most amazing man, and I was so happy that we would be able to raise another amazing man, to give the gift of another Mr. Steady to the world. He would have someone to be his buddy, his little partner.

I can't imagine having a talk with God one morning and hearing him say, "Do you trust me? You know that son, the one I promised? Well, take a long hike and when you get to the top of the mountain I'm going to ask you to give him back to me..." 

Soul crushing.

Extreme loss.

Heaving, wracking sobs.

I can't imagine loving any boy more than I love my Bubba. I can't imagine saying goodbye in that way...because of something I did.

And yet, how much more infinitely must God have grieved the loss of his Son. His buddy. His partner. How painful was it to render a relationship where there was no sin, no arguments, no selfishness. Just perfect unity.

Earth crushing.

Epic loss.

Heaven rendered in two.

And He said goodbye, not once, but TWICE. Before the cross, the suffering, the turning of the back... There was a stable, some peasants and a little swaddled babe, laying helpless in a manger. Susceptible to tragedy, illness and the brokenness of men. The courage to let go -- I can't even begin to fathom. 

And yet I will try. I will try to see what God had, and what he gave up. For me.

All is Grace, 

Carie

Day 5  -  Isaac  -  Genesis 22:1-18

The Message (MSG)

22 After all this, God tested Abraham. God said, “Abraham!”

“Yes?” answered Abraham. “I’m listening.”

2 He said, “Take your dear son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I’ll point out to you.”

3-5 Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young servants and his son Isaac. He had split wood for the burnt offering. He set out for the place God had directed him. On the third day he looked up and saw the place in the distance. Abraham told his two young servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I are going over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.”

6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and gave it to Isaac his son to carry. He carried the flint and the knife. The two of them went off together.

7 Isaac said to Abraham his father, “Father?”

“Yes, my son.”

“We have flint and wood, but where’s the sheep for the burnt offering?”

8 Abraham said, “Son, God will see to it that there’s a sheep for the burnt offering.” And they kept on walking together.

9-10 They arrived at the place to which God had directed him. Abraham built an altar. He laid out the wood. Then he tied up Isaac and laid him on the wood. Abraham reached out and took the knife to kill his son.

11 Just then an angel of God called to him out of Heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Yes, I’m listening.”

12 “Don’t lay a hand on that boy! Don’t touch him! Now I know how fearlessly you fear God; you didn’t hesitate to place your son, your dear son, on the altar for me.”

13 Abraham looked up. He saw a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. Abraham took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

14 Abraham named that place God-Yireh (God-Sees-to-It). That’s where we get the saying, “On the mountain of God, he sees to it.”

15-18 The angel of God spoke from Heaven a second time to Abraham: “I swear—God’s sure word!—because you have gone through with this, and have not refused to give me your son, your dear, dear son, I’ll bless you—oh, how I’ll bless you! And I’ll make sure that your children flourish—like stars in the sky! like sand on the beaches! And your descendants will defeat their enemies. All nations on Earth will find themselves blessed through your descendants because you obeyed me.”

Advent Day 4 - Abraham - Genesis 12:1-7

When Mr. Steady and I first got married, we lived in a tiny little town way up in the corner of our state, in the middle of nowhere. It was really difficult for me to leave my family and move away from everything that I knew and loved. But I knew it was where God was calling, so I followed my new husband into the wilderness...

And even though that first year was in many ways the toughest so far, I wouldn't go back and change anything about it. I quickly came to realize that my heart and life could not revolve solely around Mr. Steady, because even though a wonderful man, he was just that - a man - and would eventually let me down. But if my heart and mind belonged completely to Christ, I knew I would be in a better place personally, as well as in my marriage. The lessons I learned in that "foreign land" would be ones I carried on into the future and could pass down to my children.

Now, unlike Abraham, I didn't actually leave the country, so I can't even imagine what Abraham went through, and his faith in doing so has always inspired me. Even though he wasn't perfect, I love that Perfection came through him. 

All is Grace, 
Carie

A picture from our engagement photo session during Thanksgiving 2004.
10 years went by like a blink of the eye.

Day 4  -  Abraham  -  Genesis 12:1-7

The Message (MSG)

12 God told Abram: “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you.

2-3 I’ll make you a great nation
        and bless you.
    I’ll make you famous;
        you’ll be a blessing.
    I’ll bless those who bless you;
        those who curse you I’ll curse.
    All the families of the Earth
        will be blessed through you.”

4-6 So Abram left just as God said, and Lot left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him, along with all the possessions and people they had gotten in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan and arrived safe and sound.

Abram passed through the country as far as Shechem and the Oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites occupied the land.

7 God appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your children.” Abram built an altar at the place God had appeared to him.

Advent Day 3 - Noah - Genesis 6:9-8:22

One of the best books I ever bought for the kids was The Jesus Storybook Bible. I love the colors, the vivid imagery, but most of all I love the way that Sally Lloyd-Jones ties each story into the bigger picture of redemption. I especially love her take on the story of Noah:

...The first thing Noah did was to thank God for rescuing them, just as he had promised.
And the first thing God did was make another promise. "I won't ever destroy the world again."

And like a warrior who puts away his bow and arrow at the end of a great battle, God said, "See, I have hung up my bow in the clouds." And there, in the clouds - just where the storm meets the sun - was a beautiful bow made of light. It was a new beginning in God's world.

