Sadness Meets Outrage

Wednesday evening, June 17, 2015, members of the congregation of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church gathered for Bible study and prayer.  At some point, a young man walked into the church and was welcomed to join them,  For an hour, he participated with them - at what level, we do not know.  He was touched by their warmth and kindness and as he told police officers, he nearly changed his mind about his mission.

He didn't.  Hate had long since hardened his heart and he quickly grabbed onto the racism he believed as truth and shot three men and six women before he walked back out of the church.  Nine lives ended and many more were forever changed.  A place of worship became a crime scene and shock gripped the city and the nation.

My heart is broken.  Broken for the families left without a loved one.  Broken for a church community - a sanctuary bloodied and broken.  Broken for the young man who is hardened by hate. Broken for his family who must be hurting.  I'm so sad for the lives that ended for no other reason than the color of their skin.

Angry at my country pretending that the 60's solved the issue of racism in America.  Angry that we turn our backs to ongoing racism and hatred that so many of our brothers and sisters must deal with every single day.  Angry that my elected officials, our government are more worried about politics than solving moral and social issues.

I was outraged to learn that the confederate flag flies in South Carolina.  Outraged that my African-American brothers and sisters walk and drive down streets named for confederate generals.  I'm heartbroken that my own white privilege blocks me from really understanding all the ways and all the places that racism exists.

My heart is crying out - "I need to do something.  All this death cannot be for naught.  What can I do? What can I do?"

What will result for this horrific tragedy?  Is this the thing that will wake us up and push us into action?  Will the examples of grace and forgiveness from the victims' families show us that love is stronger than hate?

I pray that in a couple of weeks, we will not just go about our business.  I pray that the outrage and sadness will move us into action.  I don't think my heart will let me go about life as usual.  I pray it won't,  Lord, in your mercy.  Hear our prayer.

What's Fair Got to Do With It?

Rev. Debbie Cato

Jonah 4 & Matthew 20:1-16

Peace Presbyterian Church

Preaching Series on Jonah – Week 3

June 21, 2015

What’s Fair Got to Do With It?

This is our third and final week in the Book of Jonah.

     A prophetic book of only four chapters;  48 verses.

God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh to speak judgment against an evil city.

        Jonah does not want to go – Nineveh is a wicked enemy of Israel.

              Jonah gets the great idea to run away from God,

                        so he boards a ship headed in the opposite direction.

Not to have His plans thwarted, God causes a violent storm on the sea that threatens to rip the ship to shreds.  After praying to Jonah's god, the sailors toss him overboard and immediately the sea becomes calm. But that is not the end of Jonah's call!

God commands a great fish to swallow Jonah whole… saving Jonah’s life.

Jonah lives inside the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, until -

until God commands the fish to spew Jonah onto dry land.

God doesn’t waste any time.

He again commands Jonah to go to Nineveh.

He again commands Jonah to preach judgment to the Ninevites.

This time, Jonah reluctantly complies. He travels to Nineveh and gives them the message from God.

“Forty more days and Nineveh will be destroyed,” Jonah proclaims.

The wicked people of Nineveh hear the proclamation and immediately repent.

     They fast and wear sack cloth.

           The king proclaims that all beasts and all humans will urgently pray to the God of Israel and repent.

                  They shall not eat or drink.

                         They shall change their ways.

                                  And maybe… just maybe, the king says,

The God of Israel will change his mind and save them. And sure enough!

“When God saw what they did and how they turned from their
evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.”

God had compassion and did not destroy them. Jonah is not happy with God. Jonah is not happy that God shows compassion to the Ninevites. Scripture tells us that “Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.”

In fact, in his anger, Jonah admits why he didn’t want to go to Nineveh to begin with. He admits why he tried to run away from God.

           Why he boarded the ship bound for Tarshish.

                 It was n0t because of the wickedness of Nineveh.

                            It was not because he was afraid to go there.

Jonah says, “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.”

Now we know. (pause) Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh because he knew that God would not destroy these wicked enemies of Israel. He knew that God was gracious and compassionate and that God would forgive them. He knew that in the end God would not destroy them.

Now, in Jonah’s defense, I think it’s important for us to remember that the Ninevites were evil people; enemies of Israel. They were bad people. They deserved to be destroyed. At least in our way of thinking.

