I was alone in that trailer, crying and wondering if my failures had destroyed our family. Here I was, a new Christian, supposedly under God's protection, and our life was falling apart.

Then I encountered Noah's flood, and everything I thought I knew about God's character crumbled. I had to read it again. This wasn't the gentle Jesus I'd been hearing about at church. The flood account wasn't the cute animal story from my childhood — it was divine wrath against sin so pervasive that only eight people on the entire planet were worth saving.

I closed the Bible and walked outside onto our tiny front porch. Was I a bad Christian for being disturbed by this? If you've ever opened your Bible with genuine excitement only to encounter passages that made you pause, question, or even feel disturbed — you're not alone.