The Ark Encounter

So this summer I had some stuff pop up that wasn’t so very expected. I had originally hoped to go to Colorado and Arkansas to camp but Sweeny sports kept me in town the whole month of June and I had a few procedures that kept me Texas bound. My mom came to Texas to be with me for those so no solo camping trip for me this summer but that didn’t mean no camping at all. It just means my mom got to come along for the trip! Mom was pretty adamant about visiting the Ark Encounter that is in Williamstown Kentucky. So I found a campground in Daniel Boone National Park just about an hour and a half away from moms objective! I’ve decided to focus on the Ark adventure in this post and leave the camping experience for another because there is so much to tell about each event. I expected going to the Ark Encounter would be like an hour-long thing and we would walk through it and be done but I have never been so wrong in my life. We spent almost the entire day there! Luckily I had my blog in mind so I took a pretty good number of pictures to help share the experience with you guys. Here’s my little version of a sneak peek! To start the journey off I need to add a little back information here to make you really understand my first impressions on other wonders I’ve seen. In my few travels to places that are well known and photographed I’m not always impressed. The White House, well it seemed a little small to me. The Chandelier Tree in which you can drive through, well I feel like I’ve almost seen Oak Trees the same size. You had to literally have a car, no SUV or full-size truck, to drive through it because the hole was rather small. And mountains, they are just as cool as the other two but pictures of the whole ranges are just so much better than seeing them in person. This makes me sound like a person who is impossible to please, but it’s not that I don’t think these places are amazing, I just stupidly had higher expectations. This is something that I have recently learned and accepted about myself so I went with my expectations a little more altered. I guess you can say I went to the Ark expecting a little boat. Again, I was completely wrong! When we approached the entrance we saw it far in the distance and it was huge! There was a huge parking lot that had a ticket building and they had buses that had to pick you up and take you out to the actual Ark. Once you got there it was like a little theme park. And the Ark up close was even cooler! I couldn’t wait to get in.

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Once inside you realize the boat is divided into different decks. The bottom deck was mainly crated animals and storage. Throughout these areas, there are really good explanations for how they possibly fed and watered all the animals. Even the way they allowed light into light the Ark up was explained. Literally, any question one would have was answered within the Ark.

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At the end of each deck was a big screen and they had short videos telling the story for Noah. The second deck was mainly the educational deck for us with lots of pictures and reading and in the middle of the deck is where the bigger caged animals were located. I think the top deck was by far my favorite. This was the deck in which we got to see their living quarters and we got to read and learn about each one of Noah’s sons as well as his wife and himself.

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I took two lessons away from the Ark. God wants nothing but the best for us but nature can be relentless. Those friends and family I have back in Florida that were devastated by Hurricane Michael know this all too well. Mother nature doesn’t care about us. Because of that none of us reeeaaaallllly know when our last day on this planet will actually be. Because of that, we must trust in God and be the best versions of Jesus that we can be. One day we will all get to our judgment days and some of us will be laying on death bed regretting some of the things we said, did, or believed in. Don’t let that be you. The other thing I thought strongly about the whole time I was there is just how much God loves each and every human on this planet. We are all his children. We are all from the same family. We look and act differently but in the end, we are the same no matter how we look, how we dress, how we move around, how much of our brains work or even how our brains work. We are all unique just the way God intended. Here is one of the parts of the Ark that hit on racism.

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Take a minute and just read the words in those pictures. Now, replace the idea of color with sexual orientation, political party, disability and so on. We are all humans. We are all God’s humans at that. I have always made it a personal goal to love and respect every person I have come across. I try my hardest not to judge, although at times I must admit that is very hard. When I catch myself on the verge of judging somewhat I make a conscious decision to try to understand that person. I think if we all worked a little harder on understanding each other we would be more capable of accepting and loving those that are completely different than ourselves. Be the light among all the dark in the world. And go visit the Ark Encounter. You will not regret it!