[This is my second post of eight in my “Vintage Wednesday” series on “The Great Initiator,” re-written/updated from a blogpost back in April of 2011.]

Noah is raising three sons. He's a righteous man, blameless in his community, and walking in the steps of his Creator. God invades his space one day and announces that the world is going down. Suddenly Noah finds himself constructing a giant life preserver and then he's out on the high seas with his family. God initiates, Noah obeys, and the planet is saved.

Pretty cool story. We all love to tell this one to our kids and grandkids. But the real story isn't Noah. It's God. It's God—the Great Initiator—who sees the earth going to “hell in a hand-basket” and says something needs to be done about it! Consider His mercy and long-suffering spirit toward humanity who has chosen to reject Him. What would you have done had you been God?

It speaks largely to the character and nature of God. He's generous, life-giving, and will do whatever it takes to ultimately preserve the human race. Eventually He sends His Son to ultimately redeem humanity and get us out of our mess.

On Noah's part—and to our part practically speaking—there are several key factors to God initiating us toward greatness/success:

1. Go against the flow: Maintain your righteousness and integrity when everyone around you is not!
2. Act in Faith: Be willing to step out and do something that has never been done before (in Noah's time many believe it hadn't even rained up until this time…WHY build an ark?).
3. Do for a few what you wish you could do for everyone: Lead those within your sphere of influence (in Noah's case—his family) to stand against the peer pressure all around.