Jonah was Not Crazy

Today I confirmed something yet again:  Jonah wasn't crazy.  No, I'm not talking about his hatred of his ethnic rivals in the city of Nineveh -- nor about his madcap attempt to run away from God's direct order.  I'm talking about that All-Important shade-tree...

Okay, I admit it:  I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel for some other way to say...IT'S TOO HOT HERE!  "When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, “Death is better to me than life." (4:8)  You know, I used to hate on Jonah and all his drama:  I mean, after all, what's a little heat and sun?  Well, living here, it's no longer so simple to me.

Don't get me wrong:  Jonah's disassociation of himself with the people of Nineveh -- his inability to extrapolate from his own personal discomfort, to their narrowly-averted total destruction -- was selfish in the extreme.  But...still...it was just TOO HOT!  And that shade-tree or plant or whatever it was...well, it meant a lot to him. Poor Jonah.  He was just hot.  (Cue the tear-jerking violins...)

When walking into a too-hot room, my sister once exclaimed:  "What y'all done set the thermostat on?  Hell?!"  I fell out laughing. But her irreverence only makes sense as it recalls to us Something and Someone to be revered, feared...

Please keep us in your prayers.  It is awfully hot here -- in the 120s regularly -- but God was/is right:  My discomfort is nothing compared to the lostness and suffering experienced by those living without Hope.  The pain from the too-hot sun is barely a hint of something far, far worse.  Pray that our city would experience a longer-lasting awakening than did the people Nineveh.  The Lord said, "Should I not have compassion on..that great city...?" (4:11)  May God fill us, and you too, with this same compassion.

We look forward to being in Boston this summer, for 2.5 months, joining many of you as you minister to that great city.  If your Small Group or Christian Formation class or other fellowship has the time/space, we'd love to come by and join in your prayers.  Thanks for always being there for us.

Tom serves in North Africa