It wasn't long before everything went wrong again but God wasn't surprised, he knew this would happen. That's why, before the beginning of time, he had another plan - a better plan. A plan not to destroy the world, but to rescue it - a plan to one day send his own Son, the Rescuer.

God's strong anger against hate and sadness and death would come down once more - but not on his people, or his world. No, God's war bow was not pointing down at his people.

It was pointing up, into the heart of Heaven.  (The Jesus Storybook Bible, pg. 46-47)

All is Grace, 
Carie

Day 3  -  Noah  -  Genesis 6:9-8:22

The Message (MSG)

9-10 This is the story of Noah: Noah was a good man, a man of integrity in his community. Noah walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11-12 As far as God was concerned, the Earth had become a sewer; there was violence everywhere. God took one look and saw how bad it was, everyone corrupt and corrupting—life itself corrupt to the core.

13 God said to Noah, “It’s all over. It’s the end of the human race. The violence is everywhere; I’m making a clean sweep.

14-16 “Build yourself a ship from teakwood. Make rooms in it. Coat it with pitch inside and out. Make it 450 feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. Build a roof for it and put in a window eighteen inches from the top; put in a door on the side of the ship; and make three decks, lower, middle, and upper.

17 “I’m going to bring a flood on the Earth that will destroy everything alive under Heaven. Total destruction.

18-21 “But I’m going to establish a covenant with you: You’ll board the ship, and your sons, your wife and your sons’ wives will come on board with you. You are also to take two of each living creature, a male and a female, on board the ship, to preserve their lives with you: two of every species of bird, mammal, and reptile—two of everything so as to preserve their lives along with yours. Also get all the food you’ll need and store it up for you and them.”

22 Noah did everything God commanded him to do.

7 Next God said to Noah, “Now board the ship, you and all your family—out of everyone in this generation, you’re the righteous one.

2-4 “Take on board with you seven pairs of every clean animal, a male and a female; one pair of every unclean animal, a male and a female; and seven pairs of every kind of bird, a male and a female, to insure their survival on Earth. In just seven days I will dump rain on Earth for forty days and forty nights. I’ll make a clean sweep of everything that I’ve made.”

5 Noah did everything God commanded him.

6-10 Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters covered the Earth. Noah and his wife and sons and their wives boarded the ship to escape the flood. Clean and unclean animals, birds, and all the crawling creatures came in pairs to Noah and to the ship, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. In seven days the floodwaters came.

11-12 It was the six-hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month that it happened: all the underground springs erupted and all the windows of Heaven were thrown open. Rain poured for forty days and forty nights.

13-16 That’s the day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, accompanied by his wife and his sons’ wives, boarded the ship. And with them every kind of wild and domestic animal, right down to all the kinds of creatures that crawl and all kinds of birds and anything that flies. They came to Noah and to the ship in pairs—everything and anything that had the breath of life in it, male and female of every creature came just as God had commanded Noah. Then God shut the door behind him.

17-23 The flood continued forty days and the waters rose and lifted the ship high over the Earth. The waters kept rising, the flood deepened on the Earth, the ship floated on the surface. The flood got worse until all the highest mountains were covered—the high-water mark reached twenty feet above the crest of the mountains. Everything died. Anything that moved—dead. Birds, farm animals, wild animals, the entire teeming exuberance of life—dead. And all people—dead. Every living, breathing creature that lived on dry land died; he wiped out the whole works—people and animals, crawling creatures and flying birds, every last one of them, gone. Only Noah and his company on the ship lived.

24 The floodwaters took over for 150 days.

8 1-3 Then God turned his attention to Noah and all the wild animals and farm animals with him on the ship. God caused the wind to blow and the floodwaters began to go down. The underground springs were shut off, the windows of Heaven closed and the rain quit. Inch by inch the water lowered. After 150 days the worst was over.

4-6 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ship landed on the Ararat mountain range. The water kept going down until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains came into view. After forty days Noah opened the window that he had built into the ship.

7-9 He sent out a raven; it flew back and forth waiting for the floodwaters to dry up. Then he sent a dove to check on the flood conditions, but it couldn’t even find a place to perch—water still covered the Earth. Noah reached out and caught it, brought it back into the ship.

10-11 He waited seven more days and sent out the dove again. It came back in the evening with a freshly picked olive leaf in its beak. Noah knew that the flood was about finished.

12 He waited another seven days and sent the dove out a third time. This time it didn’t come back.

13-14 In the six-hundred-first year of Noah’s life, on the first day of the first month, the flood had dried up. Noah opened the hatch of the ship and saw dry ground. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the Earth was completely dry.

15-17 God spoke to Noah: “Leave the ship, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives. And take all the animals with you, the whole menagerie of birds and mammals and crawling creatures, all that brimming prodigality of life, so they can reproduce and flourish on the Earth.”

18-19 Noah disembarked with his sons and wife and his sons’ wives. Then all the animals, crawling creatures, birds—every creature on the face of the Earth—left the ship family by family.

20-21 Noah built an altar to God. He selected clean animals and birds from every species and offered them as burnt offerings on the altar. God smelled the sweet fragrance and thought to himself, “I’ll never again curse the ground because of people. I know they have this bent toward evil from an early age, but I’ll never again kill off everything living as I’ve just done.

22 For as long as Earth lasts,
        planting and harvest, cold and heat,
    Summer and winter, day and night
        will never stop.”