Genesis 7

y destroying the whole world, God foreshadowed the kind of sacrifice he asks of Christians through the baptismal covenant. The Christian does not live for himself and foregoes the pleasures of the earthly world, its turbulent tides that are ultimately deadly for the embracing ark of the Church, which is why many traditional churches' roofs are intentionally designed to look like the ribbing of a ship. The ark is lifesaving, but it can also feel confining, stuffy, perhaps Noah's greatest complaint may have been the stench of all those animals. Still, the realization must ultimately be that no life is perfect. There is a price to pay for everything. And the price of eternal life is 40 days and 40 nights in this valley of tears.