From The Backwoods Pew

Driftwood

woods, snagging on bushes and tap, and while the neighbors witrooted trees. They have floated into nessed the colossal construction an opening in the woods that is project, it wasn’t enough to cause

Many of the actually your road; and now those them to turn and consider that paths that I drive on same bushes and standing timber maybe Noah was right. daily spend a cer- have formed a barrier designed to tain amount of time keep the mat floating along the each year under road. Eventually, the water level water. Water from begins to drop. Without water to nearby rivers is the sustain it, the various pieces of source of this covering. Actually, it Antill wood will settle on the ground as the flood recedes. Having been relomight be more accurate to say the cated, the large mat of woody debris road and the river become one. The has settled…on your road. floodwaters sweep across the road It can truly be an astonishing into the surrounding forest; and sight to see hundreds of logs and now everything is covered with limbs laying on your once drivable moving water. Wood floats.I know road. It is drivable no longer. this because I went to college. As Perhaps the most significant the floodwaters cover the woods piece of drifting wood would have and roads, it increases in depth. been the Ark. Built by Noah at Soon wooden objects begin to float. God’s command, and according to Most things in the woods are made his directions, the Ark stands as the out of…wait for it…wood. Without benchmark for driftwood. Chunks an anchor, or a strong set of roots, of wood laying on the forest floor or a large fat opossum holding it wish they had such a purpose. They down, the various pieces of wood dream of such a rain that would lift will begin to float. Since the forest them to the greatest heights, that and the road are now part of the they too might have historical sigriver, it has a current. When the nificance. The Ark was built for a various pieces of wood begin to purpose, to preserve life, yes; but it float, they also begin to move. ultimately was to shelter the rightLogs lying on the forest floor, bro- eous from judgment. God’s judgken branches, limbs, even trees ment was coming, like storm clouds uprooted by the windall create a on the horizon; and while Noah giant floating mat. This mat is slow- preached and pleaded, none would ly banging its way through the respond. While the mallets would By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. —Hebrews 11:7

The Ark stands as the reminder that judgment is coming again, a reminder that a Holy God will move to destroy those who have chosen to reject him! While we have painted it to be a décor in a child’s room or to decorate our nurseries, and to be a staple in any toy box, the reality of the Ark stands as an alarm against our rejection of God, and a foreshadowing of judgment yet to come.

…and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly…

—2 Peter 2:5

When Hurricane Matthew slammed into southeastern North Carolina, it brought record-level flooding to rivers and lakes. Dams teetered on the brink of collapse, rivers surged and spread across city and forest alike. Bridges were wiped out, roads cut in half. It was after the storm had subsided that I went to “recon” many of the properties I manage within those watersheds. Driftwood was everywhere. Every road included scattered logs and limbs, a testimony to the fact that wood floats.

Driftwood gets its name because of its occupation; it drifts. Too many of us today live a life that resembles driftwood. We seem to have no purpose, no direction, and no destiny. We simply lie in wait, waiting for the next event to pick us up and move us to somewhere new, somewhere different. Like those in the days of Noah, we have turned off the voice of God, and we have ignored the approaching clouds. Even as the water begins to gather around our ankles, we refuse to accept that Jesus is the answer. While the doors of the Ark are open, we instead want to trust in our own forecast, and our ability to tread water.

Where the Ark differs from driftwood is in its purpose and direction. Designed and created to provide a means to escape judgment, it had a purpose. And as to direction, God moved it through the storm. He had a landing point for the Ark.

He had a place where the animals as well as the people would have the best access to be able to disperse into all the world. It would be the place of a new beginning. The Ark certainly holds a high place in the “Wood Hall of

Fame,” but it isn’t on the top shelf. That spot is reserved for the Cross of Calvary. The Cross never floats; it never drifts. It is solid and secure; it is the wood that held the Creator, our Savior, Jesus Christ. The next time you see a piece of driftwood, think of the Ark. It was a wooden structure, made to save a family that believed. It was the first piece of driftwood. But don’t forget about the other piece of wood that was needed to secure salvation, to rescue us from the perils of the storm of

God’s wrath on sin. It was a cross of wood, not drifting, but secured on a hill.

Excerpted from Reflections on Rebellion and Redemption.

Brad Antill, author; find it at www.onatreeforestry.com