The Whale and Me

Jonah and I have a lot in common.


We can both sleep through anything, even a big storm.

We both like to swim.

We both like plants that provide shade.

We also both disobey God and sometimes, for special occasions, run the opposite way.

Ninevah was a wicked place. So wicked, that God wanted Jonah to go and proclaim that Ninevah was headed for destruction. Jonah put on his shoes, grabbed his keys and promptly went to Tarshish, a complete 180 degrees from Ninevah! Oh, Jonah…

Jonah boards the boat headed for Tarshish and a huge storm comes up. The experienced sailors feared for their lives and they cast lots to see who was to blame for this punishing storm. Jonah’s name came up. But, where was Jonah? He was fast asleep in the boat. The sailors wake him and Jonah tells them to throw him overboard and the storm will stop. They reluctantly obey and the storm stops! Jonah is then swallowed by a huge fish and sits in it’s belly for 3 days, a sort of “time out” if you will. Here, he cries out to God saying he will obey and God answers. The fish spits Jonah out onto dry land and Jonah finally heads towards Ninevah.

This first part of the story really resonates with the human condition. We turn away from God and ignore Him more often than we would like to admit. We are like little children who plug their ears and yell “la la la la, I can’t hear you!” when their parents tell them to do their chores.

As this scripture has been sinking into my brain and soul for the past few days, I started thinking, how many times have I turned and gone the complete opposite direction than what God wanted? I’ve done this more times than I’d like to admit, both physically and spiritually. One night I was planning on meeting some friends downtown. I headed down there but couldn’t get a hold of them. So, God said, just go to the beach and we’ll spend some time together. I started towards the beach, but got a text from my friend. After talking, I decided to turn around and go back downtown. A complete 180 from where I was going with God! I totally regretted it that night because it robbed me of time with God and hurt my witness, conscience and obedience.
Examine your life to see where you do a 180 and run. Do you run towards sin instead of away? Do you put yourself in situations that you think you can handle, but deep down you know you can’t? or do you turn your car around and leave the beach and head downtown?

Let’s ask God for strength and courage to obey the first time he asks us, no matter how ridiculous or hard that task may be!

Blood Transfusion

Jesus never said following Him would be easy. He said it woudl be difficult.

People hated Jesus. They will hate you.

People mocked Jesus. They will mock you.

People plotted against Jesus. They will plot against you.

There are lots of odds stacked against you when you become a Christian, but the One who is greater than all of those odds in on your side. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says, "come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will giv eyou rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for youe souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." He beckons us to come to Him and give Him all of the bitterness, anger, disappointment, sorrow and other feelings that clog the arteries of our heart. Only when all of the clutter is gone can we experience the freedom and joy that only comes from Christ.

A few months ago I was having a hard time with not taking people's hurtful words and actions to heart. A song spoke to me at a worship service and i asked Jesus to clean up my heart and souls and to infuse it with His life. I saw Hime get an IV and connect it to my heart. When he opened it up, new and fresh life pulsed through my veins and throughout my entire body. Since that transfusion from Jesus, I very rarely get knocked down by other people, and when I do, I just look back on that day and remember His life is flowing through me and I'm back up again. Just thinking about it now makes my heart race and a smail spread across my face.

But, please, don't just take my word for ir. Try it for yourself! Ask Jesus to clean the poisonous clutter from your heart and to give you a transfusion. Dance and rejoice in Psalm 16:11, "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joyl at your right hand are pleasures forever more." Because God is the only one that matters, true joy only comes from God, not men or women, not children, not winning a game or having a large bank account.

I challenge you to drop the things that are clogging your arteries at the feet of Jesus and to ask Him to instead send His life giving Spirit through your veins. Praise Jesus that He is the giver of new and eternal life!

Scooting Towards the Edge.

I've noticed a trend.

My roommates tend to move overseas.

I'm 3 for 3.

First, my sister moved to England as a missionary. Then, my friend, Carrie, followed Jesus to France to be a missionary. Now, my friend and roommate Megan is planning and going to Taiwan to teach English and spread the Word of God.

Seeing all of these wonderful orchestrations of God makes me anxious for my turn. The best way to express how I feel is through David Crowder's song 'Forever & Ever." Here are some of the lyrics.

"I think I'm on the brink of something large
Maybe like the breaking of the dawn
Maybe like a match being lit
Or the sinking of a ship, letting go gives a better grip

I'm finding everything I'll ever need
By giving up gaining everything
Falling for You for eternity
Right here at Your feet
Where I wanna be
I am Yours"

I've had the feeling lately that something monumental is waiting for me to turn the corner. I need to give up a few things in order to make that turn.

