"Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing" HK

Probably should wait longer between posts, but didn't want to forget any of this...Turn up your speakers and listen to the song that should start playing while you read...I think it fits.

Pastor Mitch gave a thought provoking sermon last Sunday on Jonah. I'm sure most of you have heard the story sometime during your growing up years. Let me refresh your memories. Jonah was a prophet from Israel. One day God spoke to Jonah and told him to go to the capital city of Nineveh. Now the rub here is that Nineveh, being the capital of Assyria, hated Israel. This city was built to represent everything contrary to God. In fact, they were "God haters," or anti-God. These Assyrians were prominent, powerful, and pagan. In other words they were self-made, successful, and blind to their sin. So, God decides to send our friend Jonah on a mission. As is God's way still, He often chooses to use broken, fearful, runaways like Jonah to do His work...because He is relentless in His plan.
Well, what happens is that Jonah listens but instead of making the 500 miles east trip to Nineveh, he instead jumps on a ship and plans to go 2000 miles west to a "safe" city, Tarshish. His thoughts may have been, how could one man, an Israelite, go to a well-known pagan city like Nineveh, and tell them they were doing everything wrong and going to die because of their lifestyles and beliefs? God must be sending him on a suicide mission! The story goes on that while on the ship Jonah ends up having to sacrifice himself anyway. He took responsibility for his disobedience in order to save the ships crew, and jumped into the sea, only to be swallowed by a "great fish." I don't know; Which sounds worse to you? Being in the belly of a whale for 3 days & 3 nights, or going where God has already paved the way. See how our perspective is corrected so many times in retrospect? We, like our friend Jonah, just don't really believe that what God asks us to do, He has already made provisions for. I find myself going metaphorically 2000 miles in the opposite direction sometimes because I don't stay focused on God's provisions, His grace, His love or His faithfulness. Will we always understand why? That would be NO; but, as Pastor Mitch says, "Understanding can wait, but obedience can't." So, maybe the same question we might ask Jonah, now that we see the total picture, we can ask ourselves. What part of GO do I (we) not understand? What part of OBEY do I (we) not understand? Here is what I see that happens. We become so comfortable and "watered down" while we gather others around us, to think like us, to justify things that we do and the way we live allows us to become just a little like that city of Nineveh. The masses there all thought alike. That one person would even have the audacity to try to come into their environment and point a finger at them. The Assyrian's were daunting for sure. I can see myself in this scene and find myself "understanding" why Jonah did what he did. Not because he was right, but because I am weak too. When things are good and I am safe within my comfort zone it's all good. But when the "winds and the waves" are beating on me, there are times that I am "driven by the wind and tossed."(James 1) We all have a mission to accomplish, just like Jonah, and our problem is not so much that we don't know what we should do. We know perfectly well, but we just don't want to do it." Now the story ends well. Jonah learned the importance of listening and obeying, and once back on dry land went to Nineveh and saw God do a miracle in the lives of that whole city. Moral of the story: Let's all continue to encourage each other as we grow in the strength and knowledge of who our God is. I want to be the reason why someone comes to know God more, not the the reason that they continue to struggle, or trip and fall. You go, Jonah!