Hi There...
I am at the beginning of the new chapter... I don't know what the future holds, but I know that The One that holds me knows, and that's enough for me. Today I heard a talk about Jonah and the way that he ran from God. He knew he was running. He thought that it was ok to run, so much so that he was asleep in the hold when the storm came up. The thing that struck me today was all the damage that his running did. The others on the ship feared for their lives. They lost their cargo, and you would have to think that meant lots of money. Then they felt condemned for tossing Jonah into the sea... How much damage have I done??? He thought he was able to run from God, but he couldn't God was there where he was. And God provided too... even though he was running. God provided the safety net of the fish.. not a great way to spend three days, but better than losing his life for running. God pursued him. He didn't just give up on Jonah... and he hasn't given up on me.
There are times these last three years that I have run. I have heard what God said to me, and ignored it. I've rationalized it, I've justified my actions in His name even. But ultimately I have not done what I was asked to do. I'm trying now to do the right thing, the thing that God wants. I would like to say that I won't run again. But like Jonah I'm likely to run again. Jonah eventually did what God asked, then ran again by getting mad that God was merciful... and again when God took away the shade that He had provided... Sometimes we can be thick headed. Jonah was one of God's prophets (not just for this case) and even he ran from this one mission that God gave him to do, and drug his heels through the rest of the mission when it was clear he couldn't run. I've been there, and done that. I hope to learn from the actions of my past. I have to think about them, and work through what I should have done in hopes of actually learning the lesson.
OK.. Today is a new day... The beginning of a new chapter. Hopefully this chapter will have more of God's writing in it than mine... I'm going to try...
-me
