Build Your Ark: Bold Obedience in a Chaotic World

By Bob Genisot

We live in a world filled with chaos. From terrorism abroad to anger and violence in our streets. From corruption in government and leadership to evil and wickedness in our own backyards, it’s no wonder why so many people live gripped with fear. The good news? God has the solution, and He’s seen this before.

In Build Your Ark, author Bob Genisot casts a modern light on the familiar story of Noah, a bold adventurer who overcame impossible odds and defied the world’s logic to become God’s chosen instrument in rescuing humanity. Learn how bold obedience in the storm can rescue you from the storm.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664225923

Bob Genisot

Bob Genisot is an incurable golfer, mostly impartial sports fan, unnatural lover of probability, and accidental evangelist. He thoroughly enjoys teaching others about Newton’s Laws of Motion and exotic produce, but mostly about the Goodness of God. When he’s not out on the links, or sharing the Gospel to anyone within earshot, you will likely find him watching cooking shows, laughing at inside jokes, and waiting for the snow to melt with his beautiful wife, Sandra, and his two amazing sons, Jeffrey and Michael.

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Copyright © 2021 Bob Genisot.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-2593-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-2592-3 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 03/22/2021

For Sandra: This is the world I promised

you twenty years ago. You deserve

all of it and more.

For Jeffrey and Michael: I couldn’t possibly

be prouder to be your dad.

Run your race.

For my parents: Thank you for showing me that nothing is impossible.

For my nieces and nephews: God has an

amazing plan for each of you if you

just know Him and let Him work.

CONTENTS

Preface

1 The Need for an Ark

2 Starting Construction

3 Dealing with Frustrations

4 The Ark Is Built—Now What?

5 After the Flood

6 How to Market Yourself (It’s Probably Not What You Think)

Afterword: The Build Your Ark Quick Guide

Endnotes

PREFACE

I started building an ark last week. Seriously, I did. No, we didn’t just have a deluge of rain. The dam on the nearby river didn’t give way. We didn’t have an unusually prolonged high tide. The ark is not the size of a football field. I didn’t need a building permit or authority of the Homeowner’s Association to start construction. The ark is not made of gopher wood; in fact, it doesn’t even have any wood or nails or gophers. No, the ark I am building is not an obvious, visible structure, yet it will be grand. It won’t contain any animals, but it will be wild! It will travel across the oceans, to the most remote corners of the globe, and I won’t even need a passport (not yet at least). My ark is more than forty-four years in the making. The truth is, I have been collecting the necessary materials since the day I was born, but last Tuesday is the day I first started assembly. Now that I’ve spent the first paragraph of this book completely confusing you with vague and obscure statements, I should probably explain myself.

It’s been plastered on my wall since mid-August of this year: the phrase build your ark. One day, shortly before this time, my wife, Sandra, and I were having a conversation about the future. We talk about the future a lot. I mean, a lot. When our kids were little, we would pile them in the green Dodge Caravan, pick up coffee from McDonald’s for us, Cinnamon Melts for the kids, drive around, and dream. We would dream about big things like building a new home, small things like the name for the chocolate lab puppy we would own one day (I’m partial to Snickers), and everything in between. When you are young, dreams are free, easy, and as abundant as Cheerio crumbs in a high chair seat. But then you get older, and you realize that the distance behind you is starting to look greater than the distance in front of you. That’s where I was BA (before the ark). The kids aren’t little; I haven’t had coffee in years; the green Caravan is a distant memory—hey, McDonald’s doesn’t even serve the Cinnamon Melt anymore. But I still haven’t lost the dreamer inside.

Anyway, Sandra and I were talking one day in our sunroom, and the phrase build your ark just popped up. I am not sure who said it first. It’s like God stuffed that phrase in the form of a marshmallow in our mouths, and one of us just spit it out. Build your ark. The moment that phrase was uttered, it was like the entire atmosphere of the sunroom changed. We both paused for what seemed like a few minutes just to let that phrase marinate in our minds and hearts. Build your ark. Later that day, I walked into our bedroom, and Sandra had written it in black permanent marker on hot pink cardstock and taped it on the bookshelves next to the bed. Build your ark. This phrase had suddenly taken on a life of its own, and at the time, I wasn’t entirely sure why.

Just a week prior, I had quit my job as an agriculture teacher. Side note: I had no business teaching agriculture. Yes, I enjoy gardening, and I like being outdoors and walking in the woods, but agriculture? I’ve never milked anything in my life. I’m not entirely sure which end of a combine is the front. Don’t even get me started on manure. I have a master’s degree in mathematics. Other than chalk dust, and the occasional flesh wound from the blatant misuse of a protractor, things don’t get too messy in the math realm. It made sense when my first teaching job was as a math teacher. I then switched to teach science, which made a little less sense but was still in my comfort zone. But I was not content, so I changed again to teach agriculture. I kept wanting something more. I thought I would find it by switching jobs, switching schools, or even switching time zones. God had other plans.

After teaching for nearly two decades and suffering through easily the most bizarre year of my teaching career, it was time to ponder my future. So, through a great deal of prayer and acting on the belief that God wanted me to quit my job, I submitted my letter of resignation. Here’s the real kicker: I’m not a quitter! I’m the annoying guy that you play pick-up basketball with at the park that always says, C’mon guys—one more game! But, when I was finally honest with myself, I came to the realization