Who Said Soccer Was a Non-Contact Sport?

Ouch.

Chapter-a-Day Jonah 3

The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow. Jonah 3:5 (NLT)

Wendy’s brothers have all served in the military. Her youngest brother just went through the rigor of basic training a year or so ago. Since my side of the family has, for the most part, never been big on military service I have found it interesting to observe. I’ve been knocked out by the transformation in Wendy’s young sibling. The methodical process of discipline and denial has had visible benefits that go beyond the mere physical.

It is, perhaps, a bit of synchronicity that today’s chapter comes on the day after Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Lent is the season of “preparation” before the celebration of Jesus’ death and resurrection which lasts for 40 days. The number 40 is not insignificant. The number appears throughout God’s Message and history:

• 40 days of rain in the flood
• 40 days Moses was on the mountain before God gave him the law
• 40 years of wandering in the wilderness for Moses and his followers
• 40 days Jesus fasted in the wilderness
• 40 days after the resurrection Jesus was seen publicly before his ascension

These are just a few of the examples, along with the example in today’s chapter in which the people of Nineveh fasted and repented for 40 days to seek God’s mercy.

There is no magic in “fasting” or the act of denying yourself of something, but there is a process of spiritual formation that takes place. When, for a period of time, we deny ourselves and focus our hearts and minds on the things of God it becomes like spring training for our souls. It is spiritual boot camp and, like Wendy’s brother, you never emerge from boot camp unchanged in some way.

I Know It’s the Boy In Me….

… but sometimes it’s kind of fun just to see things blow up!

What can I say? Wild at heart.

Chapter-a-Day Jonah 2

I sank down to the very roots of the mountains.
      I was imprisoned in the earth,
      whose gates lock shut forever.
   But you, O LORD my God,
      snatched me from the jaws of death!
Jonah 2:6 (NLT)

I don’t care how low we’ve sunk, how far we’ve fallen, or how deep into it we find ourselves. There is no pit in this life so deep that God’s love and mercy are not deeper still.

God is in the business of snatching people from the depths and raising them up.

Reach out. Grab hold. Believe.

Chapter-a-Day Jonah 1

Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Jonah 1:17

For the sailors to live, Jonah had to sacrifice himself.
For Jonah to live God’s purpose he had to die to himself.
To be washed from his sin, Jonah had to be plunged forcefully in the waters.
To pass from death to life, Jonah was buried for three days.
For the Ninevehites to experience salvation, Jonah had to die, be buried, and be resurrected.

The word picture of salvation in Jonah is so striking that even Jesus could not help but draw attention to it:

Matthew 12:39-41
[Jesus] answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.”

Luke 11:30
“For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.”

The further I get in the journey, the more convinced I am that once God truly calls a person, he or she cannot successfully run away forever. The story of Jonah is lived out again and again in the lives of those who are called according to His purpose, and for whom all things work together for good.

Chapter-a-Day Colossians 4

by indi.ca via Flickr

Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Colossians 4:2 (NLT)

Devote [dih-voht] verb 1. to give up or appropriate to or concentrate on a particular pursuit, occupation, purpose, cause, etc.: to devote one’s time to reading.

Yesterday morning my brother asked me if I’d read a section of a book he’d asked me to read last fall. I apologized that I’d not gotten to it. Nor have I gotten to the book Wendy’s wanted me to finish for the past year or two, nor have I gotten to the book another friend gave me, or the one Taylor gave to Wendy that was then given to me. Nor did I get to the two books a fellow blogger gave me. And, I haven’t finished reading the script a fellow playwright asked me to read. ARRRRGGGHHH! CALGON, TAKE ME AWAY!

Some days when I read the morning’s chapter I’m encouraged, and other days I’m inspired. Then there are days like today when I’m convicted. When I read the simple command to devote myself to prayer, the word devote leapt of the page and pierced my heart.

What am I devoted to? What will I readily sacrifice other things for, in order that I will have the time and resources to do them? Do the things to which I say I’m devoted match my actions when it comes to devoting time, money, and energy? If you look at my life it’s certain that I’m not devoted to reading, and I’m pretty sure you could make the case that I’m not devoted to prayer either. There are a lot of worthwhile pursuits to which I’m not devoted, and some rather trivial ones to which my actions prove I am.

God, you say I’m supposed to be devoted to prayer and I guess there’s no time like the present. Forgive me for being devoted to silly insignificant things while ignoring eternal things. Help my devotion to be focused on the right things as I journey through this day.

Worth Watching

Five people play one guitar. Thanks to my brother, Tim, for sharing this one. Worth the time to watch.