Hey, I was nearly eaten by a whale!

For the last month I had been swimming as fast as I could because there was a ginormous whale nipping at my toes. It didn’t matter how hard or fast I swam, the whale just kept gliding along with that big giant mouth open, sucking in gallons of water and plankton. Sure there were days when I was able to rest for a while, then back in the water I was thrown, the whale always close behind. I struggled like a little perch, “why me? Why do I have to go?” – All the while the whale never slumbered, his eyes never wavered, and the menu never changed – it was awful – it was awesome – and I am happy to say I am out of the water…

Does this sound like anyone we know? Jonah was a man of God; he just wasn’t a man who was very confident at times (sort of like the guy in the first paragraph!). He loved God and wanted to do Gods work – he just wanted to do it on his terms. God told to him to go to Nineveh, (that’s modern day Iraq, just outside Mosul), and "cry against the city because their wickedness has come before me".

Now, Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh and warn the Assyrians of Gods anger because he knew that there was a good possibility the Assyrians would repent (Jonah 4: 2-3)…wait a minute, isn’t that what we’re suppose to pray for? See, Jonah hated the Assyrians and he didn’t want them to receive mercy from God. He, like many Jews at the time, didn’t think gentiles should receive Gods mercy.

JUST A SIDE THOUGHT
I wonder how many of us have actually prayed for our enemies? We are commanded to do so; Matthew 5:44 – [Love your enemies; bless those who curse you…].

We all know what happens next; Jonah decides that he’s going to flee the presence of the Lord by jumping on a ship and heading to Trashish. Ultimately God sends a great storm which threatens to destroy the ship. The other passengers aboard the “S.S. You can’t hide from God” knew that the storm was upon them on account of Jonah, and subsequently chucked him overboard, at his request no less. Jonah spent the next three days and nights in the belly of the big fish, finally submitting to God.

The next time God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh, he didn’t hesitate.

Has God been calling you to do something for him, FOR HIS KINGDOM? Has he put an assignment on your thoughts, a mission in your mind, or a fire in your heart? Don’t hesitate, just go and do it. Do think about the consequences of it, God will take care of that part; he just wants you to act. If you run one of two things will happen: Either he will pass the assignment onto someone else who will receive Gods blessing for their obedience, or he’s gonna send a big ole whale after you!

Read more about Jonah in the book of Jonah – it’s only 4 chapters for goodness sakes, quit your whining! HA

Who's Influencing You?

Arguably the first person to ever be influenced in human history was a woman named Eve. Prior to that day in the Garden of Eden, no person had ever experienced influence before. She was the first person that had to confront influence and she failed miserably.

So many things happened that day in the Garden of Eden that life was given a limit. A series of unfortunate events were set into motion and to this day, we’re still suffering from its repercussions.

This begs the question; what is influence? Wikipedia defines it as follows: Influence is a term that refers to the ability to indirectly control, shape or affect the actions, beliefs and attitudes of other people or things through your behavior, words or presence. The meaning of influence therefore depends on who or what is being affected, and to what end.

Clearly there can be good influences and bad influences. You can choose to influence your friends in a positive or a negative way, but who’s influencing you?

Genesis 3:1 – Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.

The word of note here is SUBTLE. How many times have you made a bad decision, having been influenced by someone, and later question, “How could I have done that?” I would venture to say that the bad influence was presented to you in a “subtle” way. This is more evidence to the argument that we should pray about every decision, big or small, before we make it.

Genesis 3:7 – And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked…

This is significant use of language in that “the eyes of them both were opened”. Clearly
Adam and Eve could see before they ate the fruit, but now they were given a new vision.
They lost God-consciousness and gained Self-consciousness…all because of influence.

The next time you’re in a questionable situation and you are being influenced to make a certain decision, you ought to pray deeply about it…you never know if that decision could change your sight.

Who cares about a two headed monkey riding a bike anyway?

When was the last time you saw a two headed monkey riding a bicycle? Chances are this is probably the first time you’ve ever seen one, considering I had to make the picture in Photoshop. When you saw the picture of the two headed monkey what did you think? Did you laugh? Were you grossed out? Did you think it was stupid?

Maybe today wasn’t the first time you’ve seen a two headed monkey riding a bicycle, or at least acted like you were seeing one. How many times this week did you see something odd at school, or church, that made you laugh? Maybe it was an outfit that you thought looked dumb on someone, or the way someone had their hair styled on Monday? Perhaps it was the way someone stuttered nervously while speaking in front of a group?

