Taking the long way...

Sometimes I feel like I know what Jonah must have felt like just before he started to pray in the whale. I picture him with an annoyed smirk on his face and rolling his eyes saying, "Well this is not the way this was supposed to go.” It is easy to walk away from what God wants us to do; we have free will after all. But if the Lord of the universe really wants you to do something, then you are going to end up in a whale (hopefully just figuratively). I have felt like Mission Love is something that God has wanted me to start for a few years. I kept making excuses like, “I am not equipped enough; I don’t have the time; or I will start organizing it when my wife gets fully on board.” The Holy Spirit continued to tug on my heart and I ended up in a few whales as I tried to go the other way. Noah was supposed to go to Nineveh and tried to run away to Tarshish. As a storm raged around the boat he was on, he was at peace sleeping. When the crew woke him up he said, “Oh yeah, its my fault just throw me overboard and everything will be ok for you guys.” I am paraphrasing, but Jonah didn’t say, “Yeah, I need to go to Nineveh.” He was willing to just die rather than go to where God wanted him to go. The last Tarshish I headed for was my efforts to get a promotion at work. During that time, I forgot what I was supposed to be doing and it felt great for a time. I was on the road to making a lot more money and it seemed like I was a shoo-in for the position. It was while I was in the whale, shortly after being told that they went with an outside hire, that I remembered again where Jesus wanted me to be: in His arms and showing others His wonderful love that they can experience too. I could have done a great job in a supervisor position. I have been there before, but nothing matters if God is not beside you. I am not perfect. I don’t even try to pretend that I am. I am just a broken child of God who loves Jesus with all of his heart. I would not be on this earth today if it wasn’t for His great love and sacrifice.

“What I have vowed I will make good.

I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord’”

Jonah 2:9