While I press on towards the goal (Philippians 3:12-21) God is teaching me patience, self control and discipline. He's revealing new truths about Himself and truths about who I am in Him and about my future in Him.

I thank God that He's not going anywhere and that He's here for the long run. I thank Him for His steadfast and patient love. I thank Him that He has something large in store for me.

Here I am, raising my glass to that glorious tomorrow!

In Love With Words

Have you ever gotten a letter, an email, or a text from someone you love or think you love?

You wait in anticipation for the ding of your phone...

You check the mail at 4:30 on the dot everyday for a letter...

Then, you finally get it. It's exciting!

You read over it again and again to dissect the words and punctuation and try to find some kind of meaning in it all. You dive into it again and again to find comfort or hope or laughter. You read it again, just so you can think about them.

What would life be like if that's how we approached the Bible? If we couldn't wait to open it and read God's words again? If we sat down and dissected words and phrases. If our hearts raced every time we found something new? What if we thought about his letter to us throughout the day, and smiled when we remembered He said He loves us?

I'll bet if we truly treated the Bible as God's letter to us, and not just merely say that it's God's letter to us, our lives would be more exciting! We would be more confident and less timid. We would be happier and less grouchy or prone to complaining. I'll bet there would be an unexplainable light and smile on our faces.

God is real and He is waiting. Now it's up to us to either trash his letter like junk mail or to devour it like the love letter it is!

Starvation Mode

I've been in a dry spell lately when it comes to reading the Bible. That is one of my biggest weaknesses, I think. I pray a lot, see God in nature, hear Him in songs, but I'm really bad about reading my Bible.

But, I love to read. In fact, I've already read two books this week. Just not the Bible.

I've been feeling burned out and tired because I haven't been spending time in the Word. All of the strong holds God's Word put around my mind and heart have quickly been torn down by Satan. I've been day-dreaming too much and self-righteousness has crept in.

So, today, I decided to do something about it.

After my room mate and I took a walk, I got home and opened my Bible. I had no idea where to start. I knew I needed to hear more of God's promises and victories. That lead me to Isaiah. I flipped through trying to find something insightful. I didn't find that "perfect verse."

Then, I heard, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on the word of God." (Matthew 4:4)

I stopped searching for the perfect verse and listened.

God said "just read anything! Right now, you are scripture starved. Just like a person facing real starvation doesn't jump straight to eating delicacies, so you shouldn't search and search for that perfect, 'delicacy,' verse. Start off with simple bread and water."

The Scriptures are our daily nutrients. It's our fuel. It's what keeps us going. So, keep reading it. Even if it tastes a little stale at times, it'll keep you nourished and alive!

The Oregon Trail

When I was in elementary school, there was a cutting edge computer game called The Oregon Trail. It was the bomb. On the Oregon Trail, I got to have my own team of oxen and I got to hunt bear and moose as we forged through the untamed land of the west. Sometimes, my family would die of Cholera, scarlet fever, or a silly Indian attack. That was OK, though, because I would get a new family at the start of the next game.

Life with Jesus is sort of like the Oregon trail.

We're constantly going to new places. Not just physically, but more importantly, spiritually. The more you grow in Christ, the more you dive into your heart and spirit. He shows us our shortcomings, our sins, our misplaced righteousness, but He also shows us our beauty, our purpose and our potential.

The best thing about it is that we're not really going where no one has been before because God has already been there. He's like our grizzled, bearded, fur-trader guide. He knows all of the best watering holes, the best shelter, the best places to eat and the best fishing holes. All we have to to is follow Him and trust His guidance and wisdom.

(for those of you who want to play the Oregon Trail, here you go...enjoy 2nd grade again!)

I'm reading a book called The Monkey and the Fish. It's about leadership for a , wait for it, third culture church.

What is a third culture church, you ask? It's the mindset and the will to love, learn, and serve in any culture, even in the midst of pain and discomfort.

Personally, I think that a lot of the church today has made a sort of three part caste system. In the top layer of the caste system stands church-goers, the righteous. In the second layer stands the Christmas and Easter crowd. In the third layer stands the untouchables. Those that no one wants to talk to, those who your eyes try to avoid on the street. The dirty. The broken. The homeless. The prostitutes. The drug-addicts.




The question for the third culture, for what we need to strive for, is how do we integrate and transform the hearts of all three of these groups? How do we all become the BODY of Christ instead of the LIMBS of Christ?

It all goes back to the mindset. And, the action to go with the mindset. We need to have the will and obedience to love, learn, and serve in any culture, even in the midst of pain and discomfort.