I’m a Jonah
I sympathize with the reluctant prophet.
“I know these people need to hear about You and repent, but let someone else do it. I don’t want to.”
That’s my sentiment regarding all the kids in my area. My aching conscience screams at me everytime my daughter goes out to play with them. “A person’s spirituality is determined before the age of 13,” I hear an annoying inner voice saying. I ignore it. “Children are sensitive to a relationship with God. Don’t waste this opportunity! They’ll listen.” This alien thought threatens to abduct my lazy, lethargic resolve to comfortable privacy. Like Jonah, I’d rather hide.
Let someone else do it
I tried this excuse on last week. It didn’t fit. First of all, I am painfully (and I say this in all humility) judgemental. I hang my head in shame. When it comes to Bible teaching, I am a harsh critic. You’d think I would have realized this would be a problem when I invited a few volunteers from the local CEF chapter in our area to hold a back-yard Bible club for me.
Okay, I admit it. I know I could do a better job, I just didn’t want to put myself out there.
I don’t want to.
And this is the heart of the matter, and problem-solving me can’t find a solution except to ignore it and simply do it regardless of not wanting to. Eesh, what a lot of hard work. I blame my mother for this guilt quandary. (sorry mom) Every summer since I have memories, she patrolled nearby neighborhoods for kids to hold Bible clubs for. I naturally helped, and now she’s left me with the tools and talents to do something I don’t have her passion for.
Hence, the sympathy for Jonah. I imagine Jonah was a gifted evangelist. God knew Jonah could get the job done. God also knew Jonah had no desire to use those gifts because that would mean hard work and an uncomfortable life. God could hit the proverbial two birds by telling Jonah to go preach to the pagans: a repentant city and an obedient, mature Jonah. But instead of allowing the experience to soften his heart, Jonah soured. Hmm, I better think about that. Knowing myself, that is definitely a possibility.
What if they listen?
Surprisingly, people do listen. Jonah found this out when he had huge revival on his hands after his painful ordeal with the big fish. I discovered this when the few kids I had left, after the disaster that was the CEF Bible club bored them all away, listened intently to my stories and even came back asking for more!
I don’t know if God was happy with my reluctant obedience. I pray He changes my desires as I continue to obey.
Email Etiquette
I hope you’ll understand my kind intentions if you like to foward emails.
What can I say? Fwds make me cranky.
Worst Case Scenario
My directing professor in film school, Dr. Katherine Stenholm, taught me three lessons I’ll never forget. One was that people like what they know, so the more you learn, the more you enjoy the world. One had to do with a “red thread”; and any student lucky enough to sit under Dr. Stenholm reading this, just imagined a grey-haired and spry old lady clawing the air for emphasis and pulling out that imaginary, but ever present red thread that draws a great film tight. And the last lesson was about worst case scenarios.
Been there, done that.
Punching the air for emphasis or clutching her brow with eyes shut , she’d explain.
Plan for every eventuality. Imagine the film shoot from beginning to end, and then imagine it if your cinematographer doesn’t show up. Can you take over the shot list? What happens if the power fails and you can’t use the lights? How will you get the images? What if your actors are sick? Is there another scene you can capture? Always have a Plan B, and a Plan C and then a backup for Plan C. Work through how you will get the job done during the worst case scenario, so that when you find yourself there, you can say, “Oh, I’ve been here before. I know what to do.”
Just in case, I’ll throw in the duct tape!
I tell you the truth, if there is one Bible story that infuriates me, its the Parable of the Ten Virgins. The gall of those stupid virgins asking for extra oil! The wise girls had thought to themselves before setting out, “Hmmm, the groom is supposed to be here at midnight, but it is his wedding night after all and things may get delayed a bit, so I think I’ll pack another pint of oil, just in case. Then I don’t have to stress out, in the dark, in case he’s late.”
My father, a bush pilot on the Amazon river in the 60’s, learned to be a worst-case-scenario thinker. His survival often depended on it. He had a cardboard box in the luggage compartment of his float plane stocked with odds and ends that he could “Macgyver” into fixing most worst case scenarios he’d thought of. Inventorying its contents gives insight into his worst fears: fish hooks, matches, plastic tubing, mosquito net, a medic kit, and of course, a roll of duct tape.
Preparation for the worst eases fear.
The wise woman in Proverbs 31 was also worst- case-scenario lady. Verse 21 says that she didn’t fear the snow, a rarity (or worst case scenario) in ancient Israel except on the highest mountains. Simply preparing a winter wardrobe eased her mind about her worst fears of freakish, frigid temperatures and hypothermia.
In my life, I often fight anxiety by blowing them up; not with C4, but with fancy. I ask myself, “Okay, what is the worst that could happen?” Imagining that extremity, I explore my attitudes and actions. Then I ask myself if I can do anything now to prepare myself for my worst fears? If its not something that will disrupt the normal rhythm of life, then I plan on doing it…just in case.
A few years ago, I experienced many a midnight panic attack over going into a large amount of business debt. I had to face my worst fears concerning that debt by imagining the worst-case-scenario: in debt up to my ears and living as a pauper. Wrestling through that, I realized that the worst case was in the Lord’s hands, and there was no magic duct tape that could fix it. Only frugal diligence and forbearance awaited me in my worse fears, and once imagined, it lost its terror. I began to prepare my heart and desires to match my worst-case-scenario, so that when the business DID fail, I could meet the challenges of paying off debt as an old friend. “Oh, I’ve been here before. I know what to do.”
Thanks for the lesson, Dr. Stenholm.
Prepare Your Sons for Pain
“These are the times in which a genius would wish to live,” wrote Abigail Adams to young John Quincy at the close of the War for Independence. “It is not in the still calm of life, or in the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties.”
I hope to never forget these wise words from a mother to son. This is wordy wisdom that points out the hard places and inspires our sons to tackle them and not flinch. It guides them to live roughly and strongly, not just without fear of suffering, but with a yearning for the lessons that pain teaches. We should not pray for an easy life for our sons, but for the difficulties that breed strong character. If we have prepared them, if we have bolstered them with small hardships under maternal compassion and protection, they will not falter when singing solo against the bitter wind.
Weigh your life circumstances and rejoice when you face hardships. Because know this: those hardships are teaching you things you will only learn through experience. (James 1:2-3)
Celebrate when you suffer! Especially in suffering for doing what is right. (1 Peter 4:12-13)
Stumble It!