Would you have made fun of Moses…he had a stuttering problem?
Would you have been one to tease Noah who was building a ship in the middle of dry land?

Try to imagine for a moment, how you would react if a man wearing a robe and sandals walked up to you and said, “Hey, I’m the Son of God.” Would he have been a two headed monkey riding a bicycle to you? What if it was 2000 years ago? Would you have recognized him as the Savior that he was?

My point is this; life is hard enough, especially at your age. Do we really need to point out to everyone, every time we see a two headed monkey riding a bike? You never really know whose feelings you may be hurting in the process, and remember, EVERYONE gets a chance to be a two headed monkey riding a bicycle. The next time you see one…it might just be you?

LIFESAVERS - How Ironic

LIFESAVERS - How Ironic

Today I was abruptly reminded of how quickly our lives can be shattered. In an instant the ones that we have known and loved for what seems like eons, can be lost forever. This afternoon my three year old son, Aiden, (pictured here, ready to save the world) was sitting at a desk enjoying one of life's simplest pleasures, a cherry flavored Lifesaver. While in the midst of his joy he took a deep breath, inadvertently lodging the candy as a whole, deep into his throat. He looked at me, his daddy, with terror in his eyes, panic on his face, and most disturbing, silence in his voice. There was no air passing through his lips, he couldn't breath and my heart sank to a place it seldom goes. By the grace of God three well placed whacks to the center of his back was all it took to dislodge the candy and he was able to spit it out.

That's when I was once again reminded how fragile life truly is. It can be over in an instant. Let us consider our salvation for a moment. Do you really know that if you were to choke on the proverbial LifeSaver, that you would go to heaven? If your answer was yes, and I pray that it was, then let me pose another question to you; do you know someone who wouldn't go to heaven? I would guess that we can ALL answer yes to this one. We all know someone who isn't saved. Jesus Christ commanded that we, as the "Body", go into the world and tell everyone about the saving grace of Jesus Christ...(Matthew 28:19) guess what, He wasn't just talking to your grandfathers and grandmothers, preachers and teacher, - He was talking to you also. This is called:

THE GREAT COMMISSION

The Great Commission is the responsibility that Jesus handed down to His church, better known as you and I.

So many of the youth today seem to think they get a pass on telling their unsaved friends about the love of Christ, simply because they're...well...kids. The truth is that you were fearfully and wonderfully made for a purpose. God thought you into existence and had your entire life planned for you. He knows exactly what He expects from you and from the day you accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, you agreed to conform to the person that God wants you to be, and that's very exciting!! This life is very unpredictable, and our time to spread the Word is NOW, because the reality is, you never know if you'll miss the opportunity to introduce a friend to salvation through Jesus Christ. Your unsaved friend could be gone in an instant...an instant you chose to do nothing...

If you are saved, and you are becoming the person that God wants you to be, why don't take a stand today and accept the responsibility to reach out to an unsaved friend? You just might be their LifeSaver!!

Do you have what it takes?

Recently I was stuck in the middle of a personal struggle and as I bartered back and forth on the brink of falling the thought came to me - "do you have what it takes?" I wondered who was asking the question. I also wondered what the answer was. Do I have what it takes? Do you have what it takes? Do any of us have what it takes? Of course the real question is, do you have what it takes to get to heaven? To run the good race? I began to ponder this very question. Of all the mistakes that I've made, can I get to heaven? I pondered and I pondered and I pondered even more until my "ponderer" was sore. Then I did what most Christians do LAST (shame on us) and I opened my bible. And there it was of course, right there in front of me in black and white and sometimes red letters. The words that I needed to hear to get me through this struggle that I was in. It goes something like this - "...being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience" Colossians 1:11. Well, that was easy.

You see, if we are truly saved, then we have within us the ability to endure all things with the help of Christ who is in us. God gives us the strength, endurance and patience that he knows we need to overcome ANY obstacle in our lives. Did you know that the word strength is used some 2,320 times in the bible? Our God is pretty strong, and his strength ought to be important to us.


If you are struggling with something right now then I challenge you to do two things: Pray about it - and read your bible. If you do these two things you can and will survive the struggle, just as I did.

Next time you feel weak, remember, "For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. "1 Corinthians 1:25