See, I like Jonah because we are just like him!

We have all tried to run away from God – probably more than once!

                    We have all been disobedient, not wanting to do as He asks.

                            We have all at one time or another reluctantly followed him,

                                     hoping to prove him wrong as Jonah did.

We have all gotten indignant…

     Angry when God is compassionate

            Or forgiving

                  Or generous

                            Or acts in a way that we don’t think He should.

And God’s response to Jonah is probably God’s response to us:

“Do you have any right to be angry?”

We see evil all around us. Wednesday night, a group of people gathered at their church for Bible study and prayer. A young man walked in and those present welcomed him in. They included them in their study. They were kind to him. After about an hour, Dylann Roof opened fire, killing 3 men and 6 women. Nine people dead.

Police learned that after staying there for an hour, Dylann Roof began losing his resolve. His hate began slipping away. But Roof grabbed a hold of his hate and he didn’t let go. He pulled out the Glock .45 automatic that he purchased with birthday money from his father and he began shooting.

Nine people killed while studying Scripture and praying. Killed because of the color of their skin.

The Rev. Clementa Pinckney, 41

Cynthia Hurd, 54

The Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45

Tywanza Sanders, 26

Ethel Lance, 70

Susie Jackson, 87

Depayne Middleton Doctor, 49

The Rev. Daniel Simmons, 74

Myra Thompson, 59

These are the names of the people who died Wednesday evening. These are the lives that ended. People with stories; productive lives; hopes and dreams; families. They were people of faith. They were beloved children of God, created by Him and worshiping Him when they died. It’s hard to fathom.

I’m angry. I’m heartbroken. My heart is crying out to God for answers that I know I’ll never get. Yet I know that my feelings are only a very small fraction of what the families, the church community, and the Black community are feeling.

I know – just a little bit, how Jonah felt when God forgave his enemies, the Ninevites. It isn’t fair, God! Don’t forgive them. What about you? Can you understand the unfairness of God’s forgiveness?

Jesus knew it was hard to see God save those we deem unworthy; to forgive; those we think don’t deserve forgiveness. So, He tells the parable of the workers in the vineyard.

It's a parable that reverses normal values. It shocks us as much as God’s mercy shocked Jonah. It makes clear the principles on which God receives people into his kingdom. It has to do with salvation.

At the end of the day, the landowner begins to pay the laborers for their work. He begins with the last workers that he hired. He gives them each a full day’s pay, even though they only worked an hour! Such amazing generosity from the landowner.

A spokesman for the other workers complains: ‘This isn’t fair. Why should those who only worked one hour, get the same as me and the others who worked all day in the boiling sun?’ (I knew you wouldn’t destroy them, Jonah complained.)

The point of the story is plain. Length of service and long hours of toil don't matter with God. Length of service and long hours of toil provide no reason why God should not be generous to those who have done less. God will be generous with whom God wants to be generous.

Appearing in court on Thursday, family members addressed the killer – who is also a beloved child of God. They gave testimonials of forgiveness that are stunning. They reflect the power of their faith.

“I forgive you,” Nadine Collier said through tears to the accused killer of her mother, Ethel Lance. “You took something very precious away from me. I will never get to talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again, but I

forgive you, and have mercy on your soul.” She managed to keep on, “You hurt me. You hurt a lot of people. But God forgives you and I forgive you.”

Next came Anthony Thompson, husband of Myra Thompson. He began by addressing the court rather than his wife’s accused killer. “I would just like him to know that, to say the same thing that was just said: I forgive him and my family forgives him. But we would like him to take this opportunity to repent.”

Not finished yet, Mr. Thompson spoke directly to Dylann Roof, who was watching and listening via a video connection from jail. “Repent. Confess.  Give your life to the one who matters most—Christ. So that He can change him and change your ways. So no matter what happens to you, you’ll be okay.”

So no matter what happens to you, you will be O.K.   Thompson’s wife was not yet buried and he was offering Roof a way to salvation.

The statements of forgiveness continued until all nine families had spoken. “Hate will not win,” they said. “Love will.” What incredible grace these heartbroken families displayed.

These three stories have a similar theme. Jonah and the Ninevites; the landowner and the laborers, and the families from Emanuel AME Church in Charleston teach us the same thing. Grace. God’s amazing grace is the burden of all these stories.

