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The rain has passed, the sun is out, and Uncle Ricky and Biscuit are on a park bench under the biggest rainbow either of them has ever seen. Genesis chapter 9.

This audio is AI-narrated and may mispronounce some names and places.

Uncle Ricky: Well, Biscuit, look at that. The rain’s moved on, the sun’s come out, and God’s hung a rainbow right over this whole park.

Biscuit: I saw it first! I did! Soon as that rain quit, I said, “Biscuit,” I said, “there’s gonna be a rainbow” — and boom! There it is! I basically called it.

Uncle Ricky: Ha! Well, you called it, all right. But do you know what that rainbow actually is, besides pretty?

Biscuit: It’s… the sky’s way of smiling? Weather confetti? A big colorful slide for birds?

Uncle Ricky: It’s a promise, Biscuit. The very first rainbow anybody ever saw came right after the Flood, when Noah and his family came out of the ark. God put it there on purpose.

Biscuit: Wait — the FIRST rainbow? You mean before Noah, nobody had ever seen one? Not even one?

Uncle Ricky: That’s how the Bible tells it. In Genesis chapter 9, God said to Noah — and I want you to hear His exact words — “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.” (Genesis 9:13, KJV)

Biscuit: “Token of a covenant.” That’s fancy talk. Break it down for the raccoon, Ricky.

Uncle Ricky: A covenant is a promise God makes and keeps — His word, signed and settled. And the token is the sign of it, like a signature at the bottom of a letter. Every rainbow is God’s signature in the sky.

Biscuit: So when I see a rainbow… God’s not just showing off His painting. He’s saying, “I remember My promise”?

Uncle Ricky: You’ve got it. And here’s the part that ought to make you feel good all over. Genesis 9, verse 16: “And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.”

Biscuit: Hold on. God looks at the rainbow too? I thought it was just for us!

Uncle Ricky: It’s for us — and it’s from Him. He says He looks upon it and remembers. Friend, that rainbow isn’t God reminding Himself because He might forget. It’s God telling us: every time you see it, know that I keep My word, and I’ll never stop keeping it.

Biscuit: Huh. So a promise for Noah… is still a promise for a raccoon on a park bench?

Uncle Ricky: Every living creature of all flesh, Biscuit — that’s exactly what it says. Raccoons included. And notice this: the promise wasn’t earned. Noah didn’t pay for it. God just gave it, because that’s who He is.

Biscuit: Well. Next time it rains, I’m not even gonna grumble. …Much. I’m just gonna wait for the signature.

Uncle Ricky: Ha! That’s the spirit. Friends, next time a rainbow stretches over your town, don’t just take a picture — take the promise. God set His bow in the cloud, and thousands of years later, He’s still keeping His word. Now isn’t that something to feel good about?

— Uncle Ricky

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