And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
	Genesis 7:6
Based on Genesis 5:32, Genesis 6:3, and Genesis 7:6, we know that Noah was 480 years old when he began building the ark, 500 years old when his first son was born, and 600 years old when the flood began. This means that when God instructed Noah to make a place for his sons in the ark, He did so twenty years before Noah’s first son was even born! Twenty years before his sons were born, God said to Noah, “As the leader of the family, as the patriarch of the clan, as the father, Noah, you are to expect your sons and their wives to be in the ark - the place of salvation - with you and your wife.” Could this be why blood on the doorposts during Passover spared not only the one who applied it but the entire house (see Exodus 12:13)? Could this be why the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius and his house (see Acts 10)? Could this be what Paul meant when he said to the Philippian jailer, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (see Acts 16:31)? Could this be what the writer of Hebrews referred to when he wrote: “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house” (Hebrews 11:7)? I believe so. Am I suggesting a new doctrine: Dad, get saved and everyone else is included? No, I’m not talking about a doctrine - but about a dynamic. By faith, Noah prepared a place for his family on the ark even before his kids were conceived. So too, open your heart, Dad, to the Lord Jesus Christ, and by faith say, “I am believing my sons and daughters and their spouses and our grandchildren will be on board the good ship salvation.” Certainly, each man, woman, and child must make his or her own decision regarding salvation - but they do so more easily when they see the reality of faith lived out before them, just as Noah’s family observed him pounding away on the ark day after day.