You see, we are all like Jonah. We all think we have a right to decide who does and doesn’t deserve God’s forgiveness. Who does and doesn’t deserve God’s grace.

But to each and every one of us, this story about Jonah; this parable of the laborers; and this horrific life example, say otherwise. Our standing in the kingdom of God does not depend on human merit in any way. It depends on

the sheer unmerited favor of the only One who is ultimately good. He is the only One who accepts those who can never be good. We are all sinful men and women faced with a holy, gracious God. We cannot hide. We all depend on God’s amazing grace. We all depend on God's saving grace. Without it, we would not have a chance.  

Unexpected Change

Rev. Debbie Cato

Jonah 3 & Philippians 1:1-11

Peace Presbyterian Church

Preaching Series on Jonah – Week 2

June 14, 2015

Unexpected Change

Last week we began our study of Jonah.

We read how one day the Lord’s word came to Jonah.

God called Jonah for a specific purpose. God said,

“Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it,
because its wickedness has come up before me.”

But Jonah did not want to go to Ninevah – a wicked city; a great enemy of God’s people, the Israelites.

     So Jonah decided to run from God.

He headed in the opposite direction of Ninevah.

      He went west instead of east.

                         He boarded a ship heading to Tarshish.

But as soon as the ship set sail, God sent a great wind on the sea and a violent storm arose and threatened to break apart the ship. The sailors were terribly afraid and they cried out to their gods. They threw cargo overboard trying to lighten the ship so that it would ride higher on the waves but nothing worked. The waves just became more and more wild and the storm grew more and more violent.

When confronted by the sailors, Jonah admitted that his God was the God of Heaven. The God who made the sea and the land. Jonah admitted that his God had indeed caused the great storm on the sea. He admitted that his God was angry at him for running away. Jonah told the sailors to throw him overboard so God would calm the sea.

But, the sailors did not want Jonah to die.

      They tried to row back to land, rowing harder and hard,
              but the storm got worse and worse.

                   Finally, after praying to Jonah’s God for forgiveness

                              They threw Jonah into the stormy sea and

                                        immediately, the sea was calm.

But Jonah did not drown. He did not die.

     God sent a great fish to swallow Jonah; to save him.

            Jonah lived in the belly of that fish for 3 days and 3 nights.

And that's where we left off. We left Jonah in the belly of the fish!

Chapter 2 of Jonah is his prayer to God while he is inside the fish. Jonah’s story is not over yet so let’s see what happens next. I invite you to read Jonah's prayer on your own. I’m going to start reading at chapter 2:10 all the way through chapter 3. Listen now for the Word of the Lord.

And finally, after praying to the Lord from the belly of the fish, the Lord speaks to the fish “spew Jonah onto dry land.”  “Spew Jonah onto dry land.” 

Spew. The dictionary says to spew is to “discharge the contents of the stomach through the mouth; to vomit.” Some translations actually say, “The Lord commanded the fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land.” The Lord commands the fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land.

I love this verse!

       God had to get Jonah out of that fish somehow!

               So He commands the fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land. 
God was in control, wasn’t he?    THEN…

Then, the word of the LORD comes to Jonah a second time:

“Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

I imagine Jonah was a little dazed at this point. He’d had a rather crazy four days. It had only been four days since the word of the LORD first came to Jonah. Four days since he decided to run away from God. Four days since he boarded the ship bound for Tarshish. Four days since he got tossed overboard. Four days since God saved him by sending a fish to swallow him.

Jonah had just been vomited onto dry land, covered with who knows what from the belly of the fish. Covered in muck, wet and dazed, Jonah learns that God has not forgotten his original mission for Jonah! Sure, his escapades delayed God’s plans. They certainly caused Jonah – and others, a lot of unnecessary problems and stress. But, they had not changed God’s plan. Jonah was still heading to Nineveh!

Now, it seems to me that the problems and stress brought on by Jonah’s disobedience were not without some benefits. Those moments of near drowning in the sea before the fish swallowed Jonah probably woke him up; and those three days and three nights in the belly of that great fish wondering what was going to happen to him, probably helped Jonah realize that thinking he could run away and hide from God wasn’t the smartest thing he had ever done. At least, Jonah didn’t make the same mistake again. When the LORD spoke the same words to Jonah after he was vomited out of the fish’s belly, scripture tells us that:

         “Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh.”

Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh.

I imagine Jonah still isn’t happy about it. 
      I imagine he’s still afraid.

             Nineveh is still a great enemy of the Israelites.

             Nineveh is still a wicked city.

                     God is still sending Jonah to preach against Nineveh.

               Jonah’s message will still make the people of Nineveh angry.

Nothing has changed since the first time the LORD called Jonah to Nineveh.

But Jonah has changed.

Jonah has learned to be obedient.

Jonah has learned he can’t run away from God!

Jonah is no longer just telling pagan sailors about the power of his God. He has experienced it first-hand. He believes.

Think about your own faith journey. What experiences, what situations have changed you the most? What times in your journey brought you the most growth in your faith? When did you stop just talking the talk, and really believe? I can’t answer those questions for you. But if you are like me, they were the hard times; the struggles, the times I felt like God vomited on me.

Those three days in the belly of the fish changed Jonah. They changed his heart. He goes to Nineveh and he preaches the message that the LORD gives him to preach.

“Forty more days and Nineveh will be destroyed,” Jonah proclaims.

Jonah preaches against Nineveh.

He tells them their great city will be destroy.

                    He tells them it is because of their wickedness.

                        The Ninevites do NOT turn against him.

Just like the pagan sailors on the ship bound for Tarshish,

      The Ninevites, from the greatest to the least, believe.

             They believe Jonah's message is from the God of Israel.

                   They humble themselves in deep repentance.

                         They declare a fast among themselves and they all put on sackcloth.

But why? Do you see anywhere in this passage where the Ninevites know that Jonah is delivering a message from God? Nowhere does it say that they know who Jonah is! Oh, they can probably tell he’s a Hebrew. It’s likely he’s dressed differently than they did It’s likely he speaks differently than they do.  But, Jonah does not announce that he has a word from the LORD. He doesn’t say, in forty days God will destroy their city. He says,

“Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.”

Jonah only “sort of” obeys God. The warning Jonah gives to the Ninevites is very ambiguous. He’s vague. Perhaps he is hoping they will not understand.

They aren’t Israelites.

They are Assyrians.

Perhaps he wants Nineveh destroyed.

           After all, they are great enemies of the Israelite nation.

                     They are enemies of Jonah's people.

Remember, he did not want to go there in the first place! They Ninevites are not his favorite people!

Doesn't it make you mad when God does not seem to punish the people you think he should punish? Doesn't it frustrate you when God does something different than you think he should? So we can understand Jonah's hesitance.

The Ninevites are pagans. They do n0t worship Yahweh. And yet somehow – instinctively, they know Jonah's message is to be believed. They know that his message is from the God of Israel. They know that they are guilty and they must repent. Immediately, they humble themselves, declare a fast and put on sackcloth.

And when the news reaches the king of Nineveh?

News that his people have set an agenda of fasting and repentance to Yahweh based on the news that their great city will be destroyed in forty days because of its wicked ways, the King of Nineveh follows his people’s lead.

     He rises from his throne.

             He takes off his royal robes.

                        He covers himself with sackcloth.

He sits down in the dust.

This powerful, wicked king of a city that is an enemy of the people of God

Humbles himself - he follows his people’s lead.

He issues a proclamation for all of Nineveh.

The king’s proclamation is very comprehensive. He’s not taking any chances. Not only does it address every human being in Nineveh but it addresses every animal in every herd and every flock. No one is exempt.

     They shall not taste, nor graze, nor drink

           They shall each be covered by sackcloth

                 They shall each call urgently on God

                        They shall each give up their evil ways.

And then the king offers his people the hope that if they do these things with true repentance,  God may relent, he tells them.

     God may have compassion.

               God may turn from anger and save Nineveh.

We have been wicked, the king says. Let us repent and change our ways and maybe God will have compassion and change his mind and not destroy us.

Do you find this incredible? The powerful king of this powerful city in Assyria – enemies of God. These people who are so wicked they get God’s attention and He threatens to destroy them. These people who do not worship Yahweh. These people hear a half-hearted message delivered by a reluctant Jonah and somehow they recognize that God has spoken and they repent. The whole nation repents.

When God sees how the people of Nineveh respond -

    Not just that they fast and put on sackcloth

         Not just that they repent.

