Page 36 of Born to be Wilder

My shoulders slumped after her “wow” hadn’t been about feeling the Spirit rushing into her… it had been about wooden beams.

“It smells incredible. Is that… cedar?” Marge mused, her nose wrinkling. “Kinda smells like Home Depot. Love that smell.”

My shoulders slumped more.

Alice removed her sunglasses as her eyes adjusted to the dim, atmospheric lighting. Then she looked up at the soaring wooden ceiling above us. “Okay, Doris. You were right.”

I held my breath. Right about you being filled with the Holy Spirit the moment you stepped inside the Ark?

“This is really something. Very cool,” she finished.

My shoulders slumped forward even more. Very cool? Not what someone says as the light of the Lord is washing through them.

“It’s incredible,” Sylvie breathed, turning slowly. “What an absolute marvel.”

I beamed, my heart fluttering with hope again. See, Lord? They’re noticing Your handiwork. We’re halfway there!

As we moved through the first deck, animal sounds and the pitter-patter of rain echoed through the speakers. It was atmospheric and grand. We moved deeper into Deck One, where the wide corridor opened up into rows of enormous wooden cages on either side, towering overhead, filled with life-size replica animals peering out between the bars. The detail was extraordinary—the texture of fur, the glass eyes catching the light. Around us, families moved slowly, children pressing their faces to the cage bars.

I walked and prayed quietly, watching my widows from the corner of my eye.

Marge suddenly slid to a stop in front of a cage containing two life-size dinosaurs—small ones, juvenile versions, the exhibit explaining that young animals would have taken up less space and been easier to manage on the voyage.

Marge turned to me with an expression of pure, uncut joy.

“Doris.” She grabbed my arm. “There are dinosaurs on the Ark.”

“Yes, I know⁠—”

“Dinosaurs. On Noah’s. Ark.”

“They would have been young ones, you see, because⁠—”

“I don’t care why! There are DINOSAURS!” She pulled out her phone. “Sylvie! Alice! Get over here! DINOSAURS!”

The others appeared, studying the juvenile dinosaur replicas, then the exhibit placard explaining the theological and scientific reasoning.

“This is really interesting,” Sylvie said. “I didn’t know about the dinosaurs either. Just one species, or how did that work? I can’t imagine a boatful of every type of dinosaur.”

“They’re kinds,” I explained patiently. “God saved every kind of creature.”

Marge grinned. “I’m just saying, if I’m Noah, the raptors are definitely the first things I ‘accidentally’ forget at the dock. One lapse in locking that gate and they’re eating the sheep and then Noah and his family. It’s a buffet on a boat.”

“You know,” Alice said, “I came in here fully prepared to be bored, and yet.”

“Right?” Marge was already taking photos. “This is incredible. Doris, you absolute sneak. You buried the dinosaur lead.”

“I didn’t know you’d be so excited about the dinosaurs,” I said, flustered but delighted.

“Of course I’m excited about the dinosaurs! Who wouldn’t be? Nobody tells you there are dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark! That’s the whole commercial! Lead with the dinosaurs, Doris!”

We moved through the rest of the animals, the girls oohing and ahhing over the display, the conversation full of questions and contemplations as they tried to make sense of this miracle.

My excitement started to rise when Marge said, “Man, that Noah and his family really had a lot of crap to shovel, didn’t they?”

It wasn’t the crude statement that had me smiling—it was that Marge believed in Noah. And if Marge believed in Noah, then… she must believe in God!

It’s working, God. Keep showing them the way!