               But that they sincerely turn from their evil ways

                    That their hearts change.

                             God has compassion on them.

                                He does not bring upon them the destruction that he threatened.

                                         God saves them.

                                    God’s mercy is greater than God’s wrath.

When the pagans in Nineveh hear a word from the LORD

Even a word from a reluctant prophet,

     They listen.

         They repent.

               And they turn to God.

As a result of Jonah’s obedience to God’s call comes unexpected change that is life-giving and life-saving to the Ninevites. Not only is their city – and each of them – not destroyed by God; but God changes their hearts; he transforms them.

How might God be trying to use you or use our church? Has He called you to be the deliverer of a message from Him? Or perhaps you are the person waiting for a word from God; needing a word from God. How will you receive the message? God is in the life-giving, life-saving business. He looks to the heart. His mercy is greater than His wrath. Are we open to receive it?    Amen.

Running From God

Rev. Debbie Cato

Jonah 1 & Romans 14:1-12

Peace Presbyterian Church

Preaching Series on Jonah – Week 1

June 7, 2015

Running from God

A prophet is someone called by God to deliver a message to God’s people. 

 Often times -

       Although not always

                 The message is a message about disobedience and the Lord’s anger and displeasure.  A plea for the people to repent or be punished.

And so as you would expect, The prophetic books of the Bible are the Oracles or messages of the prophets to the people of their time.

      Books like Isaiah; Jeremiah; Ezekiel.

          But Jonah is different.

                 It too is a prophetic book; Jonah was a prophet of God.

But the Book of Jonah does not relate oracles as the other prophetic books do.

     The Book of Jonah is telling a story.

          If you grew up in Sunday school,

      you probably learned the story about Jonah – although,

           you may have learned it a little bit different than scripture tells it

                Jonah is a popular children's Bible story.

Take out the Bible in your pew and turn to page 752.  As you can see, Jonah is a very short book.  Four chapters.   A total of 48 verses.   Jonah is an action packed book.

It's filled with drama, and intrigue, and suspense….. and moral lessons.  I thought it would be fun for us to look at it for a few weeks.  It’s more than just a children’s Sunday school story.  It’s a story that we can all relate to as adults today and it has lessons for us to learn.

So today, we are going to look at the first chapter. Follow along with me as I read Jonah 1.

We really don’t know much about Jonah. He’s introduced to us simply as “Jonah, the son of Amittai” and one day, the word of the LORD comes to him. Perhaps he’s sitting drinking his morning coffee, or sitting in his easy chair reading the newspaper after a long day. We don’t know. We simply know that God comes to him and says,  “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it,  because its wickedness has come up before me.”

Nineveh was the capital of Assyria – an enemy of Israel. It was a city great in size and strength and status. The way of life in Nineveh was unacceptable to God – he calls it wickedness.  After all they are a great enemy of God’s people.  

     And it is to this place

        to this enemy of Israel

             that God tells Jonah to go

Well….

God doesn’t just tell him to go to Nineveh

     He tells him to go and preach against it to tell them they are being wicked  to tell them that God is going to destroy their great city

And….. well…..

Jonah does not want to go!

Who can blame him?! Jonah does not want to go to the capital of a powerful, wicked enemy and tell them to change their ways. Go figure!! So what does Jonah do?  “Jonah runs away from the LORD and heads for Tarshish.”   Jonah runs away from the LORD! Jonah disobeys God and instead of going to Nineveh, he runs away from God and heads for Tarshish.

Now we might laugh at that. I mean, that sounds pretty dumb doesn’t it?! Thinking you can run away from God.

But who of us has not run from God in our life? How many times has God asked something of you, that you decided not to do? How many times have you felt a nudge and ignored it? You see, each time we are disobedient to God – just like Jonah – we in effect, run away from God. Who of us has not done that?

God sends Jonah to Ninevah – east of where Jonah lives and Jonah heads in the opposite direction – Jonah goes west toward Tarshish. He probably figured God would never find him there! Jonah goes to Joppa which was a port city, buys a fare, gets aboard a ship and sails for Tarshish. I’ll hide there, he thinks. Jonah’s on the run!

But then…. Then...

The LORD sends a violent storm on the sea that threatens to break up the

ship. I’m thinking Jonah’s plan didn’t work! There’s no running away from God! God knows exactly where Jonah is! God strikes back against Jonah’s  disobedience.

But here's the thing that we need to pay attention to.

     Jonah's disobedience doesn’t affect only Jonah.

It affects the sailors on the boat he boarded.

                                   His disobedience puts every life on that boat at risk.

We need to remember that our disobedience; our sin, affects other people. Who do we unintentionally (or intentionally) hurt when we disobey God?

The sailors, who are surely used to storms at sea, know that something is up.

They are terrified. The sea is violent and they cry out to their own gods for help. The ship is rocking and rolling about.

The waves are banging against the sides of the ship.

The water rolls over the ship soaking everything in the way;                

threatening to pull it into the sea.

They throw cargo overboard hoping to lighten the ship so that it can ride higher on the tumultuous sea.  But nothing works. The storm gets harsher and harsher.

And where is Jonah? Their only passenger is below deck – sleeping. The captain is outraged. “Get up here and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us and we will not die!”

Jonah –

     Who has run away from God in disobedience is told by the captain of the ship

           to call on his god to calm the sea.

We are good at that aren't we? We run away from God in disobedience only to run to God when we are in trouble; crying to God to help us? We want God in our lives when we need him, but we don't want to give up the control of our lives; our ideas; our thoughts and be submissive to God' plans for our lives.

Well. Jonah is caught. The sailors throw one question after another at him until finally, Jonah identifies himself as the one who has brought on the evil. It is his God who is causing the storm. The God he fears. The God he thought he ran away from. But Jonah does more. He proclaims to them the all-encompassing power of God. He tells them, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, The God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

Yet, Jonah still doesn't really understand the power of God, does he? After all, he thought he could run away from him. But these pagan sailors understand. They get the sovereignty of the Lord. They are terrified and they say to Jonah, “What have you done?” What have you done?

The sea continues to get rougher and rougher and rougher. God is mad at Jonah and because of his disobedience, everyone who is with Jonah on that ship is suffering. “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” they ask him.

The sailors are not interested in punishing Jonah. They are not out to get Jonah because of the chaos he has caused. “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” They just want to quiet the sea which continues to get more and more dangerous.

Jonah tells them to pick him up and hurl him into the sea. If he is thrown

into the wild sea, it will quiet down he says. It is my fault God has brought on

this great storm. He is mad at me.

That sounds noble of Jonah doesn’t it? It’s my fault. Throw me over and save

yourselves. Of course, Jonah doesn’t offer to jump over, does he? 

    But if he gets thrown over -

         If the sailors do the dirty work for him

            surely he will die and he STILL won’t have to go to Nineveh!

                 Jonah is STILL running from God!

                        He is still thinking about himself!

But, the sailors don’t want to throw Jonah into the turbulent sea. They do not want him to die. They row and row and row trying harder and harder to get to land. Yet their strength is no match for the sea – or for God. Seeing no other way, they pray to the LORD – to Jonah’s God. Let me say that again. The pagan sailors pray to the LORD for forgiveness and throw Jonah overboard and immediately…..

Immediately…. The raging sea becomes calm. The storm is over.  And then; this is amazing - the sailors make a sacrifice to the LORD and worship him. The sailors are converted as a result of Jonah's disobedience! God will use even our disobedience to achieve his plan. (pause)

And, Jonah. Well, Jonah doesn’t get his way again!

     He does not die.

          God saves Jonah from drowning.

God provides a great fish that swallows Jonah whole. Jonah is saved by a fish and Jonah lives inside that fish for three days and three nights.

God calls Jonah

     Jonah is disobedient

         He’s self-centered

             He’s rebellious

                 He runs away from God.  Or at least tries to!

                       Jonah never repents. 

                                  It wasn't Jonah who prayed to the Lord for forgiveness.

                                          But God saves Jonah anyway.

                                                   He sends a fish to swallow him!

Jonah intends to die so he will not have to face God.  

      God saves Jonah’s life by sending a fish to swallow him!

           God preserves Jonah for his assignment!

Now, that's a story!

The good news is: we cannot hide from God. When we are deep in the darkness, lost and afraid, God will find us. The bad news is: we cannot hide from God! When we don't like what he's calling us to do or calling us to be; we cannot run away. God will find us. God will accomplish what God wants to accomplish. Amen.